GREEN BAY – Trailing the Packers 14-3 at halftime of Sunday's first-place showdown at Lambeau Field, the Bears valiantly rallied in the second half, scoring on three straight possessions to eventually tie the score 21-21 with 8:00 to play.

And even after Josh Jacobs' 2-yard touchdown run gave Green Bay a 28-21 lead with 3:32 remaining, the Bears were in position to overcome a deficit in the final 2:00 of regulation for the fifth time in their last seven road games.

But this time they fell just short. On fourth-and-1 from the Packers' 14, Caleb Williams' pass intended for Cole Kmet in the end zone was intercepted by cornerback Keisean Nixon with :22 to go, preserving Green Bay's 28-21 win.

"When it comes down to the wire like that and you're on the losing side of it, it's disappointing," said coach Ben Johnson. "But a lot of credit to our guys in the second half there making it a game, down 14-3 at halftime and yet it coming down to the last 30 seconds … Really close at the end but give a lot of credit to Green Bay. They made a couple more plays than us."

On the fourth-down snap, Williams rolled to his left. With a defender closing in on him and D'Andre Swift covered in the flat, the second-year quarterback lofted the ball to Kmet in the zone. But Nixon undercut the pass and made a leaping interception.

"We had two or three guys stacking Swift or right there with Swift," Williams said. "Rolled out and saw Cole … It's a gotta-have-it moment. They had a guy trailing me. I didn't feel that I could go get [the first down] myself. I've just got to give Cole a better shot at it, next time just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him. But in those moments, you want to put the ball in play and trust your guy or try to have your guy go make a play. I've just got to give him a better ball."

Williams completed 19 of 35 passes for 186 yards with two TDs, one interception and a 76.6 passer rating. He was sacked only one time, once again showing his exceptional escapability from a pass rush that hounded him.

"It's a really good defense," Johnson said. "We knew it was going to be a big challenge. You go on silent cadence against a really good pass rush group like that. They get off the ball and they pressure your quarterback. We certainly felt that in the first half and in the second half, too. I thought Caleb was doing everything he could. He put his Superman cape on a few times to not go down, extend the play. He found a couple big scrambles for us over the course of that game."

The Bears punted on their first three possessions of the contest, picking up only one first down. In the first half, the offense was held to 71 total yards and 1 of 7 on third down. The unit clicked in the second half, generating 244 yards and converting 7 of 9 third downs to fuel the comeback.

"We've got a prideful group," Johnson said. "We weren't happy or pleased with our first-half performance on offense and sometimes just coming in and catching your breath for a second allows you to hit that reset button, and our guys responded the right way."

The Bears defense generated back-to-back impact plays on Green Bay's first drive of the game. After the Packers had reached the Chicago 38, Montez Sweat sacked Jordan Love for a 14-yard loss and C.J. Gardner-Johnson followed by intercepting a Love pass over the middle and returning it 28 yards to the Green Bay 36.

The defense, however, ultimately allowed Love to throw TD passes of 45 yards to Bo Melton and 41 and 23 yards to Christian Watson. The Packers quarterback finished the game completing 17 of 25 passes for 234 yards and a 120.7 passer rating.

"Their offense was explosive," Johnson said. "They found some big plays, [that] resulted in touchdowns on us. Fortunately, there in the second half our offense was able to find its footing a little bit, both in the run game and the passing game and it felt like we had a little bit of rhythm. So [we] made it a game but fell short."

The Bears rushed for 90 of their 138 yards in the second half. Swift ran for 63 yards on 13 carries and Kyle Monangai added 57 yards on 14 attempts in the game.

With receiver Rome Odunze inactive due to a foot injury, Luther Burden III made the most of expanded playing time, catching four passes for a team-high 67 yards.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak and dropped the Bears (9-4) into second place in the NFC North, a half game behind the Packers (9-3-1), with four games remaining. The Bears are one game ahead of the Lions (8-5) and will host both Green Bay in two weeks and Detroit in the season finale at Soldier Field.

Next Sunday the Bears will host the Browns at Soldier Field, the Packers will visit the Broncos and the Lions will travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams.

After the loss in Green Bay, Williams lamented the early struggles on offense, including a three-and-out that came on a drive that began at the Packers' 36 following Gardner-Johnson's interception.

"It's frustration because we shot ourselves in the foot more than anything," Williams said. "I need to start faster. We need to start faster. I think that will do us well as a team and as an offense, especially."

After the Packers took a 7-0 lead on Love's 23-yard TD pass to Watson early in the second quarter, Cairo Santos' 33-yard field goal cut the deficit to 7-3 with 1:14 left in the first half. But Green Bay answered immediately, extending their lead to 14-3 on Love's 45-yard TD pass to Melton.

The Bears closed the gap to 14-11 midway through the third quarter on Williams' 1-yard TD pass to Olamide Zaccheaus coupled with Monangai's two-point conversion run. The TD was set up by Williams' 26-yard pass to Kmet down the right sideline to the 11. The quarterback eluded a defender in the backfield, sprinted to his right and hit Kmet in stride.

On first-and-goal, Williams rolled to his right and side-armed a pass to Zaccheaus, who made a diving catch just inside the sideline with Nixon all over him.

Monangai was stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion, but he was pushed into the end zone by center Drew Dalman and left guard Joe Thuney.

The Packers again responded immediately, extending their lead to 21-11 just 2:10 after the Bears touchdown on Love's 41-yard TD pass to Watson.

The Bears again made it a one-score game at 21-14 on Santos' 41-yard field goal with 3:15 to play in the third quarter.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Williams engineered an impressive 17-play, 83-yard drive that he capped with a 1-yard TD pass to Colston Loveland, tying the score 21-21 with 8:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Packers ultimately scored the go-ahead TD and escaped with the win, setting the stage for a rematch between the rivals Saturday night, Dec. 20 at Soldier Field.