GREEN BAY – This would’ve worked wonderfully as a playoff preview story, but unfortunately it’s a different kind of retrospective.
The Packers’ 2022 season will be remembered for a late-season turnaround that came up one win short. While thinking about all the failures in Week 18 vs. the Lions will make for a long offseason, the unexpected excitement generated from a season that appeared lost is still worth revisiting.
Subjectivity certainly applies, but here are the five plays, in chronological order, that (almost) saved the Packers’ season.
1. Christian Watson‘s 58-yard touchdown vs. Dallas
The Packers were 3-6, coming off a maddeningly frustrating loss at Detroit, and trailed the Cowboys 7-0 in the second quarter. Watson went deep down the sideline on third-and-1, hauled in Aaron Rodgers’ pass to tie the game, and punctuated his first NFL TD catch with a backflip.
Green Bay would go on to fall behind by 14 points in this game and would need a 39-yard, fourth-down TD from Watson to spark the comeback. The Packers also would still lose their next two games to fall to 4-8.
But this play starts the list because of what it signified. Watson finally put the first-play-of-the-season drop in Minnesota behind him, and the score began a binge that saw Watson pile up eight TDs in a four-game span, changing the Packers’ offense and the way teams defended it.
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