GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – That was about as wild as it gets.
The Green Bay Packers were able to overcome a comedy of errors with their special teams, lose the last of their preferred starters on the offensive line, give up two explosive touchdowns on defense and a shaky, post bye start on offense to beat the Chicago Bears 45-30 on a balmy, 37 degree night at Lambeau Field in front of a house of 78,273 fans and a Football Night in America national television audience.
Chicago led 3-0 after the first quarter when the game erupted with big plays galore. Both teams combined for 45 points in the second quarter. The Bears put up 24, a total they exceeded in an entire game only once this season. Jakeem Grant Sr. put his speed on display first with a shovel pass that he took around the left end and scooted past everyone for a 46 yard touchdown and a 10-nothing lead for the 12 point underdog Bears.
The Packers answered with two touchdowns in short order. Allen Lazard made a crafty move from the slot on 4th and goal from the two to catch the first of four Aaron Rodgers touchdown passes. After giving up a 40 yard kickoff return, rookie Justin Fields, back in the lineup after missing two games with a cracked rib, zeroed in on Darnell Mooney and his pass was jumped by Rasul Douglas. He took the interception 55 yards to the house making it pick sixes in back to back games, the first Packer to do that since Herb Adderley.
The 14-10 lead was short lived as Fields hit Damiere Byrd on a short slant that ruptured into a 54 yard touchdown a minute and a half later. The fireworks kept coming. When Green Bay stalled at midfield, Cory Bojorquez sent Grant back to his three yard line with a punt. Starting to his right but finding no room, Grant cut left and the sideline was clean. 97 yards later, the Bears were on top 24-14.
It took the Packers only 4 plays to cover 75 yards, the last 38 came on a play Rodgers drew up on the palm of his hand in the huddle. He found Davante Adams on an out and up route up the left sideline. He dropped a perfect ball that Adams caught at the 10 and with one stutter step jump cut, left two Chicago defenders tumbling like bowling pins for a 38 yard touchdown with just :44 left in the half.
Plenty of time for Chicago to get another big return, 42 yards from Khalil Herbert on the ensuing kickoff which set up a 44 yard Cairo Santos field goal at the gun for a 27-21 halftime lead.
At intermission, Preston Smith got loud and vulgar with his mates about the first half performance. The message was heard.
Green Bay hammered A.J. Dillon on the ground for 36 yards on six carries and Aaron Jones capped the drive with a three yard touchdown to put the Packers on top for good.
Smith led by word and deed as he sacked Fields two snaps later, knocking the ball loose and Rashan Gary covered it up at the 23.
On the next snap, Rodgers rolled right and at the last minute, saw Jones drift behind defensive lineman Bilal Nichols in coverage. He lofted the ball just a tad higher, Jones pulled it down and raced to the pylon for his second score in 60 seconds to put the Packers up 35-27.
A three and out from the suddenly inspired defense led to a Mason Crosby 20 yard field goal and an 11 point lead into the 4th quarter.
The Packers then consumed 8:38 of the final period on a 13 play, 71 yard drive capped by Adams’ second touchdown. It was a clinical slant pattern that covered only three yards. Split wide right alone with Jaylon Johnson, a talented second year corner playing strong inside leverage, Adams used his quick feet, a turn of his head feinting a fade route and a quick pivot inside that left Johnson twisting in the wind.
In scramble mode, Fields drove the Bears in position for a 43 yard Santos field goal and after one more special teams mistake, failing to cover the onside kick that bounced over Marquez Valdes-Scantling and into the arms of Herbert, Chicago reached the Packer 27 before Fields was picked off again by Chandon Sullivan who reeled in a deflected ball at the 10.
It was practice squad quarterback Kurt Benkert, active for the first time in his four year NFL career, in place of Jordan Love on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, who took the final two knees to finish off the Bears.
Rodgers was magnificent for the third straight game playing on a broken pinkie toe. He was sacked by Robert Quinn on the opening series and after his 13th sack of the year, he made the mistake of doing the discount double check belt move with Rodgers watching from the ground. The reigning MVP proceeded to complete 29 of 37 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns for a passer rating of 141.1. It wasn’t the first time imitation turned into a flattening, not flattery. Rodgers improved to 23-5 all-time against Chicago and his four TD’s gave him 61 in the series, one more than Brett Favre put up. However, Rodgers said his healing toe came out much worse for the wear than in the previous three games playing on it.
It wasn’t the only hit for the offense. Late in the second quarter, right tackle Billy Turner got caught up in a pocket pile and hobbled off with a knee injury. Veteran Dennis Kelly stepped in and took snaps for the first time since being signed after a long run in Tennessee. The Packers may now be down to zero in the number of preferred line starters with Josh Myers, Elgton Jenkins and of course David Bakhtiari out with injuries.
While the defense locked down Chicago to three points in the second half and the offense piled up 439 yards with another impressive 35 minutes of possession time, the special teams were downright scary, if not comical.
The Bears piled up 259 yards on punt and kick returns but the issues went way beyond the cover units. Malik Taylor inexplicably tried to field a kickoff angling out of bounds and set the offense up at the five. Rookie Amari Rodgers had a punt glance off his facemask and the muff was recovered but the Packers were spared by a Chicago penalty on the play. Corey Bojorquez spiraled one punt of the side of his foot for 22 yards. On 4 punts, Bojo had a net average of 10 for the game. Mason Crosby, perhaps fearful of another kickoff return, pulled one kick out of bounds. At least a major issue through the middle part of the season, field goals and point after kicks, was a mystery solved as Crosby hit a chip shot three pointer and all six of his PAT’s.
After the game, LaFleur was asked point blank if Special Teams Coordinator Maurice Drayton’s job status is on the table, he quickly replied, “Absolutely not.”
Part of the problems stem from the fact the injury toll has pulled special team performers into more active offensive and defensive duty. Lazard for one now handles the slot for the injured Cobb. Two other receivers were knocked out of the game, Taylor with his recurring abdomen injury and Equanimeous St. Brown with a concussion. Tight end Dominique Dafney also left with an injury. The very bottom of the depth chart did not handle coverage assignments well.
One player who showed no ill effects of being away was linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. Placed in COVID protocols last week, Campbell was just re-activated on Saturday and against the Bears, piled up a whopping 16 tackles pushing him well past 100 on the season.
The inactive players were Bakhtiari, Vernon Scott, Isaiah McDuffie and Jack Heflin.
LaFleur opened his post-game press conference by talking how nice it was to have former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on hand. Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame last August, Tagliabue wanted to have his Hall of Fame ring presented not only at Lambeau Field but during the historic Packers-Bears matchup.
The Packers (10-3) reduced their magic number to clinch a third straight NFC North Division title to one. LaFleur is now 19-2 all time at home and 6 for 6 against Chicago. Green Bay travels to Baltimore next Sunday to meet the Ravens who lost at Cleveland Sunday 24-22 and lost quarterback Lamar Jackson to an ankle injury as he was carted off the field. That game has been pushed back from a noon to a 3:25 CST kickoff.
