Bear Digest

Bears Report Card vs. Packers: Scars Left by Incomplete Effort

Grading the Bears: Losers again through unimaginable means, and a knack for failing against one opponent repeatedly for over 30 years goes straight to the top of the franchise.

Gene Chamberlain

Karl Brooks celebrates his game-winning blocked field goal as the Bears found another way to lose to Green Bay, 20-19.
Karl Brooks celebrates his game-winning blocked field goal as the Bears found another way to lose to Green Bay, 20-19. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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This was all supposed to end when Aaron Rodgers went to the Jets.

There would be no more Chris Conte letting Randall Cobb run to the end zone for an easy touchdown catch and a division title. There would be no more Jordy Nelson running deep behind the secondary for an easy TD catch late in a game the Packers should have lost.

The Bears have faced Jordan Love three times now and lost all of them. They have faced coach Matt LaFleur's Packers 11 times and lost them all.

Nothing has changed, only the faces. Brett Favre used to do it to them under Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman.

The Bears can’t find ways to beat Green Bay, and losing to the Packers is now ingrained in the franchise.

Matt Eberflus’ five straight losses to the Packers is just part of a long losing legacy dating back to the end of the Mike Ditka era. Lovie Smith figured out how to win several games against them since Ditka's mastery of them but no other Bears coach has had a clue.

They’ve gone through six personnel chiefs in Rod Graves, Mark Hatley, Jerry Angelo, Phil Emery, Ryan Pace and now Ryan Poles but the end result is always the same when it comes to Green Bay.

The common denominator to all of it is the McCaskey family. They can’t own an operation capable of beating Green Bay because the Packers win these games with attention to detail and not simply personnel . There is an insufficient amount of this quality within the Bears organization, trickling down from the top.

Just before the game it was revealed in a report by Jay Glazer of Fox that Caleb Williams had apologized to the team for his part in the 4-5 start that led to Shane Waldron's firing. It's the ownership that should be apologizing for its part in over 30 years of losses to the Packers.

The Bears’ season is now a hunt for better draft position.

If they can’t beat the Packers at home, when they have the game in hand by executing a simple kick or by preventing a 60-yard pass play, then they’re not beating Minnesota twice, Detroit twice, the Packers in Green Bay, the 49ers or the Seahawks.

BEARS MISERY MEETS NO END IN LOSS TO PACKERS

Then the next head coach can come in and start his losing legacy against the Packers because ownership is not changing.

Here are the grades for another terrible Bears ending against the Packers.

Running Game: A-

The only flaw was how much they had to rely on rushing yardage through planned QB runs by Caleb Williams. The scrambles you can live with because he could be avoiding a big hit on a sack. The planned runs leave him in line for a big hit at the end.  Still, they executed well. Braxton Jones’ blocking in a return to the lineup made all the difference on the 39-yard run around the left side by D’Andre Swift, who continues to perform consistently without much acclaim. Even tackle Jake Curhan, thrust into a tough situation as a guard after Ryan Bates’ concussion, performed well blocking the run. And the more you see of Roschon Johnson the more you wish he could carry the ball all over the field and not simply in short yardage. At least it was him in short yardage with it and not Doug Kramer. The Bears ran for 179 yards, which is 35 more than any other team has against the Packers.

Passing Game: A-

When Williams is able to find Rome Odunze so easily on clutch downs, both on the run or from the pocket, you have to wonder why he isn’t the primary target on all plays. Even without Teven Jenkins and backup Ryan Bates, the pass blocking held up well except for consecutive plays on the final drive, but Williams’ brilliance overcame it. They made use of Cole Kmet finally, for 14 yards a catch at that. Williams distributed it to DJ Moore all over the field, Keenan Allen on third downs. It was entirely positive except for a few poorly executed wide receiver screens, but they even made a few of those work.

Run Defense: B

It seemed they never fully stopped Josh Jacobs even though he was limited to 76 yards on 18 carries. It was more a case of LaFleur not giving Jacobs the ball enough in the second half (7 carries). Only the Vikings and Texans held the Packers to less than the 106 rushing yards that the Bears allowed them. When pass became run, T.J. Edwards and the pass defense had the answer, quickly coming up to halt a Love scramble one yard short of the goal line on fourth down.

Pass Defense: C-

The pass rush managed to apply heat on occasion, something they didn’t do last year in two games against Love. However, they didn’t get enough of it in key downs during the fourth quarter when they needed it most.  The coverage was there all game and Terell Smith made the play of the game by picking off a pass at the goal line. Give the pass defense credit for two stops in the red zone but they needed three and they didn’t need Jaylon Johnson to give up 60 yards by getting his feet tangled. Both Johnson and Christian Watson got their feet tangled on the play and they both ended up laying on the ground. Why did no one else arrive on the scene to help with a tackle after Johnson had been tripped up? It was like Johnson and Watson were the only two players on the field. You can’t give up over 15 yards a pass attempt and 76% completions and expect to win any game but they nearly did.

MATT EBERFLUS' LASTING LEGACY IS VARIETY OF LOSSES LATE IN GAMES

HOW LINCOLN RILEY CONVERSATION WITH CALEB WILLIAMS IMPACTED BEARS

BEARS TRY TO SEE THE POSITIVES IN COMING CLOSE AGAINST GREEN BAY

BEARS MISERY KNOWS NO END IN HEARTBREAKING LOSS TO PACKERS

Special Teams: F

The entire game came down to one special teams play and they couldn’t block it well enough or kick it high enough to get the points on a relatively simple 46-yard kick.

Coaching: C-

The only thing keeping this from being an “F” was the energy, play calling and game plan of new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. His aggressive attack had the Bears in position to win it and put Williams in a place where he could play confidently because of play-action passing and use of motion. It's not often a team's offense can go 3-for-3 on fourth down and 9-of-16 on third down, hold the opponent to 1 of 5 on third down, 0-for-1 on fourth down, win the takeaway battle and hold a 36:21-23:39 time of possession edge yet still lose. They managed to do it because of the usual poor late-game decisions by Matt Eberflus. Also, special teams coordinator Richard Hightower deserves his blame for the blocked field goal. The Packers said after the game they had identified a flaw in the way the Bears were blocking on field goals and Karl Brooks exploited it. If that’s the case, it’s on the coach to have corrected the flaw before it became a problem. The bottom line is when the team has all of those other advantages on third down and fourth down, takeaways and time of possession, and they still find a way to lose, then it's on the head coach. He didn't put his players in the best position possible to win and didn't show confidence enough in them to lock up the win by trying to gain a few more yards to turn a 46-yard field goal into a shorter one.

 Overall: C+

They had a C+ when they needed a B- to net a win. The difference in grades is very small. The border line between the two in this case is a properly executed 46-yard field goal that could have easily been a shorter one.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.