The Green Bay Packers, four-time Super Bowl winners, on Sunday grabbed a place in the NFL playoffs on the final day of the regular season after a 17-9 victory over the Chicago Bears.
The Packers’ win over their division rivals secured them the last available wild-card spot in the National Football Conference, while in the American Football Conference, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ground out victory over the Carolina Panthers to book their place in the post-season.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love, in his first full season as a starter after replacing superstar Aaron Rodgers, found Dontayvion Wicks with a 12-yard pass in the third quarter to put the Packers 14-6 up.
Photo: Tork Mason-USA Today
The Bears could only manage a fourth-quarter field goal in response and then Anders Carlson calmed any nerves at Lambeau Field with a 25-yard field goal to secure the win.
The Packers claimed the seventh seed and travel to face the second-seeded Dallas Cowboys on wild-card weekend, a classic matchup of two of the league’s historic franchises.
Dallas took care of business, winning the National Football Conference East with a 38-10 win over the Washington Commanders.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns as Dallas ended with a 12-5 record for the third straight season under head coach Mike McCarthy.
The Los Angeles Rams, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 21-20, booked a meeting with the Lions in Detroit, a game which curiously pits both teams’ quarterbacks against their former clubs.
The Los Angeles Rams took Matthew Stafford from the Lions in 2021 and sent Jared Goff to Detroit as part of the trade.
The 49ers, who had already secured the top seed and a first-round bye, rested starting quarterback Brock Purdy and the Rams also kept Stafford out of action.
Stafford’s backup, Carson Wentz, won the game with a 12-yard rush with 4 minutes, 56 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The Lions, already qualified for the playoffs, claimed the third seed with a 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings. The other National Football Conference wild-card game sees Tampa Bay host the Philadelphia Eagles after three field goals from Chase McLaughlin sealed a dour 9-0 win for Tampa Bay in Charlotte.
The win ensured the 2021 Super Bowl champions advance to the post-season as National Football Conference South division winners — their third straight crown.
The Eagles lost 27-10 at the New York Giants, the fifth defeat in their past six games for last season’s Super Bowl runners-up.
As the Bucs celebrated, the Jacksonville Jaguars were eliminated after a 28-20 defeat to Tennessee in Nashville that completed a miserable late-season collapse.
Jacksonville looked to be cruising toward the post-season in late November last year after leading their division with an 8-3 record, but the Jaguars’ season imploded with five defeats in their final six games as the Texans overtook them to clinch the American Football Conference South.
Jacksonville’s defeat meant both the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers clinched their playoff places and they meet each other on Sunday after the Bills won the American Football Conference East for the fourth straight season with a 21-14 win at Miami.
Miami travel to Kansas City to face defending Super Bowl champions the Chiefs in their playoff opener.
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