In Christian Watson’s last game against the Chicago Bears, he tore his ACL before catching a pass. On Sunday, the script was flipped from last season’s Week 18 disaster.
Watson’s speed was the difference in the Green Bay Packers’ 28-21 Week 14 victory over their rivals. The fourth-year pro repeatedly torched the Bears’ secondary, hosting two long touchdowns on crucial third downs.
“It definitely means a lot to me. To be honest, I tried not to think about it too much, but as the game was getting going, it was definitely creeping into my mind a little bit,” Watson said of the injury last season, via Dominique Yates of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’m just so grateful and blessed to be able to do what I do and I’m happy that today turned out the way it did.”
Watson’s biggest play came deep in the third quarter after the Bears cut an 11-point deficit to three. Facing a third-and-3 at the Chicago 41, Jordan Love read the entire stream and made a diagonal check to Watson. The speedster beat off the line, calmly caught a perfect pass and ran from CJ Gardner-Johnson. Watson’s speed broke the safety corner that Kevin Byard tried to get.
“As soon as I saw Jordan make a check, honestly, I’d say I knew it was going to be a landscape,” Watson said. “Anytime you get coverage on a person, that’s the mentality we should have.”
Watson led the Packers with 89 yards on four receptions with two touchdowns.