Well, I’ll be damned. The Packers with freshman coach Matt LaFleur have marched into Soldier Field and left with a fat W as Bears fans were booing and crying along the way.
The Bears defense didn’t do so bad themselves and deserve some recognition. The Packers’ first drive of the game was looking really bad as the Bears defense pushed them back to their 15-yard line at 4th and 20(which isn’t so bad once you see a 3rd and 40). There’s also something strangely satisfying about watching someone like Jimmy Graham try to block someone like Khalil Mack.
This is the first time under Aaron Rodgers that the Packers have negative yards gained (minus-12) through the first three drives in a game, according to ESPN Stats & Info. https://t.co/i2dSfyULqc
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 6, 2019
Their defense held the Packers to only 47 rushing yards with Aaron Jones averaging 3-yards per carry. Of course, the Bears only managed 46 rushing yards themselves. Someone mentioned here recently in the comments that it is going to be vital to sell the run for play action to even be taken seriously. I’d say that Packers came up short of that requirement last night. The longest run of the night at 10 yards was by Rodgers.
Rodgers was sacked 5 times for a total loss of 37 yards. Packers punter, JK Scott, recorded 9 punts in the game and it should also be mentioned that the Packers did not manage a single first down in the 1st quarter and produced an embarrassing -12 yards(that’s right, negative twelve). Rodgers seemed acutely aware of this and started the 2nd quarter with a 47-yard pass to WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (MVS). I imagine the sad remains of Rodgers’ once glorious mustache has become sentient and was giving him shit about the first quarter.
Jimmy Graham was out to prove himself still worthy this season of the big bucks and did a good job of it. There was one deep pass he missed an opportunity on, but overall, we saw how much more utilized he will be by the offense this season.
Trubisky played like some shitsky thanks to Blake Martinez and the rest of the Packers defense. While his numbers look decent, he didn’t deliver when it actually mattered. He also managed two delay-of-game penalties in a single drive in the 3rd quarter. Way to go, guy. Maybe someone like Rodgers can sit out the preseason, but Trubisky might want to take more than just a few snaps next preseason.
Real talk: just wasn’t prepared to see the Packers win last night — I am honestly and pleasantly surprised. Fox NFL posted a very telling graphic about LaFleur’s achievement last night in Chicago:
Packers defense won the day, and as of right now, they’re living up to hype built up around it during the off-season. Clay Matthews and Nick Perry will be missed in spirit, but the Packers D kept calm and carried on without them under Pettine’s leadership. It was a smart move for LaFleur to keep Pettine around and for the front office to focus on his players and that showed in this very first game of the season.
Speaking of new defensive personnel, OLB Za’Darius Smith and S Darnell Savage both showed that they are able to be productive right away. Za’Darius Smith, a former Baltimore Ravens linebacker acquired in March from free agency with a 4-year deal worth $66 million, claimed 3 tackles and a sack. OLB Preston Smith was also credited 5 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Preston was also signed this past March from free agency to a 4-year deal worth $52 million. S Adrian Amos, yet another player acquired this past March from free agency with a 4-year deal worth $37 million, managed an interception against his former team during a vital drive by the Bears to try and salvage the game. My primary takeaway from this game is that these moves to bolster the defense have a good chance of taking the Packers back to the playoffs where they belong. The hype was real last night.
Whatever happens, we saw a 3rd and 40 tonight. That really happened.
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) September 6, 2019
Last night has to be disparaging for Bears fans, as being unable to stop the Packers at home with the odds stacked in their favor has to be a punch in the gut. Chicago will play Green Bay at Lambeau again on December 15th.
Big time win for the Packers. They bitch-slapped the Bears on national TV at the home field. We have not had a defense like this since 2010 and how fun it was to watch the Bears fans boo their team.
On a side note…could Totalpackers be any more late/delayed on publishing the first article on the game results? Guys you might as well skip this week and get it right next week. Just saying…
It should be noted that Monty lived in LA, so it was easy for him to do a write-up at like 9pm when the game ended.
Jason lives in Asia if I remember right? Give him a break. If he lives in Asia the game was occurring while he was at work most likely and had to watch a DVR of it after he got off work lol
Pretty much everything I feared would happen didn’t. The Packers didn’t have any turnovers, Clinton-Dix, although he stripped the ball from Rodgers, didn’t have a big play, and it didn’t seem like the Packers offense was out of position, although the offensive line seemed to miss a lot of blocks.
The defense and JK Scott won this game.
And every Gutekunst free agent pickup seemed to have a good game.
It was nice to see Rodgers at the end with a big smile on his face saying they had a good defense over and over.
JK Scott was the MVP. No Green Bay punter has kicked like that since Craig Hentrich.
Awesome Ferris! Love the Hentrich reference! Totally Agree!!
Just copying and pasting from other article
Did Rashan Gary play? Didn’t notice. Anyways, Savage looked solid. Hold on to the goddamn ball Kevin King. Bahk looked slightly rusty. Lane Taylor needs to be benched. Jimmy Graham MIGHT be better in this offense. Kenny Clark picking up where he left off. Tramon Williams looks his age and the Packers desperately need someone else to step up or he will cost them an important game down the line if they are in position for that. Yeah, that about does it.
Edit: forgot to give kudos to JK Scott for a hell of a punting performance. I am not ready to crown the Packers defense yet. The bears offense isn’t exactly a powerhouse. However it was kind of encouraging to see them making stops late in games when they need to.
Fantastic win albeit an ugly one. Lots to clean up for sure. I was surprised the Bears bailed on the run game and threw it 45x and only ran it 15. Penalties got them behind the chains a lot but they pushed us off the los and had some success early. Really anxious to see how we hold up when an opponent stays committed to it….until then I’ll remain cautiously optimistic on that side of the ball. Lot of talk about “tempo” offensively and you can see how ARod’s brain and past habits/instincts are clashing. In order to have tempo the ball has to come out but he’s still holding it too much or looking for clean space in the pocket. That’s a serious D he played against but you can just see how much more effective he is when he just plants his foot and slings it. Like taking shots down the field in rhythm too. Really happy that is the direction the offense is going. Gonna take some time to get that all ironed out. Gotta get the run game going too. Next week wont be any easier. Glad we’re at home. Still, a W at Soldier Field on opening night? I’ll take that shit all day every day!! Great win!
What happened to all the pissing and moaning across the web about some shit players who werent going to make the roster missing pre season tackles?
O yeah…there wasnt any…because they disnt miss the tackles in a game that counted. Our secondary tackled especially well. Was even shocked my t willys physicality.
My batting average is pretty good this year…just say.