December 13, 2021
The Bears had some explosive
plays in the first half to jump ahead of the Green Bay Packers. The Bears
led 24-14 following a 97 yard punt return for a touchdown.
It only took 47 seconds for Rodgers & Co. to close the gap.
The Bears ended the half up 27-21. The Packers outscored the Bears 24 to
3 in the second half, leading to a 45-30 victory. Aaron Rogers
still owns the Bears, passing for 341 yards with 4 touchdowns. The
defense which was stout at the beginning fell apart in the second half. At
least there were no headset malfunctions.
The offense scored 20
points and a touchdown on special teams. I can’t remember the last time
the Bears scored 27 points in a game, let alone a half. Justin Fields was
good and bad. He hooked up with Jakeem Grant for a 46 yard touchdown.
Later he stared down his receiver and was intercepted
by Rusal Douglas who ran it in for a touchdown giving the
Packers a 14-10 lead. However, Fields came right back with a beautifully
thrown pass to Damiere Byrd for a 54 yard touchdown. With less than two
minutes in the half, Grant scored his second touchdown on a punt he should
have never caught near his goal line. Rodgers countered with a touchdown
pass to a wide open Davante Adams. It seems the Packers
frequently have wide open receivers when they play the Bears. Fields
engineered a nifty short drive to set up a Cairo Santos field goal. It was all
downhill after that.
Once again the defense
faltered, surrendering 45 points. Whether running or passing the Bear
defense was totally ineffective. GM Ryan Pace has gutted the defense which
keeps getting worse. There are major injuries but like the offense there is no
depth. The Bears have many holes to fill on both sides of the ball. They will
probably be without Allen Robinson and Akiem Hicks next year.
The Bears can’t go a game
without coaching blunders. Just because you are leading, doesn’t mean
you don’t make halftime adjustments. The offensive guru’s offense was
completely discombobulated and they didn’t score until the end of the
fourth quarter. Contrast this to the
Packers who made adjustments as early as the first quarter after sacks
and pressure on Rodgers. The most important thing for the Bears is to
protect Fields. One adjustment they could have made was adding a
blocker to help out rookie lineman Trevor Jenkins. He was getting beaten
all night. This caused Fields to be hit from the blind side and
fumble. This led to an easy Packer touchdown from 25 yards
out. Fields ran the ball well to keep from getting sacked and hit
less often. Nagy failed to call any roll-outs, insisting they run his
offense which has never worked. They had some play action which only works if
you’ve established the run. The coup de grace is Nagy opting to punt on fourth
down with inches to go, down eleven with a little over 8
minutes left. This shows he has little faith in his offense to convert
this. It’s not as bad a play if your defense is playing well. Watching his
defense, what the hell was he thinking?
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