Packers Beat Bears: Week 14 Report Card

You can probably guess the grade on special teams. How about the other phases from the Green Bay Packers' latest victory over the Chicago Bears?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers did what they usually do against the Chicago Bears.

They beat them. And while their 45-30 victory seemed precarious at times, it’s worth noting that not only are the Packers 6-0 against Chicago under coach Matt LaFleur, they’ve covered all those spreads.

Here’s our report card from Sunday night.

Passing Offense

It took a minute for Aaron Rodgers and Co. to get rolling. In the first quarter, the Packers had 24 net passing yards and zero points. Then, the inevitable happened. In the second quarter, Rodgers was 11-of-17 for 159 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 134.2 passer rating. In the third quarter, Rodgers was 8-of-10 for 99 yards, one touchdown and a 141.2 passer rating.

By the end of the night, Rodgers was 29-of-37 for 341 yards, four touchdowns and a 141.1 passer rating. In a six-game winning streak against Chicago with LaFleur as coach, Rodgers has 16 touchdowns vs. zero interceptions.

Of course, Rodgers isn’t doing it by himself. Davante Adams caught 10-of-13 for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He murdered the Bears from the slot. Allen Lazard broke out of a slump with six catches for 75 yards and one touchdown. Tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Josiah Deguara combined for seven receptions for 95 yards. Aaron Jones had a 23-yard touchdown. About half of the yards came after the catch and there were no drops.

Yosh Nijman was beaten a couple times early by Robert Quinn but really settled in during the final three quarters. That the Packers have a third-string left tackle as good as Nijman isn’t fair to all those teams that don’t have one good left tackle. Kudos to rookie right guard Royce Newman, who has really hit his stride over the past month or so after being a liability for the first half of the season, and veteran Dennis Kelly did an excellent job in place of injured starting right tackle Billy Turner.

Grade: A

Rushing Offense

AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones received relatively equal playing time, 35 snaps to 29, respectively, but the touch count was lopsided. Dillon carried 15 times for 71 yards, a 4.7-yard average with a couple 11-yard runs. Jones carried only five times for 35 yards, a 7.0-yard average, and one touchdown. Jones’ final carry of the night came early in the fourth quarter; he was shaken up after taking a hard shot and did not return.

By our count, Dillon had 43 yards after contact and broke two tackles; Jones had 20 yards after contact, with most of those coming on a 15-yard run in which he dodged Bears linebacker Roquan Smith in the backfield.

With Green Bay trailing at halftime, Dillon had runs of 11, 5, 8 and 11 yards, and Jones scored from the 3 to cap a dominant opening drive. On the first of Dillon’s 11-yarders, left guard Jon Runyan pulled to his right and had an excellent block. On the second of Dillon’s 11-yarders, right guard Royce Newman pulled to his left, Runyan delivered again and Deguara aligned at fullback to block Quinn. On the touchdown, Nijman, Runyan and Lewis blocked their men down and Lazard pushed safety Eddie Jackson out to give Jones a big lane.

Deguara lined up at fullback and had a pancake block to spring Jones for 11. Really, tight ends Lewis, Deguara and Dominique Dafney did their thing in the run game. The botched Rodgers-Dillon exchange could have been a disaster.

Grade: B-minus.

Passing Defense

It’s easy to see why the Bears are so excited about Justin Fields. He’s got a rocket arm and electric athleticism. A lesser athlete would have been sacked six or eight times. But he’s a rookie and rookies make mistakes. Rasul Douglas recorded his second pick-six in as many weeks, his 55-yard touchdown briefly putting the Packers in front. He almost had a second in the second half. Douglas is Exhibit A on why the Packers could be playing for the Super Bowl and the Raiders (6-7) and Texans (2-11) are getting ready to go golfing. Those teams employed Douglas in August. He couldn’t have helped them?

According to PFF, the Packers’ starting corners completely dominated. Fields was 0-for-2 against Douglas, 0-for-3 against Eric Stokes and 1-for-5 for 6 yards against Chandon Sullivan. The Ravens next week have the speed at receiver to replicate the short-game touchdowns delivered by Damiere Byrd and Jakeem Grant. Byrd’s 54-yard touchdown against Henry Black was the same route as Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson’s touchdown against Black a few weeks ago. They’ve got to get that fixed.

The two sacks of Fields hardly tell the story because the pass rush was fantastic. In a copy-and-paste sentence, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark were dominant. So was Kingsley Keke. This isn’t pretty-boy football. It’s brute force after brute force after brute force of engaging their blocker and driving him into the lap of the passer. The defensive front is doing all the work. Aside from a couple blitzes by Darnell Savage, defensive coordinator Joe Barry is getting pressure without blitzing. What a dream.

Of course, the game turned on Smith’s strip/sack of Fields in the third quarter, which set up a touchdown to put Green Bay on top 35-27.

Grade: B.

Rushing Defense

The final numbers were ugly, with Chicago rushing 23 times for 137 yards, a 6.0-yard average. But that was fattened up by Fields, who accounted for almost half of the yards with nine carries for 74 yards that included runs of 20, 17 and 11 yards. They all count, of course, and Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley can run, too. However, the Packers held standout running back David Montgomery to 10 carries for 42 yards. Twenty of those came on a draw on Chicago’s opening drive. That’s a victory.

De’Vondre Campbell was a one-man gang with 16 tackles.

Grade: C.

Special Teams

You watched the bloodshed unfold. Here are some of the numbers:

- Green Bay kicked off three times in the second quarter. Chicago started those drives at the 41, 40 and 42.

- Punter Corey Bojorquez punted four times. One was returned 34 yards to set up a field goal, one was returned 97 yards for a touchdown and one was a 22-yard shank. In the first 12 games of the season, he had net averages of 40 yards in 10 and just missed that mark in another game. Against Chicago, his net was a pitiful 10.0 yards.

- Chicago kicked off five times. Green Bay never got the ball past the 25 and started one drive at the 5 after Malik Taylor foolishly tried to make a running catch at the sideline.

Also, Amari Rodgers fielded a punt with his helmet for what would have been a turnover had the Bears’ runner not run himself out of bounds, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling botched an onside kick.

If you’re a glass-one-tenth-full sort of person. Mason Crosby made all seven kicks, Rodgers had a nice punt return and Green Bay’s four second-half kickoffs pinned the Bears at the 25, 8, 13 and 21. None of that can salvage the inevitable.

Grade: F

Coaching

Credit to LaFleur, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and defensive coordinator Joe Barry. The Bears had it all working to start the game but the Packers ended up winning in a runaway.

Offensively, after two punts to start the game, Green Bay scored five touchdowns and one field goal on its next eight possessions. Defensively, Green Bay held the Bears without a first down on their first four possessions of the second half.

Now, what can Maurice Drayton to prevent a mid-January disaster?

Grade: C.