Defense
- The Bears played mostly in standard cover two defense. They did occasionally blitz from various directions. All in all its a game plan that generally works well against the Packers at home.
- The Packers responded by trying to be patient with short passes. Generally a good game plan against the Bear defense.
- Given 1 and 2, I was a little disappointed that the Packers completed as many deepish passes as they did. They weren’t necessarily bombs but they were making big chunks of yards fast.
- Welcome back Henry Melton. Nice game.
- Aaron Rogers is so good at that hard count that he apparently can’t keep his own men on sides.
- The Packers ran far too well against the Bears defense.
- The Packers found a mismatch with Lance Briggs covering Jermichael Finley late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. They did a nice job of taking advantage.
- The Bears have to rush Rogers with more discipline. He rolls out of the pocket and buys far too much time.
Offense
- The interception by Morgan Burnett was on a ball just thrown too far inside. Throw it to the outside and that’s a catch for a lot of yards.
- The Bears inability to run the ball really hurt them this game. I know they didn’t call many but they couldn’t get any yards that way, either. The Packers were determined to make the Bears beat them through the air and they were able to do it.
- The Bears max protected Cutler pretty much all game.
- The Packers plan to combat this was interesting. They spent much of the first half in a zone defense rushing three or four. That’s in stark contrast to what they usually do which is play ferocious man-to-man defense. Personally I thought this was a gift that the Bears, unfortunately, weren’t able to execute well enough to take advantage of. They really should have moved the ball better today.
- Jay Cutler is down right gun shy. Despite the fact that the Bears were in max protect and generally were keeping the pocket clean, all he had to do was see blitz and he was throwing off of his back foot. Someone needs to talk to him and tell him that he can’t react like this.
- Probably related to 5, Cutler’s accuracy was pretty bad today. It didn’t help that no one on the field was able to consistently catch a pass when he did throw it well.
- Johnny Knox has to stop complaining about close interference calls and he has to start catching the ball. You don’t see the Packer receivers complaining because someone slapped their arm or hand. They get tough and concentrate and catch the ball anyway. Maybe receivers coach Darryl Drake should worry about telling that to Knox instead of worrying about telling reporters what separation is in the NFL.
Miscellaneous
- As usual Troy Aikman and Joe Buck were pretty good. As usual they made a lot good points and they didn’t miss much. Generally speaking I thought they were kind to the Bears this week (and it was much appreciated, at least by this blogger, because the game was otherwise quite frustrating).
- This was a unbelievably sloppy game penalty-wise. It was bad on both sides and I think I’d be more upset if I were a Packer fan. As noted above, Aaron Rogers’ hard count seemed to catch his own linemen more often than it did the Bears.
- Apparently the Park District is renting Soldier Field out as junk yard when the Bears aren’t playing now. I don’t know what that was sticking out of the ground but if I’m the NFL, I’m really thinking about fining the Bears for it.
- The drops wee a travesty. Cutler was inconsistent but the receivers made it far, far worse. Some of those passes just don’t get any better.
- I was glad to see the Bears get two turnovers, something they’ve had a hard time doing.
- We’ve come to expect a lot out of Bears special teams. They’ve been very ordinary this year. Great idea on the last punt return with Devin Hester drawing the attention of the coverage team while Knox took the return. Its a shame that it was ruined by a holding call that was nowhere near the ball. I don’t know what Cory Graham did but I saw him tapping his chest as if to acknowledge the mistake so it must have been justified on some level.
- There was never a point in this game where I thought the Bears were in it. There was certainly never a point where I thought they deserved to be in it. It isn’t just that they couldn’t run the ball. They also dropped passes and they committed penalties. They did all of the little things that make the difference between a losing team and a winning teaming the NFL. They had an opportunity to beat a Packers team that didn’t play well today. They responded by playing even worse. That’s very bad.
The Bears have some winnable games coming up now. They need to clean up their act if they are going to take advantage.