Hello Chicago Bears fans. Lambeau Field has rarely been kind to the Bears in recent seasons, but Sunday’s 31-7 dismantling felt especially deflating for a team that entered the afternoon with a chance to seize control of the NFC North, and in the wake of the loss of Iron Mike Ditka. Without Caleb Williams under center, or Kyle Monangai in the backfield, Chicago’s offense never found a rhythm against a Packers defense that forced three interceptions from Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum, while Jordan
Love and Christian Watson repeatedly exploited coverage breakdowns on explosive plays that turned a one-score halftime deficit into a rout. D’Andre Swift’s late second-quarter touchdown offered a brief flicker of competitiveness, yet the second half belonged entirely to Green Bay, whose efficient passing attack and opportunistic red-zone execution exposed the limitations of an injury-thinned Bears roster in a rivalry game that had looked winnable just weeks ago.
1st Quarter Thoughts
Tyson Bagent looked bad from the start (spoiler alert – it only gets worse). Bagent fell down on third down – and if there was ever a play that symbolized an entire game – Bagent falling down on his own to kill a Bears drive is certainly it.
Then the Packers drove the ball 91 yards in 10 plays with what was frankly a beautiful script from Matt LaFleur. The flea-flicker TE screen to Kraft was a signal of what was to come – creativity and explosives from the Packers offense. The drive was capped by a play-action deep ball (that too will be a theme) where the deep coverage never made it over to Watson.
This game was bad from play one. While the Bears were able to run on the Packers with Swift seemingly at will, the passing game was completely disconnected – mostly due to Bagent’s poor play.
2nd Quarter Thoughts
In the Keys to the Game this week I asked…nay, I warned…nay, I begged Tyson Bagent to just not throw late over the middle and give up stupid interceptions – like he has done time and time again when he has been on the field. Tyson did not listen to me. He threw into double coverage and Xavier McKinney (the guy I was most worried about in this game) picked the deflected pass.
Given a short field – Love and LaFleur made short work of us, as Marshawn Lloyd scored a rushing TD to make it 14-0, the Pack.
The Bears then decided to be the Bears – Chicago put together a long, methodical, Ben Johnson inspired, 16-play, 78 yard drive for the touch down. Swift was everywhere on the field. However, the Bears continue to show a frustrating lack of ability to punch the ball within the red zone. While Swift got the TD on 4th down, it required a Packers penalty to give them a fresh series with goal-to-go.
Hey – at least we have Austin Booker to celebrate! Two sacks to end the Packers drive and the half.
Half-Time Thoughts
That sucked. But shockingly, we’re only down seven (Gooch from the future: more shock to come).
3rd Quarter Thoughts
Packers again come out with creative play design, with Love hitting Tucker Craft on a beauty long pass where Craft ran his route against all of the action on the play – frankly it reminded me of Ben Johnson. Then LaFleur and Love go into “screw it go deep” mode and it works time and time again. One TD is nulified on a correct offensive pass interference play. But on the ensuing 3rd and 22 they chuck it deep again and Watson brings it down for the TD. I have no idea why Allen back out of pressure in that situation. On the bright side, Smack missed the extra point.
Here is a thought: why is Roschon Johnson on this team? I mean, I hear he is a nice guy. But he is a power running back with not noticable power who doesn’t run…well. I’m seeing that Office meme: “What, exactly, would you say you do here?”
The Bears drive and briefly give me hope again, but Santos misses a field goal. I’d be mad at him, but of the two field goal kickers in the game, Santos screwed up the least. That said Smack added another field goal.
4th Quarter Thoughts
I have discovered a hidden cost to writing the post-game article for WCG. I am obligated to watch the whole game instead of turning it off in disgust.
After Bagent throws another interception, basically icing the game for the Packers, the Bears finally put Keenum in. But it is way too late. The Pack score again making it 7.31 with Love again chucking it deep, this time to Golden. After Thomas nearly houses one on the kick-off, Keenum leads us to goal-to-goal. But on 4th down there is another free rusher from the outside and Case has to get rid of it – throwing a pick (he had to throw the ball).
LaFlaeur had Love go for a two-point conversion. He then had Love take a big hit on a massive chuck it down the field pass (which Love completed). Sure, Smack missed another field goal. But if that wasn’t a “screw you, Ben” I don’t know what one would be.
Blah, blah blah…more stuff happens. So I’m trying a new whiskey today (well, new for me) called 2Xo the Sneakerhead Blend. It’s a Kentucky Straight Bourbon and it is quite nice.
Final Thoughts
Bears lose. Pack Win. The boss was right about “Pain” being the correct prediction, via Clubber Lang. He just had who the pain was for wrong. Look, most teams lose when they start their backup, the Bears got a way with starting a backup in three games and went 2-1. The Bears were without their thumper running back, That Guy, and they lost three defensive starters in the game (Motivated Dayo, Old Man Edwards, and Stephenson). We were on the road going up against a team that was embarrassed, whose coach was on the hot seat, and clearly had a chip on their shoulder in this game. That said, BJ did not call a good game for the most part, starting Bagent over Case seems hard to justify, particularly given he was pretty bad last week, and our record against the North under BJ isn’t exactly above water.
So…well, we hopefully will get Caleb and Kyle back and next week will be different. Meanwhile, time to pour another drink.
Gooch out.
