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*The Bears Defense played well enough to win. They did what they had to do…they put pressure on Rodgers, they gave up rushing yards but they stopped the run when they had to on 3rd and short, they had a couple turnovers, which gave the Bears an easy TD and prevented a Packer score. You can’t blame them for the fake FG TD, and the pass to Driver was more like the dam finally breaking than anything else.
*The Packers really missed Jennings. Not only is he their best skill position player other than Rodgers, he also is Rodgers go-to guy because of his hands. The Packers had a ton of drops from Nelson, Finley, and Jones. I think this made the Packers run on all short yardage plays, because Mccarthy couldn’t trust his guys to actually catch the ball. Jones dropped a fairly easy TD catch, which was one of the big plays in the game.
*Dave Toub’s special teams were putrid. It seemed like the Bears D would force a punt, and everyone was waiting for Hester to spark the team with a big play, but nothing ever happened. Even the kick returns were disappointing, because Crosby would kick the ball short but Hester couldn’t take advantage. The fake FG was surprising, but the Bears are so predictable in overloading one side to get Peppers a FG block, that it was a pretty simple TD for Crabtree. I’ll have to look at it again, but I think the Bears had 8 players on the left side of the Packers long snapper. It was too easy for Crabtree to run to the right, because Conte and DJ Moore both had two blockers on them.
*To be honest, I think the Bears comeback hopes evaporated when Matt Forte got hurt. When I saw him on the sidelines, I thought there was no way Michael Bush was going to beat the Packers running up the middle for 4 yards a pop. Bush just wasn’t threatening enough to keep the Packers from running in on Cutler.
*JaMarcus Webb got away with murder on his holds, and he still was ineffective. Some plays he would try to grab Matthews, but he would still whiff. Tice might be the new coordinator, but the scheme still looked too much like Martz for my taste. In the 2nd half Tice would have Davis or Bush chip Matthews then flare out, but Cutler would hold the ball so long that Matthews could regain his balance and still get to Cutler. On one play Webb grabbed Matthews shoulder pads and simply threw him past Cutler…but Cutler still hadn’t throw the ball and was scrambling so Matthews turned around and ran at Cutler, and Webb jumped on Matthews’ back as he ran by.
*I’m not getting into Cutler’s “demeanor” and “bitchiness”, but his play on the field was terrible. His best pass was dropped by Marshall in the end zone (one of the biggest plays of the game in retrospect), but most of the time he was either getting sacked or running in circles from imaginary pressure. Cutler needs to learn when to throw the ball away. On all of his scrambles, I can’t think of one play that actually had a positive result. They were either sacks, INTs, or incomplete passes. Rodgers was also getting pressured (not to the extent of Cutler), and he would dump the ball off. His only INT came when he and James Jones weren’t on the same page.
*The Packers really missed Jennings. Not only is he their best skill position player other than Rodgers, he also is Rodgers go-to guy because of his hands. The Packers had a ton of drops from Nelson, Finley, and Jones. I think this made the Packers run on all short yardage plays, because Mccarthy couldn’t trust his guys to actually catch the ball. Jones dropped a fairly easy TD catch, which was one of the big plays in the game.
*Dave Toub’s special teams were putrid. It seemed like the Bears D would force a punt, and everyone was waiting for Hester to spark the team with a big play, but nothing ever happened. Even the kick returns were disappointing, because Crosby would kick the ball short but Hester couldn’t take advantage. The fake FG was surprising, but the Bears are so predictable in overloading one side to get Peppers a FG block, that it was a pretty simple TD for Crabtree. I’ll have to look at it again, but I think the Bears had 8 players on the left side of the Packers long snapper. It was too easy for Crabtree to run to the right, because Conte and DJ Moore both had two blockers on them.
*To be honest, I think the Bears comeback hopes evaporated when Matt Forte got hurt. When I saw him on the sidelines, I thought there was no way Michael Bush was going to beat the Packers running up the middle for 4 yards a pop. Bush just wasn’t threatening enough to keep the Packers from running in on Cutler.
*JaMarcus Webb got away with murder on his holds, and he still was ineffective. Some plays he would try to grab Matthews, but he would still whiff. Tice might be the new coordinator, but the scheme still looked too much like Martz for my taste. In the 2nd half Tice would have Davis or Bush chip Matthews then flare out, but Cutler would hold the ball so long that Matthews could regain his balance and still get to Cutler. On one play Webb grabbed Matthews shoulder pads and simply threw him past Cutler…but Cutler still hadn’t throw the ball and was scrambling so Matthews turned around and ran at Cutler, and Webb jumped on Matthews’ back as he ran by.
*I’m not getting into Cutler’s “demeanor” and “bitchiness”, but his play on the field was terrible. His best pass was dropped by Marshall in the end zone (one of the biggest plays of the game in retrospect), but most of the time he was either getting sacked or running in circles from imaginary pressure. Cutler needs to learn when to throw the ball away. On all of his scrambles, I can’t think of one play that actually had a positive result. They were either sacks, INTs, or incomplete passes. Rodgers was also getting pressured (not to the extent of Cutler), and he would dump the ball off. His only INT came when he and James Jones weren’t on the same page.
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