National Football League

History made in Packers-Bears game with no punts

Published Sep. 28, 2014 8:56 p.m. ET

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CHICAGO -- It caught the ears and piqued the curiosity of Aaron Rodgers in the locker room. Being part of NFL history can have that effect on players.

In this case, it was how neither the Green Bay Packers or Chicago Bears punted in their Week 4 game Sunday. It's only the second time that's ever happened in the history of the league.

As Mason Crosby was being interviewed after the game, Rodgers overheard the topic of conversation.

"That nobody ever punted?" Rodgers asked aloud. "Second time in NFL history?"

Having just read about this on the elevator ride down from the press box to the locker room, I was able to share the information.

"The other game was 1992; Bills-49ers," I told Rodgers, Crosby and another reporter.

Crosby responded with a simple, "Wow."

Rodgers didn't quite hear the answer clearly.

"Bills, what?" Rodgers asked.

"Bills-49ers in 1992," I replied.

"Forty-to-what?," Rodgers asked, still not clear on the information and misunderstanding "49ers" as being part of the game's final score. Many voices were loud in the background. Crosby heard it correctly, though.

"Bills-49ers," Crosby told him.

Rodgers wanted to know if the combined score of this Packers-Bears game (55 points) was fewer points than that 1992 matchup with Buffalo and San Francisco.

"Yeah, do you have a score?," Crosby echoed.

A quick Google search later revealed a 34-31 victory for the Bills over the 49ers, a combined 65 points.

Rodgers took that information to the podium.

"You don't go into a game thinking you're not going to punt -- or the other team isn't, as well -- and you're going to win by 21," Rodgers said. "But we had a good plan, we were aggressive early and guys made a lot of plays."

Head coach Mike McCarthy found out about this piece of history, too.

"I like punt returns and I don't have any problems when we don't punt, but to have two teams do it?" McCarthy said. "Second time in history, huh? Wow. Impressive."

Packers punter Tim Masthay still fulfilled his role in holding the ball for Crosby's extra points and field goals. However, he wasn't need for the main part of his job description.

"Late in the fourth quarter, I realized it was definitely a possibility," Masthay said. "Mason and I were talking on the sideline, I knew I had never been a part of it. I knew there couldn't be too many. I didn't know there was only one other in NFL history, but I figured it was a rarity."

Green Bay scored touchdowns on five of its seven drives, made one field goal and had another field-goal attempt blocked. The Bears had two series result in touchdowns and two end with interceptions. Chicago also had one field goal, one turnover on downs and ended both the first and second half with the ball as the clock ran out.

"I started thinking there was a high chance with about whatever it was, I think 5 minutes left in the game when Chicago took over and they were just running the ball," Masthay said. "It looked like the clock might run out (at the end of the game) and they probably weren't going to punt. Then, we were probably going to be able to run the clock out if we got it.

"Five minutes left in the fourth quarter, I was like, 'this is probably going to happen.'"

Indeed, it did happen. History was made.

Follow Paul Imig on Twitter

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