Once again we must examine a Packers victory from the perspective of the vanquished, Da Bears, who apparently forgot that football games are 60 minutes, not 59 minutes 22 seconds long …

… after they forgot that plays end upon an official’s whistle, not before then.

The two players missing most of their season, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Randall Cobb, made up for lost time with Cobb’s touchdown catch on fourth down with 38 seconds remaining to give the Packers the 33-28 win, NFC North title and first-round home playoff game, against San Francisco Sunday at 3:40 p.m. Whether they deserve the playoff spot is immaterial, since someone must win the NFC North every season.

ESPN’s Michael C. Wright focuses on the play that gave the Packers their first lead:

Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman struggled to explain Sunday how Green Bay’s Jarrett Boykin scooped up a loose ball and scored while everybody else on the field stood and watched.

The play was perhaps the most unusual turn of events in a 33-28 Packers victory at Soldier Field which end the Bears’ season.

“We didn’t pick it up and scoop and score with it. For me to try to explain why that happened, I really can’t at this time because we’ve never allowed the ball to sit on the ground like that at any time in practice,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said.

Green Bay took a 10-7 lead basically as the result of failure by the home team to play heads-up football.

With 3:28 left in the opening half, Julius Peppers sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers from behind as Rodgers attempted to throw the ball. The ball came loose and hit the cold, damp turf at Soldier Field. Players from both teams froze, and officials never blew the play dead.

As players from both teams watched, Boykin alertly picked up the ball and romped 15 yards for a touchdown.

“[The whistle] didn’t blow, that’s why they allowed it to be a touchdown. Twenty-two players basically stopped,” Trestman said. “[No.] 11 probably got the word from the sideline to pick the ball up because it was over on their side. But I thought both teams stopped. So that’s why it’s such an unusual situation. Nobody got on the football.”

Officials immediately reviewed the play and determined Rodgers fumbled as opposed to throwing incomplete, and confirmed the original call of a Boykin touchdown.

“We all thought it was a dead ball,” said linebacker James Anderson, who watched the ball roll right past him. “That’s why everyone kind of stopped. It was a big play. We need to make sure that we hear the whistle. I thought I did [hear a whistle], but I don’t even know initially if anyone else knew what it was a live ball.”

Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker will take some heat for the club’s defense not being more alert and not following the tenet of playing until the whistle is blown, something taught to players at every level. Surely, some will question whether or not a defense coached by Lovie Smith would have let such a play occur.

Given what was on the line — the NFC North title and a berth in the playoffs — all those criticisms would be legitimate, but it appeared the players should shoulder the blame in this instance.

At Bears’ practices, every time the ball hits the ground — even on an incomplete pass — typically a defender scoops it up and starts running the other way.

“I guess the one time that you don’t, it hurts you,” Anderson said. “That’s neither here nor there. That was one play in the game, and we still had an opportunity to win.”

The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Rosenbloom is, safe to say, livid:

Just when you thought the Bears defense couldn’t humiliate itself any worse, there was Sunday’s final minute against the Packers.

The defense had been a mess all season. A joke. An embarrassment. One humiliation after another.

And that was true right down to the end. Right down to Aaron Rodgers’ 48-yard bomb to Randall Cobb on fourth-and-8 in a game the Bears led 28-27.

Fourth-and-8, do you hear me? The Bears couldn’t make that stop, and like that, they choked the game, a division title and a playoff spot.

With the Bears blitzing, Julius Peppers was cut as he charged at Rodgers, who stepped away and found a receiver so wide open behind the unconscionably bad secondary that he underthrew Cobb.

Think about that: The Bears blitzed on the decisive play of the season, even though they’re the worst blitzing team in the league, and then, despite knowing the blitz was on, the safeties, disasters all season, either sprinted up or sat down, and either way, they inexcusably let a receiver get behind them at the dumbest possible time.

Like that, the Packers converted three fourth downs on the final drive that covered 87 yards. Fourth downs, I’m telling you.

We’re talking about a choke of epic proportions, which is saying something for this year’s monumentally pathetic defense.

Look, I know that if the Bears had won, then they would’ve found another way to embarrass themselves nationally on defense in the playoffs. But still. Bad and stupid is just ridiculous when it’s as regular as the Bears defense.

Same mental mistakes. Same physical mistakes. Same stupid plays by the same lame players and coaches who apparently can’t teach defending fourth-and-season-to-go. …

All week, I believed this game was about Jay Cutler. This season was all about Cutler, and this game was a perfect ending — the division and a playoff spot on the line against a team that had tortured Cutler since he became a Bear.

And then Cutler directed four TD drives — three straight in the second half — and finished with 15 completions on 24 attempts for 226 yards and two TDs and one interception.

The pick came on the last play of the game — of the season — on a desperation throw forced by a horrible defense that couldn’t stop the Packers on fourth-and-8 at the 48.

Fourth-and-8 at the 48 — they teach that in clown college, right? …

Cutler played well enough to earn a playoff spot Sunday. Cutler played well enough to give the Bears reason to spend the money that a wanna-be franchise quarterback commands this offseason.

But Cutler’s price is nothing compared to the cost of deporting everybody on the Bears defense.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley looks at the same play:

The Packers converted two fourth downs on the same drive Sunday, but now faced their longest conversion attempt: fourth-and-8 from the Bears’ 48 with 46 seconds remaining.

Get a stop, the game’s over, and the Bears win the NFC North.

The Bears would be bold.

They would blitz.

To quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ left, Julius Peppers dove and missed. Rodgers spun left, away from the rush, and spotted receiver Randall Cobb sprinting down the left hash, waiving.

He was wide open, having sprinted past a blown zone coverage for a 48-yard touchdown — and an epic 33-28 Bears loss.

“When you’ve got an all-out blitz on, you’re leaving the back end one-on-one,” coach Marc Trestman said. “What you’re counting on happening is that blitz has got to get there, so he can get rid of the ball.“

Cornerback Zack Bowman said the Bears “had some miscommunications on the back end — and that’s what happens when you have some miscommunications on the back end.”

The Sun–Times’ Rick Morrissey is no happier:

It ended the way it probably should have, with a puzzling defensive decision by the Bears in the final minute of the game, the resultant defensive breakdown and the obligatory Green Bay Packers touchdown.

It ended with a blitz that fizzled and a 48-yard scoring pass from Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb, who was so open he looked like he was running unopposed for office. If I told you it ended on the third of three fourth-down conversions on the Packers’ drive, I don’t suppose you’d be surprised. No, I didn’t think so.

If you want a summary of the season, there it is. A bad defense couldn’t stop Rodgers on Sunday, and it certainly didn’t help that the Bears decided to bring the house on fourth-and-eight. …

One of the themes has been head-scratching decisions and boneheaded developments. Sunday didn’t disappoint. The decision to blitz on fourth down didn’t make a whole lot of sense at the snap, and it looked downright brainless when Packers fullback John Kuhn was able to block Julius Peppers. It allowed Rodgers to step to his left, buying him time, space and a spot in the playoffs.

“I wasn’t expecting empty ­pressure, but they went for it,’’ Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

“What you’re counting on happening is that the blitz is going to get there so [Rodgers] has got to get rid of the ball now,’’ Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “It’s not going to be a six-second play. Once Aaron Rodgers got outside the pocket, anything can happen.’’

Yes. Exactly. If Rodgers gets out of the pocket, havoc can ensue. And it did. I think they called that the chaos theory in “Jurassic Park.’’ You’re leading 28-27 with 46 seconds left, with the ball at midfield. Why blitz? Tighten up the defense and keep him contained.

But, no. Cobb found himself all by himself in the secondary because this is the Bears’ defense and that’s what happens.

More from the Arlington Daily Herald’s Bob LeGere:

It wasn’t the collective brain cramp late in the first half that lost Sunday’s game for the Bears.

Even though 11 defenders stood around watching as Packers wide receiver Jarrett Boykin scooped up a loose ball and pranced 15 yards for a touchdown, they were able to overcome that.

What they weren’t able to overcome is a defense that couldn’t make a play when it had ample opportunities with the game on the line. The result was a 33-28 loss at Soldier Field to the Packers, who claimed the NFC North title and a home game to start the playoffs next weekend. The Bears get to watch from home. …

But it was the Packers’ last possession that put the magnifying glass on a Bears defense that has been a burden most of the season.

Green Bay went 87 yards on 15 plays in 5:46 and converted not 1, not 2, but 3 fourth-down plays along the way. The dagger was a fourth-and-8 play from the Bears’ 48.

Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker sent an all-out blitz, which never got there. Rodgers got outside a pass rush what was supposed to keep him contained.

“Once Rodgers gout outside the pocket, anything can happen,” Trestman said. “You have to marvel at the fact he was going to his left and made that kind of throw (back to the right).”

After that it was easy because no one covered wide receiver Randall Cobb, who ran unaccompanied down the middle of the field, caught Rodgers’ toss down all alone behind the secondary and sprinted in for the winner with 38 seconds left.

“It came down to the last play, fourth-and-8, we had an all-out blitz,” defensive lineman Corey Wootton said. “We have to make that play. That’s on us, the D-line.”

Cornerback Zack Bowman, who did not have responsibility for Cobb, gave chase but to no avail.

“In the back end, we had some miscommunication,” Bowman said. “As a group we all take responsibility for the play. When everybody doesn’t get on the same page that’s when you get a big play.”

Prior to Cobb coming free, safety Chris Conte was the closest defender to him, as nickel corner Isaiah Frey was one of the Bears’ blitzers. …

Maybe the late-season fade can’t be compared to the collapse of the Detroit Lions, who went 1-6 in their last seven. But Trestman’s team had two opportunities to wrap up the NFC North and a playoff berth.

Instead, the Bears won’t be involved in the postseason party for the sixth time in seven years.