Pawsitives & Things We Need To Get Fixed after CHI/Game MVP

Rodgers, Finley and Jennings, with Grant peppered in for players of the game.

+ Bend don't break defense.
We beat the Bores in Chicago
Run defense was stout
Offensive line played pretty well for the most part

- The play calling was horrible far too often. McCarthy passing when he should run, running when he should pass.
The secondary is really, really playing poorly.
Refs were trying their hardest to screw us. This is becoming an annual event when we play at Soldier Field.

All in all, an ugly win, but a great win. 3-0, the Bears are 1-2.

+
Wynn
Finley
Shields - nice tackling and the pass break up in 4th
Grant
Burnett

-
OL penalties/Campen
Starks
Peprahs missed tackle on the TD to Davis
special teams looking like idiots on the last punt (saved by phantom penalty)/Slowcum
Bulaga's injury

±++++++++++ This: The Score!!!

Grant looked great

Starks looked terrible. Dancing instead of hitting the hole, and a untimely fumble.

+
A win.
Finley, Jennings and Grant.

-
Way too many offensive penalties. They had three on one series alone.
Injury to Bulaga.
Two turnovers.

++++ Newhouse. Thought he would be a mess. Held up pretty well.

- Masthay. He's not performing the way he did last year.

Packers simply know how to win and they know it.

TBSS and they know it too.

+
Interior DL, including Wynn and Company
Newhouse, yes I thought he played well in a tough spot
Ryan Grant, some big runs
Matthews, dude is relentless
Rodgers, he is as good as Brady (if not better), the press can STFU
TGIF
Jennings, great balance between a healthy Finley and #85
Champs played like Champs, won a game they should win in a tough environment

-
Starks, WTF? bad fumble and seemed to lose the poise he has built
Peprah, some angles were just bad


++
Get to post the TBSS polka on my Facebook page

-

Starks looked really bad today. He hesitated on every carry.

+ The Packers win

- I didn't get to see the opening drive

+ I missed the opening drive because the local Fox affiliate was showing the Vikings' epic collapse

- The Lions are still undefeated

- I didn't realize how biased Joe Buck is. On the drive where the Packers got three offensive penalties (I think they were all false starts) and stalled out with a FG, Buck said what a nice job the Bears' defense did.

Nobody forces you to listen to Joe Buck.

quote:

Originally posted by mr21mr21:
special teams looking like idiots on the last punt (saved by phantom penalty)/Slowcum

Bush was definitely held coming down from the line of scrimmage - not phantom at all. But, that was still a really embarrassing special teams display at the end there. Do they really not know where the ball will be kicked?

+++
A win over the Bears is always great!
Rodgers continues to be great.
Finley. That's the game we've been waiting for.
Grant. Ran well, looked faster than weeks 1 and 2
Newhouse held up really well I thought
Peprah got picked on, but did OK.
Burnett played well again.
Wynn was great

---
Starks was just off all game.
WTF was the deal on that last punt? That was embarrassing.
MM didn't seem to have a good feel for the gamecalling IMO. Granted, we don't know what AR checks into, but just felt off after the 1st drive all day.
Driver/Jones are for the most part invisible.
MM needs to get Cobb more plays on offense. Kid is lightning.

quote:

Nobody forces you to listen to Joe Buck.

A win in Chicago is a wonderfult thing.

Finley had a great game mostly but I can't give him game MVP because he also had a very bad play which put the Bears right back in the game on the Rodgers pick. He didn't read Urlacher's fake either and sat down in the spot rather than working towards the flat where it was open. Jennings gave him a talking to after that play. Yeah, Rodgers should have read it too but Finley had a good view and didn't get to where he was supposed to be so I'll give the nod to Jennings.

+

Newhouse - i was happy that he held his own on the right side. I was very glad that the Bores were dum and kept Peppers over Clifton for the majority of the game.

Burnett - nice transition into Collins spot. Hell of a job.

Williams - should have had an INT, but it was called back on Walden's glance to the head of Cutler

Rodgers - cut, paste, weekly.

Grant - very productive on the ground, more reliable with the handle than Starks it seems so far.

Defense Line/LBs - completely shutting down the run. Solid!

YOTTO - JMike is a beast

Cutler!!!! Love him on the Bears.
-

Too many blown coverages in blitz packages

Bulaga going down

Starks

Positives:

+ Grant. That was the Ryan Grant I remember and miss. He looked ordinary the first 2 games of the year, but in this game, I remember why he was really good in 2009.

+ Finley. That was the Jermichael Finley I remember in 2009. Look out league here he comes. If there's a franchise tag that can be used after 2011, I suggest the Packers use it on Finley.

+ Burnett. Shows tremendous potential. He's not the greatest tackler, but he minimizes the loss of Nick Collins.

+ Rodgers. Other than 1 bad play, another very good game.

+ 2nd half pass rush. Was pretty good after a first half that I felt was pretty poor.

Negatives:

-Starks. Easily his worst game as a Packer. So bad he almost singlehandedly kept the Bears in the game. After a very good start to 2011, this was rather pathetic.

-That last punt. Just once I'd like to go through a game and not have the special teams not totally f things up. Honestly, that holding call looked like a phantom one to me and the Pack got a huge break on it. In all of my years of watching Packer football, easily one of the dumbest plays I've ever seen a Packer team make. Unbelievable that the ref made that call. We were darn lucky.

-Offensive Line penalties. Bad, real bad. Overall a decent game for the O-Line but the penalties were killers.

-Please please find Urlacher before the play starts and wherever he is... throw it somewhere else. This goes for Rodgers or Favre, or whomever QBs the Packers at the time. If it wasn't for Ray Lewis, this guy would be the greatest ILB of his generation. If I hear one more idiot Packer fan say that Urlacher is overrated, I will bash his friggin' skull in. He isn't overrated, he is tremendous, and he's one of the only reasons the Bears are as tough to beat as they are.

I agree with KEvin Seifert of ESPN:

What I didn’t like : The Packers can’t be happy about the way they finished this game. They held a 27-10 lead early in the fourth quarter but allowed Bears tight end Kellen Davis to rumble through their secondary for a 32-yard touchdown play midway through the quarter. Later, their punt coverage team was faked out by a smart Bears return that seemed to get Johnny Knox a touchdown with about a minute left. A holding penalty by the Bears’ Corey Graham nullified the play and prevented the Bears from pulling within a field goal.


I love the way we came out. Well prepared and executed. Im not complaining but it seems to be our MO to jump out on teams early and then when the 4th quarter comes around hang on for dear life and make the Defense win it.

quote:

-Please please find Urlacher before the play starts and wherever he is... throw it somewhere else. This goes for Rodgers or Favre, or whomever QBs the Packers at the time. If it wasn't for Ray Lewis, this guy would be the greatest ILB of his generation. If I hear one more idiot Packer fan say that Urlacher is overrated, I will bash his friggin' skull in. He isn't overrated, he is tremendous, and he's one of the only reasons the Bears are as tough to beat as they are.

I'd like for AR at least once burn Urlacher and Briggs when they come and step up to the line with a Quick Snap slant before they can even think about dropping back ...

+++Ryan Grant reclaims his rightful place as starting RB
+++Finley making plays without showing off too much
+++The Bears, they are who we thought they were TBSS TBSS TBSS!!!!

++
Win in Chicago
Keeping pace with Lions (!?)
Rodgers to Finley TD trifecta
Crosby is clutch

++
D tackling or lack thereof
OLine penalties
Late special teams gaffe
MM questionable playcalling

+Rodgers: Best in the game right now. Makes so many plays and yet is so careful with the ball. Only defender that gives him trouble is Urlacher.
+Grant: Looked much better than Starks today, which was surprising. It's nice to have 2 legit RB's.
+Finley: Exhibit A why TT doesn't let him leave Green Bay next year.
+Jennings: Ridiculous he's never mentioned with Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald as the best WR's in the game.
+Wynn: Not the best athlete and won't beat a lot of guys off the snap, but he's smart. First sack was a gimme but that second one was just a smart play.
+Newhouse: Came in and held his own. he's not Bulaga in the run game but he looked like he belonged. Gotta love a little depth at OT.
+Shields: Great coverage all day. Didn't see him targeted much at all.
+Burnett: 2 picks and almost blocked a punt. He looks very good so far.
+Run defense: Forte gets 2 yards on 9 carries. No, that's not a typo.

-Masthay: Can someone explain to me what the eff happened? They keep saying the Bears faked it but isn't the direction of the punt determined before the snap? Not sure we can blame Slocumb for that one as the ENTIRE team ran to the right side of the field. Apparently only Masthay thought it was going left.
-Starks: 11 rushes for 5 yards with a killer fumble. Talk about stopping all the momentum he had from the first two games. I really hope he was hungover or something because that was as bad a game as you'll see from a RB when the other guy goes for 92 yards on 17 carries.
-MM: For God's sake, just put the dagger in a team and end the game early for once!!!!! Third time this season that the game isn't over until inside 1 minute. Obviously I'm happy they won all three but you keep doing this and you'll start losing games you should be winning. Maybe it's not all his fault but it's becoming a pattern going back to last year. 7 of their last 8 games weren't decided until the last minute. Granted we won all 8, but I'd like to see the starters get some rest.

I really agree on the playcalling. He is the anti-Bellicheck--like he's always afraid of running up the score. And the time to pass is on FIRST down (like when Starks fumbled and it seems half the Bears were in the backfield). Short, low-risk passes like that one Rodgers threw later to Jones to keep the clock moving and get at least a few yards.

Always hate to keep hanging it on the defense. Man up offense.

quote:

+++Finley making plays without showing off too much

I thought I saw him do a "YOTTO" thing on the second TD.

I thought the D came to play today. Must better effort,. really got Cutler out of rhythm in the 1st half.

But I thought the O played a relatively poor game. They had a number of opportunities to deliver kill shots and they stumbled every time. Then that debacle punt return- that was just friggin embarassing.

So they're 3-0 and they haven't hit their stride on either side of the ball. I'll take it, because as we saw this week- there are teams that are not able to win when they're not playing their best. The Packers still manage to maintain consistency and they're making the key plays to get wins when everyone is ocming at them with guns blazing.

Oh, and TBSS...

I was actually pleased with the offense. Remember this was the Bears. The Packers always play disjointed offense against the Bears. I don't know why...maybe its a mental thing....maybe the Bears just know how to handle the Packers.

Heck they put up more than 17 points for the first time in a few years.

quote:

Originally posted by justanotherpackerfan:
I was actually pleased with the offense. Remember this was the Bears. The Packers always play disjointed offense against the Bears. I don't know why...maybe its a mental thing....maybe the Bears just know how to handle the Packers.

No MLB can cover the way Urlacher can and it significantly affects Rodgers. That, and they can drop 7 into coverage every play and be confident they'll have a pass rush with that front four.

After seeing the offense put up 10 and 14 points in the last 2 games when the Packers were "hot", putting up 27 points in this game is pretty solid. Still, they need to start putting the nail in the coffin when given the chance. They had multiple opportunities to score a TD and end the game in the early fourth and failed.

Urlacher is a fantastic football player and is tailor made for that defense. He's gonna make his plays. Arod loves the guy.

+ The packer look better than anyone else
- No teams looks that great right now
Looks like the strike, no ota's, and the new practice rules might be having an effect on the quality of play.

+ We win
+ We beat our oldest rivals
- Bulaga injury

The funky punt was something you can try only once a year, plus you have to have a Hester- or Jackson-type threat to make it work, and you have to be behind late in the game since everyone knows that's when Hester wants to break one. The Bears picked the perfect time to pull off this trick play you could/will see at a high school game -- and of course, our special teams fell for it like a bunch of freshmen.

It would be nice to see Slocum come up with something half as original, or at least coach his guys to look for the ball at least once while sprinting blindly down the field.

Is anyone else starting to wonder if Driver has lost it? I'm not writing him off yet, but he just doesn't look good out there. And it's not just the lack of stats; he just doesn't seem to be as open as he used to be. I really hope he turns it around, but he might be the #5 WR right now.

Bears 12 yds rushing w/1.1 yd avg.

Matthews 3 tackles for loss and inflicted maybe 3 holding calls same as a sack.

Wynn and Bush are stepping up very nicely

Bears had more penalties than GB.

Some of Cutelers throws looked well just plain sad and 2 ints.

Holding Forte under 100 yds Passing/rec combined as I was worried Forte was going to do a remake of Sproles against GB out of the backfield receiving.

Sam Shields played a hell of a game, made a huge tackle that I didnt know he was capable of, also it was huge baiting Hester into a 15 yd penalty.

Coming out of Soldier Field w/a win - GB 3-0

Playing Denver next week @ 3:15 as it seems like MM has made the hurdle of winning prime time games that Gb used to find a way of losing.

- ****ing penalties on the Oline

At risk of pissing off the masses, I want to see more of Cobb and less of Driver on the field. Cobb should be the #3 IMO.

Ha ha ha piss off the molasses. Finley and Jennings and Nelson and Cobb are all better. That sucks orifice!

It hard to tell about any Packer Receiver, Each week one seems out of the picture. Today it was Driver.

It is a nice problem having some many good receiver as a buffer againest injuries.

It also seeems to me the Pcckers are trying to rush bit more.

sooooo

does that mean Driver's agent now is going to squawk that he's not getting enough balls thrown to him?

Driver is still capable of making plays and he hasn't lost it, he's just showing his age. Cobb is a big play waiting to happen whenever he has the ball and they need to get him more touches.

You want the best players on the field and right now the top wideouts are Jennings, Nelson and Cobb.

++
3 - 0
Beat the Bears


--
Bulaga with a "knee bruise"
Punt coverage team awareness. The call in the huddle was for a left kick. Sure looked like Masthay kicked it left and everyone else went right.

quote:

Originally posted by Music City: Then that debacle punt return- that was just friggin embarassing.

I'm not sure how embarrassing that was. I just thought it was genius and shows how much of a threat Hester is. The Pack sells out on Hester and the Bears saw it on film. What a bummer to be waiting to pull that out of the bag and have some clown hold.

Anyway really no + or -'s for me except Newhouse. Nice job by that guy. Rest just seemed biz as usual. Play a grinder on the road and really never was the game in to much doubt, IMO. Also, nice game by the WRs, buncha nice grabs. Has Jordy dropped one since he dropped several in the Bowl?