Offense
- Williams had some inaccurate passes once again, especially early in the game. I really think that this may have to do with the fact that head coach Ben Johnson hired a first-time quarterback coach in J.T. Barrett. Williams needs someone to diagnose this problem and work with him on it. I’m thinking that he might not get that until the offseason.
- You knew that the Packers were going to throw tight man coverage at the Bears because they always do. They’re among the toughest in the league to execute against when they are on their game, and it gave the Bears a lot of trouble. It’s the kind of defense that you need explosive plays against, both in the run game and the pass game. The Bears didn’t have many.
- The Packers got a lot of pressure on Williams in passing situations. Some of it was from Michal Parsons, but a lot of it was on guys coming up the middle. Williams is poor statistically when pressured. Though, in fairness, some of that was just getting rid of the ball today.
- I think about halfway through the second quarter that Johnson remembered the game against the Eagles where he said after the game that he wished he’d called more runs. Because he started calling a lot more of them at about that point.
- The Bears really attacked the Packers inside on the run. It was a good plan. They have a lot of speed on defense and they were missing their best defensive tackle in Devonte Wyatt. The running game really got going late in the third quarter and it was critical to their success at that time in the game.
- The end around didn’t really work today. They take a long time to develop and I think the Packers were very ready for it.
- For whatever reason, I thought too many players like D’Andre Swift and Cole Kmet were going down without contact. That needs to get better.
Defense
- The Packers came out executing and you knew that the Bears once again were going to get their best.
- It looked like the Bears were trying to keep everything in front of them and were giving up the shorter passes. The Packers were executing well when they took what the Bears were giving them.
- No one can be surprised that the Bears blitzed a great deal of the time. They can’t get pressure otherwise, and getting pressure on Love was something they were going to have to do. He’s not great statistically when he’s pressured. The Packers generally did a good job of picking it up and Love did a good job today.
- The Packers did a great job of running play action against the Bears. They drew the linebackers and the buckle back up and then did a superb job of hitting the receiver behind them. It was Johnson’s dream on the other sideline, run just like it’s supposed to work.
- Time after time, the Packers targeted Kevin Byard and C.J. Gardner-Johnson in coverage. They must have spotted something that others have missed there.
- Jordan Love is playing with about as much confidence as I’ve ever seen him play with. He seemed to have an answer for everything the Bears threw at him today. Again, it helps that the Bears got very little pressure on him.
- I thought it was interesting that though T.J. Edward’s was back, they played him at weak side linebacker rather than at middle linebacker.
- Too often there was a Bears defender in place on the outside who was isolated on a receiver behind the line of scrimmage who missed the tackle. The Bears will undoubtedly be working on that this week.
Miscellaneous
- Tom Brady had some interesting tidbits about what it was like to play in cold-weather games today. Most of it was new to me. I’m surprised at how much I like Brady on the call. He warmed my rugby-loving heart when he mentioned the New Zealand All Blacks.
- Once again, I think that there’s no escaping the fact that the Bears are at a disadvantage when it comes to starting positions on kickoffs. Most kickers nowadays seem to have a knack for kicking the ball just short of the end zone, and the Bears usually end up at about the 20-yard line when the opponent executes it right.
- Suffice it to say that both teams had some dumb penalties, especially Green Bay. The Bears were mostly clean after the first quarter.
- It was very evident that the players were into this game on both sides. I’d say some of the rookies got a good feel for what this rivalry should be like. It was a tough, physical, chippy game, and though I deplore the penalties that sometimes resulted, I didn’t mind it otherwise.
- Both quarterbacks did a good job of throwing the ball away under pressure today. You don’t see as much of that in the NFL as you should.
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I’ve found myself all season making excuses for why the Bears were winning. They played an easy schedule and when they played a really good team (the Eagles) they didnt’ play well. Not today. The Packers are one of the best teams in the NFL, if not the best, and they played well. This showed me something.
In many ways, this loss was good for the Bears. They are ahead of schedule in so many ways. They’re still getting the offense under their belts, and Williams is still working through his accuracy issues, and I don’t think that’s going to get sorted out in the short term. He needs help that he isn’t getting yet. But he will. Defensively, they haven’t gotten their pass rush established, and I’m sure that will be the number one need in the offseason.
Good, competitive game. Very good game.