I will admit to publicly pronouncing the season to be over more than once during the Packers’ opening game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. It’s hard to imagine a worse half of football, as Aaron Rodgers was injured, Khalil Mack looked like the second coming of Reggie White, and the Bears’ offense jumped out to a quick lead, made worse by the incompetence of Packer backup quarterback DeShone Kizer.
As the team entered halftime, the absolute best-case scenario appeared to be losing this game, and maybe getting Rodgers back in four to six weeks. Instead Rodgers emerged from the tunnel, and one healthy leg orchestrated one of the greatest comebacks in team history. So how did it happen? How did the team flip the switch from one half to the next? How did they break a streak of 107 straight losses when trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter? Here are the four big things that made the comeback possible.
1. The defense made adjustments
Comebacks are impossible if the defense doesn’t stop the other team from scoring, and after a suspect start to the game, Mike Pettine and crew confused and stifled the Bears despite an atrocious game from Clay Matthews. The young secondary played extremely well, and Pettine’s strategy of playing light and daring the Bears to run paid big dividends. The young corners more than held their own against the Bears’ receivers. Trubisky did most of his damage in the second half attacking the Packers safeties and linebackers, and still had little success. While the tackling was suspect and the pass rush was spotty, Trubisky rarely had an easy throw, and was often content to pull the ball down and take off. Sometimes that works, but it’s not a formula for long term success. The defense looked good and will only get better.
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2. Matt Nagy is not a genius
The new head coach of the Chicago Bears could have cemented a victory with better play-calling, but a few fourth quarter passes on 3rd-and-short allowed Green Bay to stay alive. Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen or Trubisky should have been called on to pick those up with their legs, and likely would have succeeded. Instead, the resulting incompletions saved the Packers their timeouts, and valuable seconds. Nagy is from the Andy Reid coaching tree, and it looks like he learned some of his bad clock management lessons.
3. Rodgers in rhythm
In the first half, Rodgers was taking his time as he often does. This played right into the hands of the Bears as their pass rush, anchored by recent acquisition Khalil Mack, is their strength. Rodgers and Kizer took a beating as Mack, Akiem Hicks and Leonard Floyd spent much of their time in the Packers’ backfield. While it’s still an open question as to how healthy Rodgers is, the injury almost certainly helped the Packers in this game by changing the Packer offensive philosophy. With an immobile Rodgers he was forced to play in rhythm, getting the ball out quickly, on time and on target. With Rodgers not sitting in the pocket long, the Bear pass rush was effectively neutralized, and because the secondary is not a strength of the Bears, Rodgers picked it apart.
This is similar to what happened in 2016 when Rodgers was suffering a hamstring injury, and the success that he has had when forced to play with more structure makes me think this should be more of a regular occurrence. The Patriots and Tom Brady play like this every game, to great effect, and Rodgers is every bit as accurate as Brady.
4. Allison and Cobb
Kyle Fuller is a very good cornerback, and he spent most of the night on Davante Adams. Outside of one excellent play by Adams, he did a good job. To come back the Packers needed to get some production from the other guys, and both Cobb and Allison delivered in a big way. Rodgers dropped a dime to Allison on a 39-yard strike in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to ten, and Cobb’s 75-yard touchdown catch to finally put the Packers ahead will be the stuff of legend. It would have been nice to see more out of Jimmy Graham or the rookie wideouts, but veteran production behind Adams was an issue last season, and in this game at least, it was a strength.
Matthews Struggled
Clay Matthews had one of the worst games you will ever see a linebacker play. He was easily pushed out of plays,
he took terrible angles,
and he sometimes did both simultaneously.
He was completely out of control, and while his strength and athleticism used to compensate for a lot of sloppy play, he’s aged, and he’s lost a few steps. Most players would learn some technique, or some veteran savvy during such a long career, but Matthews is a trainwreck, and he almost cost them the game with his play, and with an inexcusable late hit on Trubisky on fourth down.
This is an early candidate for worst play of the year.
Minnesota
The Packers will next face the Vikings in Lambeau, and while the Vikings’ defense is strong both upfront and in the secondary, a quick-throwing Rodgers is a recipe for success. This assumes Rodgers can play, but if he can, and if the defense can build on this initial effort, the Vikings are going to have their hands full.
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