Growing Pains
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by Cheezer
The Green Bay Packers were defeated by the Chicago Bears 27-20 in the 175th meeting of these two franchises. After a productive but disappointing first half by the Packers, the Bears clearly dominated the Packers in the second half. Green Bay outscored the Bears 17-7 in the first half. Chicago returned the favor by outscoring the Packers 20-3 in the second half.
The Packers are even for the Eagles win in week one. That game was a gift to the Packers, given by two special teams turnovers. Green Bay’s fumblefest against the Bears should even the tally book. Green Bay turned the ball over 5 times. Two fumbles in the by rookie wide receiver James Jones killed two potential first half scoring drives. An incredibly bad decision by Brett Favre led to an interception deep in Packer territory. Chicago scored on the very next play and found new life.
Observations
- Lance Briggs is unreal (16 tackles). I wanted the Packers to pick him up last season when he was a free agent, but they missed out (I think he may have been restricted).
- Brian Griese is not the long-term answer for the Bears. 15/25 for 214 yards with 2TD and 1 interception is OK for now, but the Bears need to go QB shopping for their future.
- With the last second "Hail Mary" pass interception at the end of the game, Favre tied George Blanda for most all-time career interceptions (277).
- With the scoring change from the Minnesota game, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila surpassed Reggie White as the all time sack leader for the Green Bay Packers.
- Nick Collins was beaten repeatedly for big plays.
- Corey Williams had a very stupid penalty for lining up over the center (subject to interpretation) on a Chicago field goal.
- (Warning: Blatant Homerism) Green Bay was penalized 12 times for 93 yards. Most were legitimate, but it seemed like several were obscure and unnecessary. They say that Driver pushed off, yet replay showed no one near him (maybe it occurred earlier in the play). Replay also showed that Bears Tight End, Greg Olsen, pushed off on both his third quarter TD and a big conversion in the fourth quarter. Neither was called. By the way, when was the last time someone got penalized for lining up over the center on a field goal attempt? Word on the street is that the Packers organization will be talking to the league on that one.
- Green Bay won a challenge and lost a timeout. Late in the fourth quarter, the referee announced that Green Bay was challenging the spot of the ball on a potential Bear third down conversion. The result of the review showed that Green Bay was correct and the ball was improperly spotted. However, after the officials re-placed the ball, the result was still a first down for the Bears. After this entire activity, the official charged the Packers with a time-out because the result of the play was still a first down and, according to Al Michaels, that’s what the Packers challenged. Seemed like a foolish challenge anyway.
All told, the officials were too much of a factor in this game </rant>
The fact is, you can’t turn the ball over 5 times and expect to win. The Packers have fumbled 8 times and thrown 2 interceptions in the last two games. They are lucky to be 1-1 in those games. If they want to move to the next level, they have to take care of the ball.
