GREEN BAY, Wis. — As we walked back into the press box late Sunday night, Aaron Rodgershe was talking to the television Green Bay media.
“Let me tell you about success,” he was saying.
I stopped right there. Please, please tell me. Tell the Bears.
I’ve been coming up here most years since 2009 and I’ve never seen the Bears win at Lambeau Field. Yes, I missed Thanksgiving 2015 and the Josh McCown match in 2013. I’ll never forgive myself.
Each year I arrive here hoping to find cheese curds in a press box or for the Bears’ to lose. Almost every year both of these things happen. This year, there weren’t any cheese curds.
So that’s why I’ll listen to Rodgers read the dictionary definition of success and nod my head. Hey, I don’t agree with him on a lot of things, but the guy knows how to beat the Bears’ brains in, year in and year out.
In the Packers’ 27-10 win Sunday night, Rodgers threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns while the Packers running attack finished with 203 rushing yards and another touchdown. Green Bay managed averaging 5.3 yards per rush, and 7.5 yards per passing attempt. This is how they scored 26 first downs.
Aaron Rodgers throws a touchdown to the Bears in the second quarter. (Benny Sieu / USA Today)
“To call a spade a spade, it looked like he didn’t have to pass that much,” Bears defensive end Robert Quinn said.
“It’s Aaron Rodgers being Aaron Rodgers,” safety Eddie Jackson said.
That is what we know. What the Bears don’t know is what the NFLVersion of Justin Fields being Justin Fields looks like. To be competitive against their opponents, the Bears need a quarterback that can incite fear. They’ve been looking for that guy for quite a while. Fields was a Bears quarterback Sunday night. That’s the worst thing you could say about the NFC North.
It’s 176 miles due north from Halas Hall to Lambeau Field. That’s how far Fields and the Bears had to travel for a trip to reality.
At 1-0, it was all “Bearsssssssss.”
Now it’s back to (disgusted sigh) “Bears” once again.
As the Packers salted away the game on their final possession, the majority of the 70,000-plus at Lambeau started a “Bears still suck” chant. The Bears new GM Ryan Poles was packing his bags in the press room as the chant went on.
There’s a lot of work to do for the Bears to catch up to their neighbors to the north.
Fields was required by the Bears to efficiently throw the ball Sunday night. He did exactly that, with 63.6 percent completions of his passes. Of course, he only threw 11 passes, so 7 completions isn’t really that impressive when it only amounts to 70 yards. The Bears ended the game with only 11 first downs. Nine of those were on the ground. After a clean match against the Bears, they were 1-for-7 in third down and had seven penalties of 50 yards. 49ers.
For a moment, however, it appeared that this could be a loss or at the very least a cover for the 10-point spread.
Fields scored the game’s first touchdown. He completed a seven-play, 71/yard drive with a run to a pylon, making it 7-3. However, the Packers scored 21 points without giving up and the Bears had three drives in the second half with no first downs.
Fields trailed 24-10. After a long drive to start the fourth quarter Fields was close to making it a one-touchdown game. But two runs at goal line were short. The touchdown was declared after the second dive to the right pole. Although the touchdown signal was performed several times by Poles at once, the referees reexamined it and ruled against the call. Fourth-and-1 was called by Luke Getsy, the offensive coordinator back in his hometown. He called for a shotgun run with Fields and a pulling guard. The ball appeared to have crossed the plane, and the Bears challenged this call but in vain. It is likely that it would be called a touchdown on-the field.
Rodgers could have marched down the field to score a touchdown, just like he did. For sure. But it would’ve looked and felt better, for Bears fans and Bears players.
However, the play called raised many eyebrows throughout the country regardless of the outcome. The only place where the play call was approved was Lambeau Field.
“I like it and the coaches liked it and we looked at it, we practiced it and repped it because a lot of times,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said in defense of the call, “what you do in that regard, you outnumber the box so using the quarterback as a runner, you’ve got an additional blocker and so, you like your numbers in the box. That’s why we called it. And it was the best play we had there at the time.”
Really? A fullback is employed by the Bears. The Bears also have a fullback named David MontgomeryHe finished with 122 yard on 15 carries. Montgomery ran for 61 yards on the Bears’ fourth quarter drive. Montgomery ran for 61 yards on consecutive plays. Khalil HerbertHe ran for 27 and 28 yards. Although Getsy chose to continue with the running game while he was there, it was clear that he made a mistake. Everyone in Chicago wanted Getsy to be the next head coach after he had provided a solid half of the offense in the win over 49ers. In that moment, he made an uncharacteristic Nagy-esque call. It’s his first year calling plays, he’ll learn.
Fields didn’t know that he was going throw the ball just eleven times prior to the start of the game.
“Luke said before the game we were going to run it down their throats,” Fields said. “D-Mo, I don’t know what he ate today but he was running the ball crazy. My job isn’t to call the plays. My job is to execute the plays that are given to me the best I can.”
Darnell MooneyThe supposed No. 2 receiver and was targeted twice. He also caught one pass for less than 2 yards. How could they get Mooney to the ball more?
“Call plays to get him the ball?” Fields said. “Again that’s not our job. Our job is to get the play call and run it to the best of our ability.”
While Rodgers is giving dissertations about what it’s like to win, on Sunday, we could see how far away Fields and the Bears offense are from their greatest rivals. It’s not a long drive from Lake Forest to Green Bay, but the distance between the Bears and the Packers is as gaping as ever.
(Top photo of Justin Fields diving for the end zone as he is tackled by the Packers’ Quay Walker in the fourth quarter Sunday on a play originally ruled a touchdown that was overturned after review: Dan Powers / USA Today)
