Packers avoid costly mistakes, somehow still lose to the Bears
Two turnovers, 18 penalties (for 152 yards), horrendous special teams play and poor ball security late in the game were just some of the things the Packers accomplished in their 20-17 loss to the Bears on Monday night.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Green Bay wanted to lose tonight.
It was undisciplined football at its best and yet, the Pack still had an opportunity to win the game in the end as long as they continued to move the ball down field (as they had done for most of the night) and not turn it over. But with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the scored tied 17-17, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs knocked the ball out of receiver James Jones’ grasp after a short reception. Then, by the grace of George Halas himself, somehow the ball tight roped down the sideline and Chicago cornerback Tim Jennings was able to recover it at the Green Bay 38.
Thanks to a holding penalty, the Bears were backed up to their own 44-yard line, but soon thereafter Jay Cutler made an outstanding throw to Greg Olsen, who made an even better catch for a 21-yard gain down to the Green Bay 35. Two plays later, Morgan Burnett was called for molesting Earl Bennett on a pass interference penalty and the ball was moved inside the 10-yard line. Four plays later Robbie Gould kicked the 19-yard game-winner to propel Chicago to victory.
You may not witness an uglier loss by a Super Bowl contender all season. And not all the ugliness was due to the players either, as the Green Bay coaching staff shares in the misery too.
Why didn’t the Packers instruct punter Tim Masthay to kick the ball away from Devin Hester? He sent a bullet at him late in the second quarter and Hester almost broke it for a touchdown. Then, with his team only up a field goal early in the fourth quarter, the genius once again tempts fate by kicking it straight to Hester, who promptly returns it 62-yards for the go-ahead score.
I realize Hester isn’t the same returner he was earlier in his career, but he’s still Devin Hester. He’s still dangerous with the ball in his hands and I don’t see what the point was in kicking it to him the second time after he nearly brought one back earlier in the game.
Did Masthay have money on the Bears tonight? Because that would make sense. Kicking it to Devin Hester twice in a close game doesn’t make sense.
The Bears are now the only 3-0 team remaining in the NFC. There is no such thing as ugly victories in the NFL and although it certainly wasn’t a clean game from Chicago’s perspective, Urlacher, Briggs and Julius Peppers played their asses off tonight. Part of the reason the Packers tallied so many penalties was because they had no answer for Peppers, who failed to record a sack but who lived in Green Bay’s backfield and who also managed to block a field goal. The stat sheet doesn’t show it, but he was an absolute beast tonight.
Cutler still made some atrocious decisions, but he made plays when it mattered most. The throw to Olsen on the game-winning drive was perfect and allowed the Bears to pick up a huge first down. He also threw a touchdown pass to Olsen right before halftime that was a millisecond away from being knocked away by a defender. There are only a handful of quarterbacks that could have made that throw and Cutler is one of them.
The Packers will eventually bounce back from this and they’ll get the Bears on their home field later in the year. But for now, the only thing that’s important for Mike McCarthy and company is having amnesia and moving on quickly.
There’s no point in watching the game film from this one.
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Posted in: NFL
Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Stalter, Chicago Bears, Devin Hester, Green Bay Packers, Greg Olsen, Jay Cutler
Why is it that everyone waits for Cutler’s “atrocious” decisions, but when Eli Manning, Tom Brady, etc throw multiple picks in a game, there isn’t a peep? Even last night when Cutler threw his interception, the announcers seemed to jump all over it as “here he goes again”. Could it be possible that the Packers “bad game” and penalties could have been caused by the guys on the other team.
I think Rodgers is an outstanding QB, but if I were a Packer Fan I’d be worried about some of the other glaring flaws they showed last night. When the Packers get the Bears at their place it will be January in upper Wisconsin, might be hard to throw the ball up there, Aaron. We’ll see.
I have no delusions about the Bears or hopes of incredible things. But anytime you can beat the Packers, it is a good day. Today is a good day.
Why is it that everyone waits for Cutler’s “atrocious” decisions, but when Eli Manning, Tom Brady, etc throw multiple picks in a game, there isn’t a peep?
Over the last two seasons, Cutler has thrown 44 interceptions against 52 TDs. Over the same span, Eli has thrown 24 INTs to 48 TDs and Brady has thrown 21 INTs and 78 TDs (not counting his 2008 season, which he missed). Cutler’s TD/INT ratio why he is criticized for his atrocious decision-making. He makes atrocious decisions. You’d be weeping in your Cheerios this morning if the Packers had held onto that gimme interception that Cutler threw across the middle during that game-winning ‘drive.’
As a long-time Packer fan, last night’s performance was disappointing, but it was not surprising. I like their chances this year, but by no means should this team be favored to win the Super Bowl (as they were prior to Week 3). The offensive line is at a disadvantage every week, the special teams are spotty at best and play-calling and/or time management and/or penalties are typically an issue. All three problems were exposed against the Bears.
After marching down the field with the short passing game, why do you waste two plays inside the 15 by calling running plays out of I-formation when you haven’t been able to run it all night? Why challenge an obvious fumble and lose a timeout when you are certain to need it to stop the clock? 18 penalties, really? That’s the most since 1987.
The more that I think about it, with everything that went wrong last night, it’s actually encouraging that Green Bay only lost to the Bears by three on the road.
As for the “you can’t throw in the cold” argument, Cutler is going to have the same issue. The Bears couldn’t run the ball last night, either.
Da Bear,
I guess I’m a little confused. Am I supposed to group Eli and Tom Brady in with Jay Cutler every time he makes a mistake? Like, “Jay Cutler threw a horrible interception tonight, but Eli Manning and Tom Brady also make mistakes so let’s just keep that in mind.”
Or do you want me to gloss over Cutler’s mistakes and just point out the good stuff? I think I was pretty fair with Cutler above, despite the fact that he still made some God awful decisions.
How would you have summed up Cutler’s performance last night? It’s apparent that you think I was too harsh with the word choice of “atrocious” so what would have you said?
I think I’m one of the more fair sports bloggers out there. If a guy sucks, I’ll say it. If the guy played great, I’ll say it. I think Cutler made some great plays last night and I also think he was horrendous in some areas. I’m not going to ignore his bad decisions just because the Bears won.
Anthony, your first mistake was not including Coach Ditka’s name in your article. Those two words can bring all Bears fans to a state of euphoria that rational fans just couldn’t understand. Your second mistake was leveling any criticism at all on a Bears player. You are supposed to write objectively about every other NFL team, and kiss the Bears fans asses with a puff piece about how wonderful they are. And please also include a smack in your article for Eli Manning, because for some reason at least one Bears fan always seems to bring his name up as a comparison if there is any criticism of Cutler. But any knowledgeable fan who watched the Giants first 3 games would have seen Eli throw 1 extremely stupid left handed int into the end zone on Sunday which is as dumb a move any QB could make, and 5 other int’s, each one tipped into the air by his receivers. So I’m not sure why the comparison of Cutler to Eli keeps being made.
Note to Bears fans…familiarize yourselves with the phrase “I’d rather be lucky than good”. After last night, that should be your 2010 rallying cry.