Bears beat Packers, spoil Favre’s retirement party
Mike McCarthy hadn’t watched the tape yet, but the Green Bay Packers coach knows what he saw on James Jones’ offensive pass interference penalty in the second quarter of Thursday night’s 17-13 loss to Chicago. He caught only two of the 11 passes thrown his way for 14 yards, couldn’t hold onto the football on what could have been a 47-yard touchdown on a deep in route early in the game and later appeared to slow up on another in cut as Bears cornerback Tracy Porter made the interception. We’ve lost four games – two at home, which is uncharacteristic of us the last couple years.
On the night the Packers celebrated their never-injured former quarterback, Brett Favre, they got a big injury scare with their current QB.
Rodgers completed 22 of 43 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, while Cutler completed 19 of his 31 throws.
Second, Deonte Thompson popped a kickoff return for 37 yards, the second-longest of the season, to put the Bears at the Chicago 42.
One was the status of his left arm, which Rodgers hurt in the third quarter on a hit by Bears linebacker Lamarr Houston. They’re at least getting a full week to prepare after having just a three-day turnaround between the win a week ago at Minnesota and the Thanksgiving night loss at home to the Chicago Bears.
The 6-foot-4, 323-pound Bryant started all 16 games with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, when he had 22 tackles, one forced fumble and two tackles for loss. Afterward, we’ll look ahead to Week 13 to see what’s in store for both teams.
“Man, we’ve all been wearing them hoodies in practice now forever”. Then on his final pass of the game, Rodgers misfired on pass to Davante Adams. It’s a red-letter game for us.
The worst play involving Adams, though, came on Green Bay’s second-to-last drive, with the Packers down by four with just over four minutes to play and starting at their own 10-yard line.
That belief was undone on Thursday night.
Running back Eddie Lacy ran for 105 yards on 17 carries and caught 4 balls for another 34 yards on the lone Packer TD.
“I think the offense has evolved a lot since that first week”, quarterback Jay Cutler said.
It’s time for Green Bay Packers fans to stop making excuses.
While the concerns regarding Lacy’s fumblitis are easy to understand, forgetting about a player averaging more than a yard and a half more than Rodgers as a passer makes little sense. In the second quarter, he fumbled at the end of a 15-yard run. Lacy, as well as Starks, need the ball a lot more when they’re running it like that. You remember when Lovie Smith came to Chicago; the 1st thing he said he wanted to do was beat Green Bay. “I don’t think we’re in a situation right now where we can pick and choose who we want to win and who we wanna lose to”. “Those power runners, when they fight for extra yardage, sometimes the first thing that gets sloppy is the ball security”. Lacy’s 27-yard chunk run led to a field goal in the teams’ first meeting, but was just one of several pivotal plays that keyed the Packers victory. “I certainly thank God for the opportunity to play the game I love so much and to play it for such a long time and in the best place to play football in the world”. The Bears launched a touchdown drive from there to tie the game at 7-7.
But the voice of the Packers says the players are likely not hitting the panic button – but rather focusing on correcting the myriad of mistakes the team is struggling with.
The Bears also got Alshon Jeffery back, who had seven catches for 90 yards. Rodgers said afterward he was trying to throw that ball to Randall Cobb, and in fairness to Adams, it would have been a tough catch on a high Rodgers fastball.