It was football's version of the Red Sea parting.
The Chicago Bears trailed by one point, facing a 3rd-and-11 from their 49-yard line with only 15 seconds remaining and no timeouts. They needed a chunk play and to stop the clock to have any shot at winning the game.
Then the unthinkable happened. Jeff Hafley deserves credit for his work turning the Green Bay Packers defense into a top-six unit this season, but he endured his worst moment at a costly time with a play-call that would make Joe Barry proud.
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Hafley had multiple defenders line up on the sideline to eliminate any chance of a quick-out that would allow a Bears receiver to pick up a chunk of yards, get out of bounds, and stop the clock. That's fine. However, the Packers had the rest of the defense line up in another zip code to prevent a Hail Mary.
Nobody covered the middle of the field, so Caleb Williams hit DJ Moore on a slant for the easiest completion of his life. They picked up 18 yards and spiked the ball in time to attempt a field goal. Game over.
Fortunately, it didn't cost the Packers a better playoff seed, but it still handed the Bears their first win in this rivalry since 2018.
Needless to say, it was a critical error on Hafley's part, and it left players as baffled as the rest of us, including Carrington Valentine.
Carrington Valentine places blame for final play on Packers coaches
Valentine tackled Moore on the 18-yard gain that led to Chicago's game-winning field goal. Asked about the play in his postgame interview, Valentine understandably wanted no part of the blame.
"I just did what I was told," said Valentine, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "Play outside leverage, try to keep them in the middle of the field, so the clock. They didn't have any timeouts. So I just did what was asked of me."
He kind of threw Hafley under the bus there, but who could blame him? It's not Valentine's fault that the Packers practically invited the Bears into field-goal range.
If there was a time to make a huge game-losing blunder, get it out of the way in a game that ultimately didn't matter. Even if the Packers won, it wouldn't have impacted their playoff seeding, as the Washington Commanders defeated the Dallas Cowboys.
Still, it crushed any hopes of regaining some momentum before the playoffs. The Packers finished 1-5 against NFC North opponents, with their only victory requiring a last-second blocked field goal. They will have to go through at least one NFC North opponent to make the Super Bowl.
At least the Packers know what not to do if they are attempting to prevent a game-losing field goal.