That was one crazy Christmas eve in Carolina.
The Green Bay Packers survived a wild fourth quarter by beating the two win Carolina Panthers 33-30 at Bank of America Stadium to keep their faint playoff hopes alive with two games left to play. Jordan Love’s five yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs on the first play of the final period put the Packers up 30-16 but the Joe Barry-led defense, under siege for two weeks gave up back to back touchdown drives to Bryce Young and the Panthers that got the game even at 30 , throwing 11 and and 10 yard scoring strikes to DJ Chark Jr. A two point conversion run by Raheem Blackshear tied it up with 4:05 to play.
Doubs then made one of the biggest catches of the year. Love stood in against an all-out blitz, had time to see man coverage down the sideline and heaved it up. Doubs pulled it in with Troy Hill on his arm. He landed on his backside and slid out of bounds when the ball came loose. Carolina challenged the call but it stood, a 36 yard chunk to the Carolina 31. Two plays later, Love fit the ball into a tiny window where Tucker Kraft made the grab, broke free and picked up 20 more yards. The Packers forced Carolina to burn their timeouts before Anders Carlson knocked through a 32 yard field goal with just :19 to play.
Against a prevent zone defense and rushing only three, Young his Chark for 22 yards on the sideline against Keisean Nixon and then found Adam Thielen wide open over the middle against soft coverage for 22 more. The Panthers raced to the line of scrimmage at the Green Bay 31 but Young’s spike to the stop the clock came with nothing but zeroes and the ballgame ended.
It started just fine for the Pack, desperate to keep their season alive. For the first time in seven seasons, they put up points on their first four possessions to build what seemed like a comfortable lead. Aaron Jones was back from a sprained knee and looked as spry as opening day in Chicago, rushing for 38 yards and catching an 8 yard pass on the opening possession, capped by A.J. Dillon’s one yard touchdown, playing with a broken right thumb.
The Panthers answered with a 30 yard catch and run from tight end Tommy Tremble to set up Eddie Piniero’s 52 yard field goal.
Jones then ripped off a 39 yard run, he would finish the game with 127 yards on 21 carries, the first 100 yard rushing day of the year. On the first play of the second quarter, Love called his own number on an audible and sneaked it in from one to make it 13-3. Carlson’s point after was missed wide left.
Young converted two third downs on the next series and from the 20, they ran an end around. Rashan Gary crashed way too hard and Ihmir Smith-Marsette cruised around the right end for the touchdown that pulled the Panthers to within 3.
A shaky roughing the passer call against Carolina led to a Carlson 53 yard field goal and after the defense stuffed a 4th and 2 Chuba Hubbard run at the Packer 38 thanks to big hustle from Kingsley Enegbare with Isaiah McDuffie and Lukas Van Ness finishing it off, the Packers took over at their 40 and cashed in. Bo Melton converted a big third down and 10 play with an 11 yard catch. Green Bay was already down two receivers with Christian Watson and Jayden Reed inactive and Melton wound up with 4 catches for 44 yards on the day after catching one pass prior in his NFL career. Love capped the drive by breaking from the pocket and waiting for Dontayvion Wicks to shake free on the extended play. Love found him for a 21 yard touchdown but Wicks took a hard hit and would not return to the game but the Packers had a 23-10 lead at the break.
The Panthers put up a 14 play, 72 yard drive that consumed 8:20 to get back in the game. Hubbard finished it off with a four yard run but Piniero missed his extra point keeping it a touchdown lead.
On the first snap of the ensuing drive, Doubs caught a ball over the middle and fighting for extra yards had the ball ripped out. It rolled forward another five yards before Josiah Deguara was able to cover it up. Love then capped the march with a five yard out to Doubs that gave the Packers a 30-16 lead one snap into the fourth quarter.
The Carolina defense, ranked third in the league then rose up, stopping the Packers twice on three and outs. Young started heating up, hitting Chark from 11 yards out beating Eric Stokes on the touchdown. A two point try had Young scramble for the conversion but a holding call took it off the board. Piniero would then miss his second extra point of the day. Again Green Bay couldn’t pick up a first down and Young drove Carolina 70 yards in just 5 plays to tie the game. A 20 yard catch by Chark was aided by rookie Anthony Johnson Jr.’s helmet to helmet hit which tacked on 15 more. A 17 yard strike to a wide open Thielen got it to the 10 and then Young hit Chark on the tight post to pull the Panthers within two. The conversion worked this time with Raheem Blackshear taking a jet sweep to tie it up.
Love made a couple of plays, a kick was made and the defense literally hung on for dear life at the finish. After the game, Love talked about the deep shot to Doubs and the importance of having a 100% Jones back on the field.
Love finished the day 17 of 28 for 219 yards and two scores, getting sacked but one for a passer rating of 109.1. Doubs wound up with 4 receptions for 79 yards, Kraft had 4 for 60. The Packers totaled 369 yards as a team, converting 8 of 14 third downs (57%) and cashing in three times in four chances inside the red zone.
As for the defense. Carolina finished with 394 yards, 240 in the second half. Again they struggled when playing zone coverage even with Jaire Alexander making his first appearance in 6 weeks coming off an injured shoulder. He started along with Stokes on the corner with Jonathan Owens and Johnson Jr playing safety. Young and the Panther offense hit a season high in points as he finished 23 of 35 for 312 yards and two scores, a rating of 113.0. Chark and Thielen each had six receptions for 98 and 94 yards respectively Hubbard had 43 yards on the ground on 16 carries. Johnson Jr and McDuffie shared the defensive lead with 8 tackles each. Preston Smith and a sack and a half with Quay Walker sharing one.
The inactive players along with the receivers were Darnell Savage, De’Vondre Campbell, Brenton Cox Jr. and Caleb Jones.
Before heading home to celebrate the holiday, Head Coach Matt LaFleur talked of the win and with a 7-8 record, still having hope for the post-season.
The Packers will ring in the New Year with a Sunday night rematch with the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium, even with the Vikes who dropped to 7-8 after the Detroit Lions secured their first NFC North Division championship in 30 years with a 30-24 win. Green Bay will then close out the season against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Win ’em both, odds are pretty good but watching this team over the past five weeks, it’s clear, anything can and likely will happen before they reach the finish line.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
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