Instant Replay Rescues the Packers, 14-13 : Green Bay: The game-winning touchdown is at first discounted, then, after a five-minute delay, declared good.

Don Majkowski’s arm delivered a touchdown pass in the closing seconds Sunday that appeared to beat the Chicago Bears, but where, everyone wanted to know, was the ball when it left his hand?

With a fourth down at the Bears’ 14-yard line with 32 seconds left, Majkowski scrambled and threw to Sterling Sharpe in the end zone. Line judge Jim Quirk ruled, however, that the Green Bay quarterback had crossed the line of scrimmage.

Fortunately for the Packers, the replay official saw it differently. So the Packers got the touchdown, Chris Jacke kicked the extra point and Green Bay had a 14-13 victory over the Bears, its first since 1984.

“I tell you if anybody doesn’t like the instant replay now, they’re crazy,” Green Bay Coach Lindy Infante said.

“I had full confidence that I wasn’t over the line,” said Majkowski, who had fumbled and thrown an interception to ruin two earlier fourth-quarter drives by Green Bay. “I have a pretty good sense of where I am on the field and I was disappointed that the referee threw the flag all the way from the other side of the field.”

The review of the replay took nearly five minutes to complete.

“This was a very important play. The game hinges on this play. We took our time and looked at both feeds,” replay official Bill Parkinson said. “The ball did not cross the line of scrimmage when he threw it.”

Bear linebacker Ron Rivera, who recovered the Majkowski fumble and intercepted one of his passes in the fourth quarter as the Bears defense tried to preserve a 13-7 lead, wasn’t satisfied.

“I always thought judgment calls couldn’t be overruled,” Rivera said. “If that’s what it’s come down to, they’ve definitely taken out the human nature in football. We might as well be robots in football uniforms.”

Majkowski shook off his two earlier mistakes, and starting with 4:44 to go, drove the Packers 73 yards for the winning score. Green Bay had a first down at the seven, but Majkowski was sacked and threw two incompletions, setting up the fourth down. He sprinted to his right and, at the last second, fired the ball to Sharpe, who was cutting across the end zone.

“After I didn’t see the initial pass open, I kind of went out and scrambled and bought some time and tried to make something happen on an improvised play, which we’ve done a couple of times this year,” Majkwoski said. “I just threw the ball in there and Sterling made a great play.”

Chicago Coach Mike Ditka said: “It’s a big win for them and a disappointing loss for us. I can’t comment (on the replay call). I really didn’t see it.”

The Packers (5-4) had lost eight straight to the Bears (5-4). Only six members of the current Packers had ever beaten Chicago.

Quarterback Jim Harbaugh, making his start of the season, led the Bears 80 yards to a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. The key plays of the drive included a pass to James Thornton for 22 yards and one to Dennis Gentry, good for 46 to the Packer 20. Brad Muster scored on a two-yard to make it 13-7.