3 Takeaways from Packers' Week 13 Win vs. Bears

There have been some tough games for the Green Bay Packers this season. They appeared to be having another one for most of the first three quarters on Sunday.

However, that didn't end up being the case, even though the Packers trailed the Chicago Bears by nine points heading into the fourth. Green Bay then rattled off 18 unanswered points to capture a 28-19 win over its NFC North rival at Soldier Field.

The Packers took the lead for good on Mason Crosby's 32-yard field goal with 4 minutes and 49 seconds to go in the game. Rookie wide receiver Christian Watson scored a 46-yard rushing touchdown with 1:51 remaining, and Aaron Rodgers' pass to Marcedes Lewis for a two-point conversion sealed it.

Here are three takeaways from Green Bay's Week 13 win.

Watson has had an unreal run of touchdowns during his rookie season, and it's coming after the 23-year-old got into the end zone only once through his first six NFL games. Of late, he's been scoring a touchdown every week, if not multiple.

On Sunday, Watson had two TDs: a 14-yard receiving score in the second quarter and a 46-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth. Over the past four weeks, he's scored eight TDs while emerging as the top playmaker on the Packers' offense.

"It's a rapid, wild development," Rodgers said, per Mike Spofford of the team's official site. "It's hard to think about another player who goes from being kind of a here-and-there, minimal production to go-to type player, home-run player."

Green Bay thought highly enough of Watson to take the North Dakota State product in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft, and he's now proving that was a wise selection. For much of the season, the Packers struggled to replace the production of former star wide receiver Davante Adams. But Watson has recently stepped up to help fill that void.

Jaire Alexander may be one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but he wasn't having his best performance in Chicago on Sunday. The 25-year-old's day turned around, though, with one of the biggest plays of the game, the type you expect to see from the Packers' top CB.

Green Bay had just taken a 20-19 lead late in the fourth, and Chicago was starting to put together a response, picking up a pair of quick first downs on its ensuing drive. However, that stopped when Alexander picked off Bears quarterback Justin Fields on a 1st-and-10 from the Packers' 43-yard line with 2:48 to go.

Three plays later, Green Bay scored the game-sealing touchdown. And that was made possible by Alexander's momentum-shifting interception.

"As a corner, especially in this league, you have to have a short memory, and certainly I think Ja does," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said, per Spofford. "He goes out there and battles."

Because Alexander is capable of doing that, he'll likely make some more big plays for Green Bay down the stretch this season (and beyond that).

The Packers may not reach the playoffs this season no matter how they play down the stretch. But they're still alive in the postseason hunt. And as long as that's the case for a team, anything can happen in the NFL.

Green Bay needed a win this week, though, to build some positive momentum going into its Week 14 bye. It had lost seven of its previous eight games following a 3-1 start. Plus, Chicago has won only three games and has one of the worst records in the league.

So even if it wasn't the Packers' best performance, it was a better one than some of those they had during their recent tough stretch. They played a close game and found a way to win late, which is an encouraging sign for them moving forward.

Although Green Bay (5-8) is still three games out of an NFC wild-card berth, it's sticking around in the playoff picture. If it can win out and finish at 9-8, maybe it finds a way to sneak in.