Well the Packers got an important win at Soldier Field yesterday…and it feels like all is right with the
world today…but is it? There is always value in taking a step back and assess the game with cool, calm unshaded eyes.
Here are some post-game rants and raves:
Rants
The officiating…WORST EVER! I have never seen a group of officials call a game with such balanced lousiness! It was a comedy of errors from the time the refs called illegal hands to the face on Julius Peppers when the penalty could ONLY have been on the offense. Even Mike Pereira made it clear in no uncertain terms that the refs called the penalty on the wrong team. There was just so much to rant about in this game…but Packers fans and Bears fans alike are ranting over that one. Personally, I have a rotten fish to put in the dashboard of Terry McAulay’s car…anybody wanna join me? And that is saying something since I am pretty happy with the Packers win!
The run defense. Matt Forte had 122 yards and averaged 5.3 a carry in this game. I don’t want to take away anything from the defense, who has gotten the job done for several games now, but we have to be better against the run. The Packers should have known that the Bears would want to establish the run…Matt Forte publicly expressed his unhappiness with the lack of a run game. We should have been ready.
Raves
Aaron Rodgers…4 TD’s and some of the prettiest passing I have seen in a long time. The post to Randall Cobb was SO pretty…I wanted to ask it to the prom! It is amazing to hear Packers pundits finding fault with a 38-17 win over one of the most potent offenses in the league. The Bears led the league in scoring last season and Jay Cutler was more in sync with his receivers than ever before…until he met the Packers yesterday. So another rave is…
The Packers defense. The Packers defense did not get Jay Cutler on the ground but they forced him to think fast…too fast! I love how pundits fault a defense that has given up a total of 27 points against the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears in successive weeks. Those teams score more than that a game! The defense has been good enough and the truth of the matter is that the Packers defense just has to be good enough when our offense does its job. Would I like to see them start to be dominant? Sure! But when the defense is getting picks and keeping opponents from scoring…well that is enough for me.
Morgan Burnett…I know, I know. I ranted about Morgan Burnett…and I have often mentioned how the safety making tackles is a sign of a bad defense. This was NOT the case Sunday. Morgan Burnett looked like a strong safety. He got his head in the game and laid some people out. Add to that the fact that Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had another great performance and our safety play has improved dramatically. No, we are not the best defense in the league but we are proving it in point totals and if you have ever played defense on a football team you know that the hallmark is whether or not the offense SCORES on you! This Packers defense is keeping teams out of the endzone…take it…leave it…the most important stat is what ends up on the scoreboard at the end of the game and the Packers defense is getting it done! There is NO argument against the scoreboard and the Packers defense has gotten it done since week two. Case in point is Ha Ha’s excellent stop on the goal line before the half. Don’t give me any crap…it was a STOP! When it comes down to it, the Bears had an excellent run game, good mix of play calls, great use of the tight end…and scored 17 points. Period.
Conclusion
While the Packers do have some things to improve on, no one can take away the fact that they defeated a dangerous in division rival on their own home turf. Do you think the Bears can come to Lambeau and get a win? I think not.
But what are your thoughts? Who are you ranting and raving about? Make your opinion known in the comments section BELOW…and GO PACK!!!
I agree Brady the officiating looked like Stevie Wonder had the stripes on this game. But the Packers got away with one on the first down call with Nelson, He was at least a foot away from getting it
And the obvious call on Peppers was just ludicrous anyone could see it was on the offensive lineman on that one.
As for the fish that would be to kind I say a bag of ____ would be better 😀
The run defense needs a lot of work but the Packers did play a lot of nickle and dime to keep the explosive receivers the Bears have in check and for the most part they did a very good job IMO.
This game was all on Rodgers, He started spreading the rock around to all his weapons right out of the gate and the results stand by themselves! When Aaron was singling out Nelson the defense just keyed on him like in Detroit and that made it very hard for any type of passing game.
This team lost its identity when they started trying to establish the run to open up the passing game, This team is a west coast offense and this game showed what they need to do to win, Pass the ball to all the weapons including the rookies, Short crossing routes in the flat and up & outs down the sidelines and sooner or later it will open up the run game for Lacy. It started to show late in the 3rd quarter when Lacy had some running room due to them playing the quick out passes with zone coverage. I am surprised that Starks did not get one carry in this game and Janis never came off the bench to stretch the field. I would have liked to see both of those players get some action especially after they got a 14 point lead.
With that said it was a good momentum booster for the team to get going on the right path again, I hope they do not take the Queenies lightly though and come out Thursday playing right where they left off with the Bears.
Go Pack Go!
I think you made some great points.
The only thing I disagree with is that this was all on Rodgers. McCarthy called a game utilizing his offensive players’ strengths, for the most part. For us, that just happens to be primarily Rodgers throwing the ball. If MM goes back to forcing a balanced attack with a non-existent run game, we can lose any game. Must say I’d about given up hope in McCarthy’s ability to call a game, but he redeemed himself – for now.
The perfect football game has never been played, so I can always find areas for the players and team to improve. I think the best performance was not by individual players, so much as the team played well overall on both sides of the ball. Often players benefit from the entire unit playing well, and this was an example of it.
Agreed:
These officials were the worst since the “Fail Mary” game. Jordy did not make that 1st down. Who calls penalties on FGs or extra points? There were 2 called in this game, mind boggling as neither impacted the play. The PF call on Burnett to Cutler was also ridiculous. Peppers was called for getting his face mask grabbed – that has to be a first. At least the calls against us didn’t take points off the board, and the same can’t be said for the Bears.
Our pass rush had enough pressure on Cutler in the second half to force some bad decisions. The first half was a another story.
Our run D is still a problem, as is tackling.
HHCD played very well, although still has plenty of room for improvement.
Disagree:
I actually felt bad for the Bears by the end of the game. But we’ve sure had our share of badly called games in the past too, so I guess it all evens out in the long run.
Bennett scored at the end of the half. If it had been called that way, it wouldn’t have been overturned as there wasn’t evidence to overturn the call on the field either way. The refs took 7 points off the board for Bears. The D holding call against Bostic on the FG gave us 4 points. (That’s an 11 pt swing in our favor for those counting.) Who knows how the game turns out if we’d been held to a FG (Bostic), no 1st down (Jordy), and the Bears given a TD (Bennett).
My rants:
Our MLBs are still too far off the line for most run plays.
I hope Crosby is not on the verge of another slump. His blocked kick was too low, and the long one was also too low and lucky to get over the D line. Hopefully those were because of the condition of Soldier field, and not Crosby.
Matthews was not a factor for most of the game – I’m not convinced that a banged up Clay is better than no Clay at all. His ability to remain healthy is a serious concern, and exaggerated by his salary. The thumb injuries last year were a fluke, but his recurring groin and hamstring injuries go back to his college days.
Our tackling was pathetic. There was not a single D player who didn’t miss at least one tackle in this game. Hyde looked like a midget trying to tackle Bennett. Sticky looked more like slippery. HHCD missed a few. Richardson missed a couple. But my biggest concern remains Burnett. While he was credited with 12 tackles (leading the D), he also missed a half dozen and probably more if I count again. He still needs to improve a lot.
Our D secondary struggled seriously with TE Bennett in coverage and tackling. Why didn’t Hayward play? Surely he’s a better option than Hyde or Burnett to cover the TE in nickle D. Hayward led the team with 6 INTs before going down with his injury. He’s the best ball hawk and slot/TE coverage CB we have, and he’s riding the bench. I saw nothing about him on the injury report.
Run game, our O-line is not opening holes for Lacy. His only decent runs came from Rodgers’ audibles to runs in zone coverage reads at the line – other than goal line situations which he did well. McCarthy is still calling draws, delays, and sweeps – which are not Lacy’s strong suit and never will be. Lacy needs to run into the line with a head of steam, as he did in those goal line situations. When holes open, he will find them. When holes are not there he’ll still move the pile for a yard or 2 – instead of taking losses on delays. Starks did not play, although he remains our most explosive RB and fastest to the hole RB. Why not?? (I realize that Starks isn’t as good in the passing game, but surely he’s more than adequate in the run game.)
I don’t buy that “pad level” rhetoric. In order to get his pads low, Lacy’s head will also be low and he can’t afford another concussion. There were a few plays where Kuhn was lined up at FB in the offset i ahead of Lacy and to the left of Rodgers. Lacy was handed the ball on a delay. Kuhn ran outside (left) to block (no one there to block), and Lacy cut it inside to a pile of defenders rather than follow Kuhn for a big gain. On one occasion Kuhn was standing alone outside and shaking his head. That needs to improve and has nothing to do with his speed. It’s Lacy’s vision and reading the play which needs work. There’s a very good blocker in front of him for a reason, and he needs to use his assets.
We opened the game with 2 nice passes to Rodgers, then never targeted a TE for the rest of the game. Quarless played most of the game while Rodgers and Bostic rode the bench. Quarless is good for 1 or more holding calls every game, can’t block, and can’t stretch the field. Yet McCarthy had him motion to FB ahead of Lacy several times. I’d like to see Rodgers and Bostic getting all of the playing time. The rookie will only improve and Bostic has big play ability which Quarless does not. Bostic beat Quarless out last year for the job, until he was injured.
My raves:
Rodgers was brilliant! Cutler is still Cutler, no matter who is his Head Coach.
How about Richardson’s awareness and reaction to recover that onside kick? Game changer!
Lattimore and Hawk played well, when they weren’t too far off the line and making first contact 8 yards down field on run plays.
Lacy was used well in goal line situations and always moved the pile ahead for a yard or 2.
Our WRs found ways to get open and make plays. Boykin will have a hard time getting his job back.
We capitalized upon our opportunities to score, whether they were legit penalties, bad calls, good field position, or just needing to respond with scores. No punts in this game, and only the second time that’s been done in the NFL.
Our D bent but did not break, and came through with more turnovers. After a questionable first half, they stepped it up in the second half.
Our secondary shut down one of the better WR duos in the NFL for an entire game. Wow even!
The final score was in our favor and more accurately reflected the capabilities of our offense.
This is a much improved Bears team. It was a huge division game in their house. This was a must win, and the way in which it was done bodes well for our future success. Go Pack go!