Watching the Bears vs. the Packers game on Sunday was extremely difficult as a Chicago fan. Despite promising looks the past few weeks, it is tough to continuously see the team’s offense struggle while their defense can barely catch their breath.
Coming into this game it was a toss up between the two teams. While Green Bay may have come in with the better record, their defense has been allowing 22.7 points per game, as well as the fact that this is a lifelong rivalry, which are always well played games. However, the Bears fell flat. Even after sacking Aaron Rodgers twice early on in the game, and scoring first with Khalil Herbert pushing his way into the endzone, they looked promising.
It was after this that the momentum shifted. Aaron Rodgers started completing passes, the Chicago defense started getting tired, and Aaron Jones, Green Bay RB, was able to see the gaps in the defense and run past them.
Rodgers accounted for all three Packers touchdowns, passing two and rushing one more, which completely took the defense off guard. Even yelling “I still own you” to the crowd after scoring on one drive.
However, besides the Packers dominant offense, why can’t the Chicago Bears score? Their offensive line gave up four sacks and four more QB hits. Looking at this offensive line, it is clear they were getting tired, struggling to give Justin Fields an opportunity to throw the ball.
The difficulty scoring can also be attributed to the rookie QB. Fields showed in this game how much his field IQ still needs to develop. The momentum shifting interception being the biggest evidence of this as Fields heaved the ball down field, deeply overthrowing the ball and the Packers defense came up with it. Fields shows a lot of hope for Chicago but his youth and inexperience could be one of the main reasons they have yet to score.
One of the biggest reasons why the Bears can’t score though? The play calls. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor ran into trouble when developing plays for Bears third downs. While they had plenty of chances to get the ball to the first down marker, the play calls were not allowing Fields to run or throw when he should have been, and did not create solid run plays for Herbert to use his speed to blow out defenders to get the first down.
So, what comes next for the Bears? It is up in the air. With a 3-3 record going into week 7 they will have the opportunity to gain momentum and start winning, or they could flop once more and fall to the 49ers.
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