Bears Lose with Interception at End of Game

Waking up on this chilly Chicago morning, I had one question as I got ready for work.  “How much cope am I going to put into today’s post?”  I’m still not quite sure.  We’ll find out together as I type this out.

                The Chicago Bears fall 28-21 in Lambeau after a slow burn start to thrilling 4^th quarter performance.  Obviously it sucks tremendously to lose to the Packers in Green Bay.  There’s no way around that.  Initial thoughts [read: cope] are that given how bad of a start we had, it was certainly “something” if not good to see the Bears scratch and claw their way to a near victory.  That’s the most frustrating part of this whole game, we nearly won.  Well, we nearly tied it up.  I’d like to think if we had then we would have won but it doesn’t really matter does it.

                I would like to see Ben Johnson work on plays other than running Swift or Monangai up the middle.  Those plays can work and do work, but when you’re getting stuffed over and over and over again by a good defense – you’d like to see some better chunk pass plays.  Look, I love it when Caleb Williams steps into the heroic side arm throws.  It is incredibly fun to watch.  BUT, those plays do not produce consistent first downs.  The fact is the Bears were 50% on third down conversion while the Packers were 67%.  The Packers excel at letting Jordan Love breath in the pocket and then float the ball down for a first down.  I’m not saying I want Caleb Williams to play like Jordan Love, what I’m saying is what I’ve said before on this blog: we have to be better about our fundamental pass plays for 5-10 yards.

                The Packers are a good team and could make a deep playoff run.  The fact that we went into Green Bay got beat up in the first half and then stuck around till the end is good.  It would have been better to win obviously, but that game was another testament to the culture that Ben Johnson is building in Chicago.  For that I will give him and the Bears credit.

                Looking at the rest of the schedule we should have a layup of a game against the Browns, only to face the Pack again right after.  If the Bears are going to be serious about beating the Packers in Soldier Field I need 3 things to happen:

1.      Contain Josh Jacobs in the run and Christian Watson on the pass

2.      Have Caleb Williams complete nickel and dime plays to maintain possession of the ball and create first down opportunities

3.      Find a way to put pressure on Jordan Love, do not allow him to create those 3^rd down conversions

If we can do those 3 things (and not be intercepted at the end of the game) I believe we can finish out the season 1-1 against Green Bay.  If we can beat Green Bay then we can beat the 49ers, and if we can beat the 49ers…  I think you know where this is going by now.

Bears 21- Packers… 28