Bears take advantage of Packers turnovers

At this point in the season, if anyone thought that a NFC North team would be undefeated, many would have said that the Green Bay Packers would have been that team. However, the Chicago Bears had other things in mind. In a Monday night showdown at Soldier Field, the Bears (3-0) came out on top in a brutal dog fight against the rival Packers (2-1) winning 20-17. With this victory, Chicago is now one of three undefeated teams in the NFL, and the only unbeaten in the NFC.

Although the score indicates that the Bears won the game, the Packers seemed to have been the better team on the field at times. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 34 of 45 passes (75%) for 316 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and tight end Jermichael Finley had a game-high nine catches for 115 yards. Green Bay also had the ball for a longer period of time compared to the Bears (35:49 to 24:11), recorded three sacks on defense, and had 21 first downs throughout the game. However, Green Bay had more penalties than the Bears, which didn’t play in their favor.

The Packers’ record 18 penalties are what kept the Bears in the game—four of which came at very crucial parts of the game. The first major penalty came in the second quarter when Bears defensive end Julius Peppers was held on a play when Rodgers threw a touchdown pass. The other three crucial penalties occurred in the fourth quarter. Two penalties negated interceptions thrown by Jay Cutler; one for roughing the quarterback, and the other for pass interference. The other critical fourth quarter penalty was an unnecessary roughness penalty. Each of those fourth quarter penalties led to the Bears’ 13 fourth quarter points.

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Cutler’s performance wasn’t as spectacular as the previous two, but his 221 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception performance was a step above compared to the last two times he faced Green Bay. Johnny Knox continued to improve on his production as one of Cutler’s primary targets with a team-high 94 yards receiving. Greg Olsen also contributed with significant numbers in the passing attack with 64 yards on a team-high five receptions and the Bears’ only offensive touchdown. The blocking of the offensive line didn’t seem to show much improvement. Although they did prevent the Packers Clay Matthews from adding to his league-leading six sacks, but did manage to let Cutler get sacked three times anyway. The run blocking didn’t have a positive impact for Chicago either. Matt Forte and Chester Taylor combined for a lowly 38 yards on 14 carries.

It appeared that Green Bay was intimidated by Chicago’s top-ranked run defense—running the ball only 15 times compared to 45 pass attempts. Linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs both had nine tackles each, leading the team. Urlacher made the biggest defensive play late in the fourth quarter by forcing a fumble with the score tied at 17, which was recovered by Tim Jennings. Jennings replaced starting cornerback Zack Bowman. Bowman was benched by head coach Lovie Smith due to a few missed plays in the game. One other big surprise move by Smith was not dressing Tommie Harris for the game. Smith said that his decision was based on the fact of performance in practice, and that Harris was outperformed by other defensive linemen throughout the week leading up to the game versus Green Bay.

Chicago’s special teams made three plays that had the biggest impact on the game. The first impact play came when Peppers blocked a field goal in the first half, which was after a holding call on the Packers that took away a touchdown for Green Bay. Then early in the fourth quarter, Devin Hester ended his two-year drought of no touchdown returns and took one to the house for 62 yards. And finally, and most importantly, Robbie Gould capped off the game with a 19-yard game-winning field goal.

To the surprise of a lot of people, the Chicago Bears are undefeated, are in sole possession of first place in the NFC North, and are one of three teams with the best record in the NFL. Although there is much room for improvement, Chicago still may continue with their unbeaten streak of the season when they travel to face the struggling New York Giants this Sunday night.

By Clyde Speller
ProFootball-fans.com Chicago Bears Correspondent