Karl Brooks' field-goal block helps Packers escape Chicago with 20-19 win

CHICAGO — Days before a 2023 sixth-round pick from Bowling Green played hero, his special teams coordinator issued a challenge.

Rich Bisaccia felt confident this would be the week the Packers blocked their first kick of the season.

“I don’t know if he gonna want me to say what he said, but he said this was the week,” running back Josh Jacobs said of Bisaccia with a laugh. “He said he would be very disappointed if we didn’t get one this week.”

“Rich said to our team last night, ‘I will not understand if we come out of this game without a block, whether field goal or PAT,’” head coach Matt LaFleur said.

The Packers identified a weakness in the Bears’ protection on kicks. “Inside,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “Inside at the guards.” All week, Clark said, the Packers talked about either defensive tackle T.J. Slaton or defensive tackle Karl Brooks, the second-year pro from Bowling Green, blocking a kick. The Bears didn’t have a kick blocked in their first nine games, but the Packers saw a couple of tries on film come close to being blocked.

Here was the situation: Packers 20, Bears 19. Three seconds left. Bears kicker Cairo Santos lined up for a 46-yard field goal that would, at least for now, end the Bears’ misery against the Packers. LaFleur had won all 10 games against Chicago during his first five years in charge. This was not only a chance for the Bears to end their free fall in the rivalry, but also to keep their season afloat and get back to .500 in the same week they fired their offensive coordinator.

Green Bay’s special teams, so often an Achilles heel during LaFleur’s tenure, had other ideas.

After long snapper Scott Daly sent the ball back, Brooks got penetration between Daly and left guard Matt Pryor up the middle. Brooks knocked Daly into right guard Larry Borom and Slaton towered above Daly with his arm raised. He might’ve blocked the kick had it been a couple of inches to the right, but Brooks touched the longest finger on his left hand, the middle one, to pigskin. Brooks didn’t think he got enough of the ball at first, but he turned around to see it hit the ground in the end zone well short of the goalposts.

Brooks hoisted both arms in the air as the Packers flooded onto the field. He hugged Bisaccia. LaFleur smacked his right hand to the top of Brooks’ helmet, pulling face to facemask. Somehow, in a game they had little business winning, the Packers escaped.

THE FG IS BLOCKED FOR THE WIN!#GBvsCHI pic.twitter.com/zdxGIdJyZI

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 17, 2024

“I’m visualizing myself blocking the kick,” Brooks said of his pre-snap thought. “I just wanted it more. I just fired off the ball and wanted to get a win.

“Rich challenged us to get a block, so I took it personally. I wanted to go out there and get that block. I wanted to do that for Coach Rich.”

Brooks has produced sparsely during his year and a half with the Packers. He flashed during a rookie season in which the Day 3 pick played in all 17 games, but he hadn’t mustered much this season. In 2023, Brooks blocked a kick against the Vikings, had four passes defensed, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, four sacks and six tackles for loss while playing just 34.2 percent of the defensive snaps.

Brooks had played 40.67 percent of them in 2024 entering Sunday while appearing in every game, but he only had one forced fumble, a fumble recovery and 1.5 sacks on an inconsistent Packers defensive line. On Sunday, his biggest contribution yet in the NFL came in the form of a rarely seen play.

“Big-time players making big-time plays in big-time moments. That’s it,” defensive end Rashan Gary said. “I love seeing it because I see his hard work. I see how he comes in Monday to Sunday. I just love how he gets challenged. I don’t think he understands how big that is, when a coach challenges you during the beginning of the week and the situation comes down in that type of end-of-the-game situation and he’s able to go home to finish.”

The Packers have endured their fair share of special teams fever dreams during LaFleur’s five-plus years at the helm. From the blocked punt for a touchdown in the 2021 Divisional Round against the 49ers to Anders Carlson’s missed 41-yarder in the fourth quarter of the 2023 Divisional Round against San Francisco to Brayden Narveson’s kicking woes to start this season and everything in between, Green Bay seemed to have a special teams black cloud hovering over Lambeau Field.

Bisaccia, now in his third year as Packers special teams coordinator, is LaFleur’s third man to hold the position. His units have been far from perfect during his time in Green Bay. On Sunday, however, with an 0-3 NFC North start staring them in the face, the one at the core of the team delivered.

“Coach Bissacia says that field-goal block is the heartbeat of our team because it’s real easy for those guys, even though they’re tired, to just go out there and just go through the motions,” right guard Sean Rhyan said. “But you saw, the whole f—ing line surged and I think hard work goes a long way.”

Karl Brooks: “I’m visualizing myself blocking the kick…I just wanted it more. I just fired off the ball and wanted to get a win.” pic.twitter.com/2gtAbgUVsn

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) November 17, 2024

It wasn’t only Brooks who did their part on the game’s final play.

“I was on the same side with Karl and I knew that he was going to pressure that inside A gap, so I just got behind him and I pushed him as hard as I could,” defensive end Lukas Van Ness said. “Before I knew it, I saw his hand go up and I heard, ‘THUNK’ and I heard everybody screaming … I’m trying to rush and block the kick, as well, but the way it played out, we were kinda both sent inside and he kinda had a step on me and I just put a hand on his back and I was pushing as hard as I can.”

“I was in there. I just tried to get the guard and tackle 2 yards behind so I can get T.J. through there,” defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt said. “And I actually heard, ‘Boom’ and I looked behind me and immediately saw it.”

The Packers will never apologize for winning, no matter how ugly they do so. That was LaFleur’s message postgame and Jacobs echoed the same. It’s no secret the Packers must fix plenty if they want to achieve what’s realistic this season. Quarterback Jordan Love threw another head-scratching interception, this one in the red zone. LaFleur questionably went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line while down five early in the fourth quarter and Love was stopped short on a scramble. Coordinator Jeff Hafley’s defense showed cracks against both the run and pass.

But the Packers are 7-3 this season and winners of 11 straight in the NFL’s oldest rivalry, thanks largely to a heroic play from the unlikeliest of sources. There’s no lamenting that, no matter how grueling the path to victory.

“It’s relief,” LaFleur said. “It was a rollercoaster game, but that’s this league and you have to be resilient. Not everything is always going to go your way and you gotta keep battling, keep battling, keep battling, keep battling, try to block out the scoreboard. Whatever has happened has no bearing on what’s going to happen and you gotta just keep pushing forward.”

(Photo of Karl Brooks celebrating after the Packers’ win: Mark Hoffman / Imagn Images)