SPORTS LINE
The Green Bay Packers.
The Packers and Chicago Bears had their first meeting of the 2024 season in Chicago on Sunday afternoon. The Packers offense started hot, getting the ball out quickly and taking advantage of a lackluster Bears run defense. Jordan Love caught the Bears (who were also offsides) with 12 men on the field and threw a dart to Jayden Reed in the end zone for the first points of the game. Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers made just enough plays to squeeze out yet another win over the Chicago Bears but should have been an easy win. Instead, this time, it took a late touchdown and a blocked field goal. Love ran for a go-ahead score in the closing minutes, and Green Bay hung on to beat Chicago 20-19 on Sunday when Karl Brooks blocked Cairo Santos’ kick from 46 yards as time expired.
Christian Watson set a career-high with 150 yards on just four catches, including a 60-yarder that set up Love’s touchdown run, and the Packers (7-3) avoided falling further behind Detroit and Minnesota in the NFC North. Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown. He also threw his league-leading 11th interception, matching his total from last year. Josh Jacobs ran for 76 yards and a score for the Packers. Brenton Cox, active for the first time this season, had a sack, as did Rashan Gary and T.J. Slaton, helping Green Bay beat Chicago for the 26th time in 29 games.
The Milwaukee Bucks. There is a trophy awarded to the NBA Defensive Player of the Year that may well have Giannis Antetokounmpo’s name on it, and in the Milwaukee Bucks’ last two games, the 7-footer has made end-of-game plays that could have made a highlight reel for such a distinction. On Wednesday night he blocked an inbound alley-oop attempt to Detroit guard Ron Holland II with a second remaining. On Saturday, Antetokounmpo switched onto lightning-quick, 6-foot, 7-inch Charlotte guard LaMelo Ball and bottled him up to the point he fell and lost his dribble with 7.3 seconds remaining. But in both instances, a whistle ended each play. In both instances, Antetokounmpo was called for a foul. Referees admitted to blowing calls that effectively cost the Bucks a win over the Hornets.
With time running out in the Milwaukee Bucks’ game against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, Hornets guard LaMelo Ball drove toward the Bucks’ basket. He appeared to trip and fall, which would have handed possession back to a Milwaukee team clinging to a 114–113 lead. Not so fast. The officiating crew called a foul on Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Ball hit both free throws to give the Hornets a lead they would not relinquish. The call sent Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers into a frenzy. This led to a postgame comment from crew chief Curtis Blair. “During live play, we called illegal leg-to-leg contact.
During postgame review when we looked at the play there was no illegal contact on the play,” Blair told Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer in the postgame pool report. Rivers said as much in his postgame press conference, and Blair’s admission is likely to be cold comfort for the coach of a scuffling 4-9 team. Giannis Antetokounmpo met the media after the pool report was conducted and was told about the official’s admission of an erroneous call.
