We were wearing throw-backs. On Monday Night Football. Against Green Bay. And were picked to win by the majority of ESPN personalities. Bears fans know these are all bad signs. Ignoring them all, the Chicago Bears held serve at home and defeated the Green Bay Packers in an ugly contest 20-17 to stay undefeated and stand atop the NFC as the last unbeaten team.
From the opening drive and Robbie Gould's missed 49-yarder, it was obvious the Bears were going to have to earn this victory. Falling into a 10-0 hole towards the end of an ugly first half, the Bears drove back down the field to the goal line after a good return by Devin Hester, where Jay Cutler dropped it into Greg Olsen for their first score of the game.
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It was a veritable sack-fest early on, thanks to the Bears inability to block incoming rushers. Three sacks in the first half and plenty of QB hits gave dooming premonitions for Bear fans. On Jay Cutler's only legitimate interception on the night it was obvious Greg Olsen didn't cut back across the field quick enough and wasn't in the right spot, leading to the early interception. Desmond Clark dropped a sure touchdown from Jay Cutler, but after the defense forced a three-and-out from the Pack Devin Hester came back with his punt return TD, so no harm no foul, right? Cutler gets two or three interceptions called back thanks to penalties, which is something we can't see again.
Amidst the rapture of victory, it was a night of benching for some as Lovie Smith decided to shelve any player he didn't like or underperformed. Tommie Harris and Devin Aromashodu were benched via coach's decision before the game and Zack Bowman and Kevin Shaffer were pulled during the game. If you weren't playing up to snuff, you got benched. I'm not sure what Harris' issue was, but it meant enough to the coaching staff to declare him inactive for their biggest game so far. Missed tackles cost the Bear defense plenty of yards, but holding Aaron Rodgers and that offense to 17 points is about as good as it's going to get.
Devin Hester returned a punt in the first half nearly all the way but got caught by the punter. Lame. That led to a Greg Olsen touchdown on a solid drive that featured a deep pass to Johnny Knox. How embarrassing is it to get caught by the kicker? Hester may have wanted to make up for that one later (as well as his dropped passes) when he returned a punt 62 yards and leaped over the punter to make it into the end zone on a kick return for the first time in two years.
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Julius Peppers had a monster of a game, getting whatever Packer was in front of him to consistently false start and hold against him, preventing him from tallying a sack. After limping off the field in third quarter, he came back on that same series to force a holding call and block a field goal attempt that would have put the Packers up six. You can't undersell Peppers' value to this defense. He's a monster.
You're going to hear a lot about how the Packers shot themselves in the foot. It's definitely true. Green Bay's 17 penalties for 152 yards completely killed them and any momentum they ever gained. Holding calls, false starts, pass interference, roughing the passer, an intentional grounding and an idiotic unnecessary roughness penalty kept the Packers from putting points on the board and put their defense in constant holes. Aaron Rodgers and the offense kept chipping away at the Bears' cover-two defense, tossing it over the middle on nearly every play. The running game was non-existent for the Packers, only attempting 15 rushes on the night. They got a few garbage yards on the ground late, but the Pack never committed to the run. (The Bears really didn't either.)
In the fourth quarter, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher forced the best fumble in the history of fumbles, making the ball bounce backwards and not sideways at all! Tim Jennings, playing well in place of the benched Zack Bowman, recovered the ball, setting the Bears up in Green Bay territory. After an incompletion and a holding penalty, Cutler hits Olsen on 2nd and 20 to get the first down at the 35. From there the Bears drove it down to the goal line and simply handed the ball off, giving Gould a chance at redemption in the form of a 19-yard field goal with seconds on the clock.
Now, Bear fans (and the media), I have a message for you. Don't overreact. Don't mention the Super Bowl. This was a good win in a young season. Now Bear Down and Happy Jay Cutler Day!
