Packers Leave Bears Hurting

LeRoy Butler won’t mince his words. The injury-riddled Green Bay Packers aren’t the baddest bullies anymore.

“We’ve got three weeks to find ourselves and get some of our guys back,” Butler said after the Packers squeaked past the Chicago Bears, 26-20, on Sunday. “If we do get in the playoffs, we’re not going to scare anybody. They’re going to be like, ‘We’re playing the Green Bay Packers? So what?’ ”

Even battered--with a record 17 players on the injury report--the Packers (9-5) had enough to beat the Bears (3-11), who lost their sixth in a row.

Running back Dorsey Levens and wide receiver Antonio Freeman had 100-yard games and the Packers overcame the performances of former teammates Edgar Bennett and Glyn Milburn to beat the Bears for the ninth consecutive time.

Levens, in his third game back from a broken leg, carried 15 times for 105 yards, showing flashes of the Pro Bowl player he was last year. Freeman, in his first game back from a fractured jaw, caught eight passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers appeared to have the game in hand when Ryan Longwell’s fourth field goal made it 26-13 with 3:57 left.

But Milburn, traded from Green Bay to Chicago just before the season, returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, pulling Chicago to 26-20 with 3:40 remaining.

Chicago got one last chance, driving from its 25 to the Packer 25 in the closing minute. But the Packers sealed it with three straight sacks: Billy Lyon got his first ever, Reggie White stretched his career record to 192 1/2 and Santana Dotson got the last one.

“I’d rather have the ball intercepted in the end zone,” Bear Coach Dave Wannstedt said.