The Bears entered this game with quite a bit of swagger. They brought back a historically great defense, an outstanding young coach, and most were hoping for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to improve in his third season. Instead the new and improved Packer defense destroyed every bit of optimism in Chicago and proved that it is now officially a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, we may not know just how good or poor the offense is for some time.
If Packer fans want to be optimistic, they can start with the fact that every major offseason defensive move the team made appears to be outstanding. The Smith Brothers, Preston and Za’Darius, added to replace Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, not only terrorized Trubisky, but bottled up all Bear running backs. Za’Darius was outstanding, creating seven pressures and a sack. Last season, the Packer defense created 9 total pressures combined over both games against Chicago.
Bolstering the now formidable pass rush, rookie safety Darnell Savage was a missile, showing off his incredible speed in chasing down ball carriers, and breaking on Trubisky’s errant passes. Savage was outstanding in coverage and should have had at least one interception. In fact, as impressive as the Packer defensive effort was, it could have been much better as both Savage and Kevin King dropped interceptions. Rounding out the new additions, former Bear Adrian Amos got the ultimate revenge with a game-sealing interception, and earlier in the game, a fantastic tackle (in conjunction with Kenny Clark) of Cordarrelle Patterson on a 3rd and short run.
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While some of this was laughably bad offense from Chicago, who decided to feature journeyman running back Mike Davis over the dynamic Tarik Cohen and high draft pick David Montgomery, the effort by the defense was a big part of it too. No Packer defense has played this well since the last Super Bowl season, and while they may struggle more against competent offenses, this group looks Super Bowl caliber if the offense can hold up their end of the bargain.
About that…
The Offensive Chicken and Egg
The Packers are built around Aaron Rodgers, and Matt LaFleur was supposed to reinvigorate a stale offensive philosophy, but outside of one drive, that offense could not get going. The most troubling aspect was Aaron Rodgers continuing to hold the ball too long and taking a ton of hits as a result. Rodgers also seemed to have issues implementing play calls as he took the play clock down to one (and debatably zero) far too frequently. Much was made in the offseason about Rodgers ability to change plays at the line, and it seemed to be a legitimate problem on Thursday.
The game plan itself was also highly questionable as LaFleur opted to run Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams into a stout Bears front 18 times in 47 plays. Chicago shut it down, and Rodgers found himself in tough situations as a result. Rodgers also targeted Davante Adams and the tight ends above all else. While this is not a bad idea generally, Chicago corner Kyle Fuller made life difficult for Adams while Geronimo Allison, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling had much more favorable matchups. MVS did have the big blow of a beautiful play action pass for 47 yards, but the secondary receivers should have been more productive than they were.
Unfortunately, we probably won’t learn much more about the offense for three more weeks. The Vikings were fourth in defense last season and in their first game, looked every bit as good as Chicago. After Minnesota next week Green Bay faces Denver, who was fifth in defense last season, and is now coached by former Bears’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. It is entirely possible that the team continues to struggle offensively through no fault of their own, but the fact is that the division is loaded with good defenses, and at some point, if Aaron Rodgers continues to play poorly, he and Matt LaFleur will face some tough questions.
A Brief Note on Punting
The Packers’ secret weapon was punter J.K. Scott, who punted nine times for a 47.6-yard average and hit several boomers that flipped field position. In fact, by the advanced metric “Expected Points Added” or EPA, Scott had two of the ten most important plays of the game. The Packers have, in recent seasons, focused on finesse punting, but letting him loose was the right call here. He had a reputation in college for power punting, but it simply didn’t show up in his rookie season. Punters have an underrated, and underappreciated impact on the game, and Packer punters have mostly been a liability since Craig Hentrich. Scott may just swing special teams from a consistent problem to strength.
