After a surprising upset in Week 1, the Chicago Bears take to the road to take on the hated Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Here are some things to look for in the game.
Well, Week 1 was exciting, was it not? After spending the entire offseason getting bashed, the Chicago Bears showed in their upset of the San Francisco 49ers that while this is a team that does not have elite talent up and down the roster, it is one that will try to outwork you. Other teams now know that they will be in a dogfight when they face Chicago.
The Chicago Bears pulled off one of the best upsets in NFL Week 1
The Bears started out slowly on offense but the player kept grinding. They just wore down the Niners and the offense finally came around. After going down 10-0 late in the third quarter, the Bears ran off 19 straight points to come away with a huge win, opening some eyes in the process.
Now the Bears hope to continue their momentum. They go on the road to face the hated Green Bay Packers. A few months ago this was considered an easy blowout win for the Packers. Green Bay is considered a Super Bowl contender and the Bears are starting yet another rebuild.
However, once the curtains went up and the bright lights started to shine, we saw how hard the Bears play and how they just surround the ball on defense. Also, we saw how Aaron Rodgers struggled to get on the same page as his new receivers. Davante Adams is not there anymore so Rodgers has some adjustments to make.
Sure, eventually Rodgers and his receivers will figure it out and run off a load of victories. We just hope that the run begins after the Bears leave town.
Hopefully, Chicago shows the Packers, even if they lose, that this is a new era of Chicago Bears football. For now, though, let’s take a look at some things to watch out for in this game.
Can David Montgomery bounce back from last week’s performance?
While the Chicago Bears enjoyed a big win, running back David Montgomery had a poor game. That’s not to say that he didn’t contribute to the win, however. He was the only player who had any receiving yards in the first half.
There were only three completions for the Bears in the entire first half. Two of them went to Montgomery for 21 yards. Khalil Herbert had the other catch but it lost two yards.
Additionally, Montgomery was pivotal on the 51-yard touchdown completion that jump-started the offense. as quarterback Justin Fields scrambled, Montgomery was out on the flat. He cut across and the Niners secondary, knowing that he was the only one doing a good job of receiving, collapsed on him. That left Dante Pettis all by himself. The only worry was whether or not he was too open to catch the ball. He did, and he basically skipped to the end zone.
Montgomery’s rushing stats were not as good, however. He had 17 carries for just 26 yards. That is an average of 1.5 yards per carry. He had the most carries in the game but he could not find a groove. It may take a while for Montgomery to find that groove in Luke Getsy’s new offense. Now the Bears utilize a wide-zone scheme. That usually calls for the running back to get out on the edge and outrun the defense, then make a cut to avoid them.
Montgomery is not that type of runner. He doesn’t utilize speed in his repertoire. He is more of a bruising-type back who has excellent balance and bounces off attempted tackles. This offense is better suited for Herbert. It showed as he finished with 45 yards on only 9 carries. That is an average of 5 yards per rush.
As we see, the Bears are trying to give Montgomery the carries. He had nearly double the carries that Herbert had. If Montgomery continues to struggle, we’ll see if the Bears continue that.
Kyler Gordon needs to improve
Lost in all the hoopla of the big victory and some of the rookies who performed well was Kyler Gordon’s play.
San Francisco quarterback Trey Lance struggled with the Chicago Bears’ defense. He missed throws to some wide-open receivers. Also, he made some bad decisions, including throwing an interception late in the game that sealed the win.
One area where Lance did well was when he targeted Gordon. He completed five of the seven targets that went Gordon’s way for 70 yards. That is an average of 14 yards per completion. Lance had a passer rating of 103.3 when targeting Gordon.
Gordon has to step it up this week. Lance was making only his third career start. He still has a lot to learn as a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, is a future Hall of Fame quarterback. It is a certainty that he’ll see how Gordon played and he’ll go after Gordon.
If Gordon doesn’t step up it will be a long night for him. It will also mean that Jaylon Johnson, the CB1 who plays on the other side, will be awfully lonely. Quarterbacks around the NFL tried to avoid him last season. The other corners struggled so why would opponents go after Johnson when there are easier targets?
The thought was that with Gordon that would not happen. Gordon’s play would force quarterbacks to target Johnson more. That, in turn, would give him more opportunities to make plays.
Rodgers is a master at finding the weak link in a defense. After last week, he will go after Gordon early. If Gordon can’t step up, Rodgers will just feed whoever is on Gordon. This is Gordon’s opportunity to show he is exactly the guy the Bears expected to see when they drafted him.
The Chicago Bears offensive line needs to have a complete game
The Chicago Bears offensive line did a great job of protection in the second half of their game against the Niners. Fields only completed 8 of 17 passes for 121 yards. Of course, the bad weather had a big impact on that.
What is more important is that Fields went 3-of-9 for 19 yards in the first half. That means he went 5-of-8 for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns in the second half.
As mentioned earlier, the first half was a mess for the offense. The Bears had a total of 68 total yards in the first half.
Left tackle Braxton Jones faced one of the top pass rushers in the league in Nick Bosa. Bosa gave Jones a lesson on how much better the NFL players are compared to college. To Jones’ credit, however, he learned quickly. He adjusted and took what happened in the first half and he slowed Bosa down. The line in general did a great job in the second half. After giving up two sacks in the first half, they did not allow any in the second half.
We need the line to have a complete game. The Packers have the ability to score points in bunches. In order for the Bears to keep up, they need the line to play well. If that happens, Fields will be able to have a better game and score to keep things close. If it is close late, anything can happen and the Bears can really impress people around the league.
Can the Chicago Bears front seven affect Rodgers’ play?
One of the best things about last week’s victory was how the Chicago Bears’ defense played. The defense kept the Bears in the game during the first half. The Niners consistently had good field position but could only find the end zone once.
The Bears’ defense kept coming up with big plays to limit the Niners. While they only had two sacks as San Francisco did, they continually put pressure on Lance. That made him make bad decisions or rush the clock in his head.
This week, the Bears face a Packers offensive line that is dealing with injuries. Tackle David Bakhtiari (knee) and guard Elgton Jenkins (knee/pectoral) are both limited in practice. Guard Jon Runyan is in the league’s concussion protocol.
This gives the Bears a chance to really dominate Green Bay’s line. If they can pressure Rodgers who, as mentioned before, is still trying to introduce himself to his receivers on the field, into speeding up his decisions it could possibly be another game in which he and his receivers still aren’t on the same page.
The Minnesota Vikings harassed Rodgers throughout the game. They sacked him four times and kept him from throwing any touchdown passes. Additionally, they forced him to fumble and lose the ball.
If the Bears can keep the pressure on Rodgers they may be able to have a big game. However, it isn’t enough to just pressure him. Rodgers does a great job of moving around and buying time. The Bears need to contain him. They cannot let him move and look for the defensive breakdown. They have to force him to throw before he wants.
One positive the Bears have this season is that they now have younger and more athletic players. Last season, they were one of the oldest teams in the NFL. In contrast, they are now one of the youngest teams in the league, with 28 players in their rookie or second season. These young players could keep up better and not slow down as the game progresses.
If the front seven can do a good job of harassing Rodgers we could see an even bigger upset than we saw in Week 1.
Justin Fields continues his development
Once things settled down Fields really showed what he could do. He made some big plays downfield, rolled out to buy time, and used his legs to gain key yards. Fields ran for 28 yards and the offense woke up when he picked up a few first downs with his legs.
Fields also showed great handling of the new system. He had his teammates in the huddle and ready for the next play quickly. Under former head coach Matt Nagy, there were many times when the offense took too much time to set up and ended up either having to waste a timeout or take a delay of game penalty.
Things are different with Getsy and Fields.
Head coach Matt Eberflus was impressed with Fields’ composure after a horrible first half.
"He was able to move all those things aside. Figuring it out how he was going to grip the ball better, how he was going to operate and then figure out the game as the game went on and move the ball down the field. That’s what, to me, is outstanding. What an outstanding thing for a young quarterback to have that mental toughness."
It is unknown whether it was the bad conditions or the pressure by San Francisco early on that had the Bears call a lot of short passes. In fact, 8 of Fields’ 17 passes were completed behind the line of scrimmage.
We have to see if this week the game plan is to have more passes thrown downfield. It will be a big boost if Velus Jones Jr. plays. He is a dynamic player with blazing speed who could help on both offense and special teams.
Jones can stretch the defense, opening up things underneath. That would give more targets to tight end Cole Kmet, who didn’t have any catches and was targeted just once.
Hopefully, we can see how Fields plays on a clean surface. However, there is a chance we might not see that. There is a 60 percent chance of rain forecasted for Green Bay. The game is on Sunday night so if it rains throughout the day the Bears could see another bad field surface. We already saw that Fields can handle that. Let’s hope he can show that he could also handle the game in good conditions.
The Chicago Bears may not win this game, but they will do a lot to earn some respect. This is the first look that many of the “experts” will really have. Chicago hopes to make a great first impression.