It wasn’t as consistently ugly as one might have expected, but the better team won as the Packers trounced the Bears at Soldier Field Sunday afternoon. Aaron Rodgers was surgical in his delivery, hitting tight end Jermichael Finley for three touchdowns en route to the 27-17 victory. It was a sloppy game for both sides, with penalties and turnovers a’plenty.
(3-0) Green Bay Packers 27
(1-2) Chicago Bears 17
After being rocked by New Orleans, Cutler enjoyed a leisurely, sack-free first half against the Packers, in which he heated up and began to find holes in the defensive schemes, keeping it within reach at 17-10 at halftime. Unfortunately, Jay’s two interceptions off-set the two Packer turnovers. Cutler became more skittish and off-target with his throws as the game drew on, often over-throwing his receivers. They didn’t help matters either. Roy Williams was involved in several negative plays as he was the target on both of Cutler’s interceptions, but those looked to be mostly on Jay. He did however drop a sure touchdown at the goal line which was forgotten thanks to the Dane Sanzenbacher score on the next play. Knox dropped a few passes and Hester couldn’t get enough separation, leaving Sanzenbacher to be on the receiving end of most of Jay’s throws.
On one sequence, the Bears managed a first down conversion to Sanzenbacher, but followed it with a false start on Devin Hester on a wildcat formation call, then a fumbled snap from Garza to Cutler and finishing with a perfectly thrown ball to Johnny Knox, which was then perfectly dropped. On another drive late in the first half, a 40-yard bomb to Johnny Knox was trailed by three straight incompletions at the goal line which secured the deflating field goal. Those series were just microcosms of the Bears’ day on offense: big plays surrounded by multiple bone-headed ones. What you didn’t see in that example was any run whatsoever, something the Bears did little of and with far less effectiveness than even they are used to. With -1 yard on six carries in the first half, I don’t really blame Martz for dropping the running game when it was that ineffective. What’s the point of running at a wall? Even when they tried to get creative they either screwed up or played right into the Packers’ hands. Thought he did need to get Matt Forte involved at some point, whether it be on the ground or through the air.
Chicago’s defense was made to look the fool by Mike McCarthy’s play-calling and Rodgers’ mastery of the hard-count, which drew Bear defenders off-sides several times. Running back Ryan grant got going early on, racking up 89 yards on only 14 carries, taking time away from James Starks. What really bit the Bears in the proverbial behind was their complete inability to keep track of Jermichael Finley in the red zone. You’d think after the first (or second) score that defenders wouldn’t lose him. There were a couple red zone stands from the Bears, forcing the Packers to settle for field goals, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the game.
The end of the game may have been marred by the brilliant/awkward/awesome punt return at the end of the game, where Devin Hester faked fair-catching the punt on one side of the field, but Johnny Knox was on the opposite side making the actual catch with absolutely no defenders in sight. Knox then took it down the sidelines and into the endzone, only needing to bypass the kicker on his way to the score. However, the refs convene and call holding on “number 29,” a number which does not exist on Bear special teams. But the announcers believed it was Corey Graham, who was nowhere near any Packer on the return. From the replays, it seemed as if they meant to call in on Zack Bowman, number 35, but it was nearly impossible to tell.
Wrapping up this long-winded analysis, the Bears were outplayed today, but they really beat themselves at every turn on Sunday afternoon. I can’t in good faith give all the credit to the Packers for taking advantage of a Martz offense that had NO idea what they were doing and couldn’t string successful plays together to save their lives. There were too many miscues by the offense, defense, coaching staff and Solider Field staff (metal spike in the ground anyone?) to think Chicago would escape at 2-1. Good luck next week boys.
Bear Down and Happy Jay Cutler Day!
