I told people I was watching the game with that we had to score a TD because Crosby can’t be counted on. We got the TD, then immediately I realized there was too much time left (see the Titans game last year).

The fact that we got the big interception shows me this might be a different team. That or we are owed a whole bunch of luck from the football gods and already cashed one in.

 I never expected all those things either. Ok game but the momentum shifted when Erlacher broke. What if he had played the whole game?

Both defenses were playing faster for much of the game. A lot, not all, but a lot of the poor play on the offense was forced by the opposing defense. Rodgers got clobbered a few times early and looked punch drunk for a good part of the game. Cutler was confused by the various looks he was seeing and was trying too hard, he settled down well at half time.

As for the Packers, I think there were some positives. Nelson looked good on kick return duty. I thought the defense had a great game. Fours interceptions and two sacks, with good pressure on Cutler for the most part. Grant showed flashes of his old burst through the line and powerful finish. Rodgers made the throw when he needed to to win the game. Crosby was 2 for 3 with one over 50, special teams played well overall.

What was bad? Rodgers missing some throws he usually doesn’t, and then the offense got out of sync with Driver and Nelson dropping passes they shouldn’t. Can’t give up four sacks. Tramon W had 1 pic, but dropped 2 others. The only time the run game looked good was after Urlacher was out.

So, moving forward, here is what I’m hoping to see. Get the tight ends more involved, 4 grabs for 14 yards isn’t good enough. A poster said elsewhere too much reliance on the run. I disagree, running backs ran 19 times for 69 yards. Hopefully, this is a product of the Bears really playing the run tough. As soon as Grant got it rolling, he came out and Wynn got stuffed twice. I’d like to see more Grant, especially late when they were having success.

I hope Nelson can bounce back and become a reliable #3. The o-line needs to tighten up and Rodgers settle down and hit those great long balls we are used to seeing. A little more commitment to the run – also a screen, draw, and some in the midle dumps to TEs to loosen the defense a little more.

The defense looked fine to me. The only oh crap play was Hester’s td, and I think Collins just couldn’t get into position. Bigby is hurt again, I think we have the depth to not feel that too much.

I hope the o-line can find itelf in the next few games. That is the key to many things that were subpar. Rodgers gets a little more time and the passing game gets more accurate. That opens up the inside for Grant. Successful run game gets time of possession in our favor. Looking forward to the next couple weeks and see how it all shakes out.

I’ll say this…..when the Bears play the Packer I root for terrorism. But I’ll take Urlacher’s overrated bald head getting knocked out for the season as a consolation prize. So for what its worth, thank you for that.

There’s a great deal of work to be done, but I’m glad we’ve got Aaron Rodgers and they’ve got Jay Cutler. Cutler is such an unlikable player…

The Packers’ D was a little better than I expected, although they seemed to give out a bit in the second half. The Bears seemed to make adjustments to stifle the pass rush around halftime.
The offense should be fine. As long as either a) we re-sign Taush when/if he’s ready or b) Barbre or Giacomini earns the job. Because, as far as I’m concerned, Barbre lost the job last night. That doesn’t mean it’s Breno’s, but we shouldn’t assume Barbre will be starting against Cincinnati. And if he’s half as bad as he was last night…well, let’s just hope he isn’t.

Multiple Cutler interceptions

There were some good things and some bad things. I’ll start out with the good things. Our defense looked really good. When Collins got hurt it really changed what we were doing on defense. With him in there Capers obviously feels a lot more comfortable bringing the blitzes from every which direction (which was working tremedousely). When he went out you could tell Capers got much more conservative in his play calling, and it was then that we started to give up some yards on defense. Hopefully Collins is fine because pretty much all the blitzes we ran were effective, and really hurried Cutler into doing things he didn’t want to do. Jolly and Jenkins both got penetration on nearly every play, and both looked great. Pickett looked good as well, and did a good job. I’m really excited to get Raji in the mix, as those 4 all will be great players on our line. Really all of the LB and CB corps looked good, with Chillar, Kampman, and Williams being the guys that really stuck out too me.

The special teams looked much better to me as well. Nelson is pretty good returning kickoffs and punts, though he scared the hell out of me bobbling two of those punts he fielded.

I’m not sure what to think about the offense. A positive for sure, is that Grant looked like the Grant of 07’. It’s hard to give Rodgers and the passing game a grade, because I think a lot of his struggles were that he could never get comfortable in the pocket, and couldn’t establish any rhythm. It also didn’t help that Nelson dropped those two, and that Driver couldn’t come down with one of his two drops either. The next thing is o-line play. I thought everyone looked pretty good, with the exception of Barbe…god does he suck. The guy looked like he had 40 lb. cement blocks for feet, and he looked weak as Ogunleye threw him right on his ass 3-4 times. Does anyone think bringing Tauscher back is something TT would look into? Or about Giancomini possible starting? I really don’t care what option happens, just as long as one of these does happen. Barbre was consistently horrible, and isn’t starting material.

I was pretty disappointed about the illegal contact call against Harris as well. First off, the Bears should have gotten an illegal formation penalty as they didn’t have enough guys on the line of scrimmage. Secondly, Harris made contact within the first 5 yards, which is legal to do. Third, Harris gave him a little two-handed tap on the shoulder. That call was a back one, because it was 3rd down and Chicago would have had to punt. Keep in mind, this was the drive that they eventually took the lead from us on as well. It was big that we didn’t give up a TD to them, which the defense deserves some commending for.

Overall, we played good defensively for the most part, and pretty shitty offensively. It’s encouraging to see we were still able to get a win, despite Barbre’s blocking struggles. The defense should only improve as the year goes on, and if we can get that RT figured out, then Rodgers will be shredding up opposing defenses like we’re used to seeing.

Although I’m going to have to put myself in the camp somewhere between the “I’m excited” and “I’m on the fence” options in the poll. What I do find troubling from a coaching standpoint is how little the preseason action carried over offensively to how they played. Maybe it’s because the starters only played a “real” defense once, against the Titans since the Browns, Cards, and the Bills don’t count. Maybe it’s because at the beginning of the year, the defense tends to be ahead of the offense (I always thought it was the other way around personally, since we don’t see those hard-hitting smashmouth struggles till the weather turns a bit colder..) and that caught the Packers off guard.

But the last three season openers were awfully flat. There was last year’s sleepwalking, conservative effort against Minnesota, and the game no one wanted to win the year before against Philly. And of course the shutout loss the year before that to the Bears as well, back in 2006. Makes me worried about McCarthy, but the criticism is similar, especially with a new-look offensive line.

The defense looked outstanding though, and I can’t wait to see how they continue performing throughout the year. I think if Green Bay can clean up their front five (or six or seven if they need to- remember in 07 we had this problem as well and we remedied it by using max protection schemes on a ton of plays?) then everything else will flow. The receivers weren’t doing Rodgers any favors either- Driver had a whole bunch of uncharacteric drops in addition to Nelson and I don’t know what the purpose of Deshawn Wynn in the game was. Where was Brandon Jackson? I am excited to see though, between the preseason and this game, that the coaching staff is letting Rodgers have far more control of the offense than before. You can’t excuse the safety he took too much, but he should’ve just ran towards the sideline and toss it rather than looking to make a play when he was backed up that far against the endzone. That was a real good play by the Bear defender that got him though, because he held Rodgers’ arm to make sure he couldn’t throw it away.

Pretty psyched about squaring off against Cincy this week!

Bears defense better
Packer offense will improve
Protection has to
http://www.PackerHaiku.com

The one glaring hole in Green Bay’s game was it’s offensive line. Packer Pete has pretty well covered my concerns, most especially regarding the penalties. Allen Barbe’s performance was, to put it kindly, substandard. Unless the O-Line improves significantly, it;s going to be another long season. Even McCarthy, who is no football genius in my opinion, recognizes that reality. On the upside, I thought the defense played very well, considering they were carrying the load for most of the game. There were some impressive plays and they kept Jay Cutler rattled for a good part of the night. I see nothing but improvement for the defense as the season progresses. The offense needs to step it up, especially the line. With a medicore runing back, protecting the QB becomes an imparitive. The line gets a failing grade in that department.