Positives/Unfavorables of WK1: Bears game

I think they are connected to him through 2017 before they can get out from under that deal.

 

A negative I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the Bears new staff appears competent.  They attacked our weakness and kept Cutler out of gun slinger mode.

Wow, Giants chose to pass when they could have run the ball and taken another 40 sec off the clock.

WTF

The dumb was strong on that call.

Giants playcaller needs to be taken out and flogged.

I suspect MM would attribute much of the sloppy tackling to the reduced number of practice with pads.  He might not say it, because it sounds like an excuse, but I think he curses the limited number of live practices every day.

He should make them wear pads on 'team building' day.

 

Plus when the zebras gave them a free 40 after OBJ ran to the end zone, Eli only used half of it.

Yup, almost forgot about that.

re-watching the game; a few things I noticed, some already mentioned:

 

1. Not to beat a dead horse or anything   ()   but Sam Shields had a very, very poor game. His worst game since that Monday Night game vs. Atlanta where Julio torched him all night. That, at least, is somewhat excusable because Julio is such a special talent and, honestly, I don't mind him getting beat every once in a while by Jeffrey (win some, lose some) but some plays he really seemed to lack the effort. His tackling, in particular, was atrocious. He seemed all out of sorts; falling down, staring in the backfield; not the Sam Shields I am used to. I'm confident he'll snap out of it.

 

2. Damarious Randall played well, I thought. He was targeted a few times and never really seemed to be out of position. Made an extremely nice play one-on-one with Forte in the 3rd quarter to break up a pass. Also made a pair of nice plays on the goal line stand in the 4th quarter.

 

3. As much as our ILB's in this game struggled, I thought Matthews played his ass off. Did a great job pursuing plays and flying around. Exactly what I'd expect from our MVP on defense.

 

4. One of the things I was most excited for coming into this season was to see if Dom had any new, creative blitz packages. The answer is no, or at least he didn't show any of them in this game. They blitzed quite a bit but every time it was like hitting a stonewall. Nobody got through. Peppers worked Long all day and Matthews made some nice plays off the edge but when we sent our ILB's or a safety on a blitz they got absolutely nowhere.

 

5. While it's probably not fair to say the offense "didn't miss a beat without Jordy", the unit was still extremely efficient and doesn't seem to have lost any effectiveness now that Clements is doing the playcalling. CHI dominated TOP but Rodgers and Co. made the most out of every possession. Not the least bit worried about the offense going forward.

 

6. Yes, the ILB's struggled mightily, but I think the defensive line was even worse. I'm an amateur but it seemed like Nate Palmer and Matthews did a decent job diagnosing the plays but couldn't get in a position to make a play because they had either a DL getting pushed into them or an OL coming off a combo very easily and sealing them off. Missing Guion hurts, but the DL has got to do a better job occupying blockers. Mike Daniels did not look like himself, getting pushed around all over the field. The play of the DL was, in my opinion, the most disappointing aspect of Sunday's game.

 

8. Oh, and one more thing, Eddie Lacy is good, man. He's really freaking good.

I thought Sam Shields last year was really pretty average and it's time for him to step up and justify his payday. His ST penalty was a mental lapse and he has to be smarter than that.

Hawk retired, Jones is an Eagle, and Lattimore is a Jet.  Are you sure you're familiar with this team?

Shields and Dix didn't play well at all.  Dix played better in the second half but you have to wonder if the loss of Burnett was a big factor especially the way he plays run support. 

Was also disappointed in the DL - Daniels was MIA for most of the game.  Guy needs to talk less and play more.

On the flip side, Rodgers, Lacey and James freaking Jones played awesome.   Also liked fhe play calling by Clements.

Not the prettiest outcome but a win is a win.

+

Yesterday was a nice reminder that when AR has full use of both wheels he's lethal at QB. 

Jay Cutler is now 1-12 against GB as a starter. Same old Jay. Sooner or later he'll throw it to you. 

I like the way Dick Rodgers is progressing. 

Division road win. 

Clay Mathews running down Forte from across the field and dropping him inside the 5 on what looked to be a sure TD. Ridiculous effort. 

 

-

Mike Daniels. Less talkie. More dooie. 

Sam Shields. That's not how a defensive vet is supposed to play. 

Starks. Not so much a negative. But he only had 2 carries. I think running yardage was there to be had and would like to see him get closer to 10-12 carries. Keeps the wear off Eddie and gets Starks more into the flow of the game. 

 

 

3 KRs by Ty Montgomery for 103 yds, 35.6 avg, 46 long. Been a while since we've seen this!!!

I agree with what a lot of you are saying about this game. Nice review bubbleboy.

Chili, couldn't agree more on Starks not being used. Ultimately, I believe most if not all games shift into our favor when our RBs get 30+ carries together. Yesterday was OK with Lacy getting 19 and Starks getting two, but we had the opportunities as you say, and we didn't go to the well enough. A simple 8 carries we are talking about, but that probably kills 4 an entire minutes of clock? Imposes more will against an inspired opposing D looking to nail Aaron Rodgers.

 

AOriginally Posted by PackHammer:

Are you sure you passed basic reading comprehension? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Hawk retired in 2011. He would have turned his paperwork in sooner if the NFL office was located at the corner of 7 Yardsdownfield and ItsnotaFG. 

Hawk is starting for the Bengals.

 

Absolutely.

McCarthy is now 14-6 against Chicago (10-1 since late 2010) and 43-13-1 (.763) against NFC North Division opponents.

 

++Jesus Jones.

Positives?  I have only one positive from this game and that is waking up on Monday morning knowing the Packers beat the Bears.  No matter how they do it or what the score is as long as they beat them everything is good.

 

Negatives?  I think Fox might have the Bears on track to be better.  You can see the difference coaching can make with a team.

ftfy

And he was his same, terrible self, even with a better D-line in front of him.  

Good article breaking down the terrible Cutler contract

The bad news for Chicago is that, barring some team willing to pick up his contract, Cutler will be with the Bears through at least the 2016 season—a season that will see him earn $17 million. A season that will also bring his total guaranteed salary to $52 million over three seasons, which would then be the highest number in the NFL during that span.

 

 

+ Lacy

+ James Jones

+ Rodgers

+ Montgomery ST play

+ Clay and Peppers with big plays

 

- run defense and tackling

- Shields

- Bears defense got more penetration on the o-line than I'd like

- concerned the Packers lack a vertical threat on the passing game

 

Bears have a nice coaching staff.  I think Fox is real good.  Always did.  They still failed to keep Cutler from throwing a killer int tho.

 

However, the three straight passes from the 2 was seriously perplexing.

concerned the Packers lack a vertical threat on the passing game

from what I could see the bores played cover 2 almost all day.  ain't gonna get too vertical on that if it's played right.  not worried.

 

What's hilarious is the bar is so low for Cutler that I actually heard tv/radio blowhards talk about how Cutler had a decent game.  18/36 for 225 yards, 1 TD and 1 pick (rating of 67.5) is now considered decent if you're Jay Cutler.  

Read some of that this morning too, for example:

 

How fortunate are #Packers? Cutler was 18/36 for 225, 1 TD, 1 INT, 67.5 rating, and takeaway in Chicago is how he didn't lose the game.

— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) September 14, 2015

 

Clay Matthews made a number of remarkable plays yesterday. Remarkable. From inside and outside. The guy is an amazing player with phenom instincts. Wow. His play from ILB is incredibly effective, and his ability to switch heightens his overall play.

Yes, he's really proving his elite level, now. All over the field making plays yesterday. It's a wildcard teams really have to be worried about when game-planning for this D.

Getting Guion back will be nice, Pennell is developing, but he still just looks like a big body in there taking up space. That's not a terrible thing for a NT, but when he's playing DE we need him to be more active and hold the POA.

Pos
12 was typical
Lacy had his moments
Kuhn was a beast
There was a lot to build off, I'm happy with beating a the Bears on the road in the opener.

What I can't stand!
Watching Dom blitz db's and dropping LB's in coverage. I know your looking to surprise but HHCD is not beating a 300 lb guard, but clay could!  Put your players in position to not limit their capability.

LB's can't plug holes for the life of em. forte is good but he's not that damn good.

I agree Grave Digger. As much as I like Pennel, it seemed like he had a tough day yesterday. Made a few plays early and then spent the rest of the day getting washed out.

 

Anybody get a good read on Raji yesterday ? The times I watched him he looked to hold the point when he was assigned the 0 or the 1, but when the Packers were in nickel he was over G and didn't hold up well at all. 

 

Really disappointed in the d-line yesterday, but even when they did maintain gaps, the ILB fill was simply awful.  Bears ran for 180 yards or so, not a good start to an improved run defense. 

 

Where's the Boot ? 

It's the first ****ing Jesus ****ing game of the season.

 

R-E-L-A-X.

 

Guessing you think fans are getting too high on just one game from James Jones ? 

 

Dude, just cause the defense sucked yesterday doesn't mean they will suck every game. 

Halftime adjustments? CHI w/130 yards rushing in the 1st half and ended the game w/189. 

 

 

Ummmm you came into a thread titled 'Positives/Unfavorables'.........be prepared to read some criticism.  

 

And sorry, the defense sucked yesterday against a very mediocre Bears offense.  Outside of just burying your head in the ground because they won, there wasn't much to hang their hat on outside of CMIII (what else is new....).  This team has Super Bowl aspirations and with that comes increased expectations.  And the defense didn't meet those expectations.  And I guarantee that's the talk inside 1265 Lombardi Ave as well.  

 

Montgomery followed Banjo nicely on the 41 yard KO return.

 

 

Halftime adjustments? CHI w/130 yards rushing in the 1st half and ended the game w/189.

They also fell behind and started throwing more, no?

 

But I do agree that it is only the first game and were down several players on D.  They should get better though I don't know that they'll face a worse OL than CHI.

 

Agree. Also, just because you didn't see a "vertical threat" doesn't mean we don't have one.

 

As soon as ANY defense plays single high safety, our HOF QB will torch them deep.

 

How do you want to die? Slow or fast? Pick your poison against this offense even WITHOUT Jordy.