All that offensive ball control dominance the Chicago Bears have had so far this season didn’t help them against Jordan Love and the explosive Green Bay Packers offense yesterday. In Chicago’s 31-7 loss, Love was 25 of 31 (80.6%) for 367 yards, with 2 touchdowns and a passer rating of 137.5. His 367 passing yards are the most ever against the Bears at Lambeau Field, and it wasn’t a bunch of YAC (yards after catch), as Love was finding open receivers downfield.
On passes over 20+ air yards, Love was
6 of 8 for 258 yards, which is the second-most deep passing yards in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). His five passes of 30+ air yards are tied for the most in a single game since ESPN started tracking that stat 20 years ago.
Chicago’s defense had no answer for Love, who just kept looking deep.
The Bears sacked Love twice, but his 2.54-second time to throw was his longest this season.
What stings so much is that the Packers used Chicago’s defense to get their offense back on track. Before yesterday’s game, the Packers’ offense struggled to find consistency, but the Bears offered no resistance.
Green Bay had more yards (428 to 246), more first downs (18 to 17), a better time of possession (30:24 to 29:36), and was better on third downs (33.3% to 28.6%) and fourth downs (1-1 to 2-5).
The Bears ran more plays (68 to 59) and had fewer penalties (3 for 20 yards to 4 for 25), but the turnover margin (5 for Chicago, 0 for Green Bay) was impossible to overcome.
Let’s look at the Bears’ playing-time breakdown and a few individual stats from the game.
OFFENSE
Tyson Bagent, who was making just his sixth career start, performed like we should have expected a backup quarterback to perform on the road. He’d never been in an environment as loud and hostile as Lambeau Field, and his inexperience showed all day.
He wasn’t decisive. He wasn’t confident. He was late in his progressions. He seemed to be aiming the ball instead of letting it rip, and with below-average arm strength, he can’t afford to take anything off his passes.
Case Keenum came in and wasn’t much better, but it was too little, too late, and the Packers were in full pass-rush mode at that point.
The Bears are now 2-1 in games started by their backup quarterbacks, and most NFL teams would be happy with that.
DEFENSE
In case you missed it, the Bears lost three defenders to injury during the game: linebacker TJ Edwards (hamstring), cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (hamstring), and defensive lineman Dayo Odeyingbo (quad).
Chicago’s secondary either busted coverages or simply couldn’t keep up with Green Bay’s Christian Watson (6 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TDs), Marcus Golden (6 for 123), or Tucker Kraft (5 for 64).
SPECIAL TEAMS*
*The above image has players who only played in the third phase.
Cairo Santos was wide left on a 43-yard field goal and hit his only extra point try.
Tory Taylor had 4 punts with a 53.0 average (46.3 net) with 1 punt inside the twenty.
Zavion Thomas returned 6 kickoffs for a 32.0 average, with a long of 61.
Kalif Raymond had a 9-yard punt return.
To check out the complete Bears vs. Packers box score, I find ESPN’s site is easy to navigate.
All statistics and snap counts, as well as the accompanying pictures, are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System.
