Aaron Rodgers still owns the Bears as Packers roll in the second half
The Packers and Aaron Rodgers still own the Bears as they rallied from a 27-21 halftime deficit to win it 45-30 at Lambeau Field on Sunday night.
The Bears jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but then Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to Allen Lazard on fourth down to cut into their lead. Rasul Douglas returned an interception for a touchdown for the second straight game to give the Packers the lead. The Bears would not go away as they connected on a long touchdown pass and returned a punt for a touchdown. The Packers scored a touchdown of their own but the Bears took advantage of a kickoff out of bounds to get a field goal before the half and a 27-21 halftime lead. The Packers came out in the third quarter and scored a touchdown to take a 28-27 lead. They would then take over from there, only allowing a single field goal by the Bears the rest of the way. In the end, the Packers won it 45-30 and did a great job of making halftime adjustments.
Thoughts about this win:
Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way. The special teams for the Packers were terrible in the first half. The way I see it, the Packers gave the Bears 13 points in special teams alone.
The defense wasn’t all that great in the first half. The Bears were very effective at running the ball and Justin Fields found the open receivers more often than not. The one blemish for the Bears is the pick-six by Rasul Douglas that gave the Packers a 14-10 lead at the time, the second straight game he returned an interception for a touchdown, the previous one coming against Matthew Stafford and the Rams.
It was obvious who was the better team at making halftime adjustments. Matt LaFleur was far better than Matt Nagy in that area in this game. It seems that Nagy went away from what made his team successful in the first half. Sometimes overthinking can get you in big trouble. It’s possible that this may be the last time we face him as the Bears’ head coach. Nagy is now 1-7 vs the Packers as a head coach.
A.J. Dillon didn’t have a touchdown in the game, but he did a lot of the dirty work for them. He helped to bring the team down near the goal line to start the third quarter but Aaron Jones got the final carry for the touchdown. Just keep doing what you do Dillon. You will get rewarded sooner or later.
Rasul Douglas continues to make huge plays for the Packers. Let’s sign him up for the long term.
The Packers dodged some major bullets in the second half on special teams. Amari Rodgers muffed a punt that the Bears recovered, but Kindle Vildor of the Bears was penalized for running out of bounds and not making an effort to come back in bounds right away. On the onside kick, the Bears recovered after Marquez Valdes-Scantling misplayed it and the Bears recovered. Khalil Herbert recovered it but couldn’t advance it for a touchdown, which he would have had if he could have advanced it, which he was not able to do.
The Packers have once again expanded their dominance over the Bears. They now lead the series 103-95-6. Keep in mind that the Bears once led the series 81-57-6 in 1992. The Packers have gone 46-14 since then. The Packers have beaten the Bears at least once every year except for 2005 and 2007. They have also swept the season series 17 times since 1994, and even though they split in the regular season in 2010, they defeated the Bears in the NFC Championship Game, so that makes 18 times that they won at least twice in a single season.
Wins over the Bears never get old, although the Packers had to work for this one. We never know how long this dominance will last, but many of us were saying the same thing around five or so years ago and we are still going strong vs our rivals from the Windy City.
The important thing is that it puts us in great shape as we fight for the best record in the NFC. The Cardinals host the Rams on Monday night, so we will see where we end up after this week. We still hold the #2 spot ahead of Tampa Bay. We are just waiting for someone to slip so we can get in the best position we can be for the playoffs.
This will be a great week for us as we once again got a win over our bitter rivals. They now head to Baltimore to play the Ravens. The question is whether they will be facing Lamar Jackson after he suffered an ankle injury during their loss to the Cleveland Browns. We shall see. In the meantime, let’s enjoy this win. The Packers are now 10-3, another double-digit winning season. Let’s continue to move forward into Baltimore and beyond.
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901
