Christian Watson’s sprint to the end zone landed at No. 6 on APC’s 2025 top plays countdown, and it came at a moment when the Packers needed a jolt in a tight divisional fight.
This one arrived in the middle of a heavyweight NFC North matchup. Green Bay had just wrapped up a season sweep of the Lions the week before, then turned around to face the Bears for the first time that year.
The Packers entered at 8-3-1 and riding a three-game winning streak. Chicago came in at 9-3 with five straight wins of its own.
First place in the division was on the line.
The Packers had already built a 14-3 halftime lead, but the Bears punched back to start the second half. Chicago put together a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, trimming the margin to 14-11 with 8:08 left in the third quarter. Green Bay answered with 22 yards on its first three snaps, then faced 3rd-and-3 at the Bears’ 41.
The Packers lined up in 11 personnel in a 3x1 Trips Nub look, with the lone receiver side featuring a tight end close to the line. Before the snap, Jordan Love gave a hand signal to the right side, and Christian Watson passed it along with his own signal to Romeo Doubs on the outside. After the game, Love said, “we just changed the route with Christian and he did a great job just kinda creating that separation and be able to win across the field and just beat the guy with speed.”
The play started as an RPO, with Josh Jacobs on a Wide Zone run and a pass tag built off one of Green Bay’s familiar WR screen concepts. Normally, that kind of call is a numbers game: if the passing side has the advantage, Love throws it; if not, he hands it off. But the hand signal suggested an adjustment to the route structure based on what the Bears showed.
Instead of the standard screen look, Watson and Doubs appeared to convert to stalk-and-release routes, with Watson breaking on a slant and Doubs running a fade. That changed the read from a pre-snap numbers check to a post-snap decision, with Love keying one defender once the ball was snapped.
Chicago’s corners were tight to the line, the safety was deep, and the defense looked like man coverage with pressure coming up front. Love checked the pass side and appeared to read D’Marco Jackson [48] as the conflict defender.
If Jackson attacked the line, Love would pull and throw. If Jackson dropped underneath to cut off Watson, Love would hand to Jacobs.
Jackson stepped toward the line, and Love pulled the ball and fired.
Watson sold the block, got inside leverage, then snapped into his route. Love delivered it on time and in front, and Watson caught it in stride with the safety drifting toward the passing side. There was nothing deep waiting for him on that side of the field.
The Packers added the extra point and stretched the lead to 21-11.
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