The Green Bay Packers don’t look good. They have no running game. Aaron Rodgers has too much on his shoulders, and only got going in the second half. It didn’t’ matter. The Green Bay Packers have been dominating the Chicago Bears for over five years, and things aren’t going to change in 2016, or so it seems.
The Packers won 26-10 to bounce back on Thursday Night from their home loss to the Chicago Bears, as the absence of Eddie Lacy (out for the season probably) forced Rodgers to throw the ball 56 times. Later he said that might be closer to what the Packers are going to have to do each game. Against the 1-6 Chicago Bears, it worked pretty well. Rodgers completed 39 of his 56 throws for 3 second half touchdowns, as the Bears couldn’t get any points on the board or do much of anything after taking a 10-6 lead early in the third quarter off a Leonard Floyd fumble recovery in the end zone.
Rodgers connected twice with Davante Adams for the TDs and finally with Randall Cobb. Adams also finished with 132 yards, and Ty Montgomery helped out alot with 10 receptions for 66 yards, in what seems like a lot more meaningful second season for the former Stanford player. Jordy Nelson? Only one receptions and nine yards, but it didn’t matter, not in the second half, when the Bears couldn’t stay on the field long enough to give their defense some kind of break.
The Bears were pleased with what Brian Hoyer was giving them despite the piling losses. However, Hoyer broke his arm, and the Bears moved on to Matt Barkley. Barkley completed just 6-of-15 passes for 81 yards and two interceptions. The Bears finished with only 189 yards of offense in a low point for them this season, which might continue to get worse, as John Fox knows he has an incredible amount of work ahead of him before the Bears mean something again in terms of contending for a playoff spot or anything similar. With so many injuries, it’s difficult seeing any kind of progress he can make with them this season.
And it’s not like it’s all good news for the Packers. They are 4-2, but the Vikings are probably a better team than them this season, the Lions are no slouches either, and overall, it’s going to be easier preparing for them each week from now on. When Lacy was drafted from Alabama, it looked like Green Bay finally had the running back to balance out this offense, but Lacy has had his own struggles with staying at the right weight and injuries. Rodgers just hasn’t been the elite quarterback he used to be over the last two seasons, and the position the Packers find themselves in means they can’t afford him to be anything but excellent on almost every play he tries to make.
In short, small reasons to be optimistic for the Packers, or at least for not entering some sort of crisis being enough good news. For the Bears, their inability to look good against the Packers on an almost bi-annually basis remains intact, losing this rivalry game for the 11th time in their last 13 meets, and things don’t look like they’re going to improve. At least not in 2016.
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