Biggest takeaways from the Packers’ 17-13 loss to the Bears

The defense helped make Thursday night a Thanksgiving to remember for the Chicago Bears.

The Bears defense has allowed just six touchdowns in its last five games, the same number the unit permitted in the first half of last year’s 55-14 loss in Green Bay.

The Chicago Bears had not won a game at Lambeau Field with Jay Cutler under center since he joined the team in 2009, but an impressive all-around effort from the Bears on Thanksgiving night fueled the team to a 17-13 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

On Tuesday afternoon, as Bears coach John Fox feverishly prepared his team for this week’s quick turnaround, he was asked whether he believed in signature wins. And a lot of people’s preseason favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl are playing some pretty forgettable football with just five regular-season games remaining. “That’s the last thing we talked about”. He did have to do all his handing off with his right hand and said he was still waiting for the feeling to return to a couple of his fingers. Then on his final pass of the game, Rodgers misfired on pass to Davante Adams.

There were several other missed opportunities. Aaron Rodgers led the team down inside the 10 yard line late, but James Jones couldn’t hold on to a 3 down pass and a 4 down pass from Aaron Rodgers fell incomplete.

The loss at Lambeau Field, which saw the Packers come up empty on four straight passes from the 8-yard line when a touchdown would have won the game, featured signs of waning focus and frustration.

The defense made the biggest statement.

Not to be outdone by Porter, Callahan, Young and Houston, inside linebacker Shea McClellin, as well as safeties Adrian Amos and Chris Prosinski, also came up big against Green Bay. We’ll take another hard look at it, as we continue to do, and either emphasize some of the changes we have made or go back to emphasize some of the basics of our offense.

The highlight for Green Bay turned out to be the return of Favre, whose name and No. 4 was unveiled at halftime with the club’s other retired numbers.

Favre thanked his former teammates and fans as the crowd roared its approval. The 81-year-old Starr is recovering from two strokes and a heart attack.

“It was awesome”, Favre said about seeing Starr at the halftime ceremony.

“When you have a chance to get your hands on the football, you’ve got to take advantage of it”, McCarthy said. “I think any time you see basic plays – a slant route turns into an interception, like it did last night – the timing isn’t as clean, which would lead to the details and the fundamentals”. But it was his first sentence online and in the newspaper that really caught my eye: “Hear me out”.

Porter has often been asked to shadow opposing offense’s best wide receivers this season, and he played one of his best games of the year in Week 12 against Green Bay. But Cutler stayed, and Fox and new offensive coordinator Adam Gase have gotten improved play out of him. He was 19 of 31.

“Looking at guys in that locker room that had been here for a minute and maybe not had great success here, Jay included”.