Bears and Packers In-Game Blog

Reporting and analysis during Sunday night's Bears road game against the Green Bay Packers with Chicago looking to go 2-0 on the season.

Fourth Quarter

• Packers 203 yards rushing. Aaron Jones 15 runs for 132 yards. Montgomery 122 yards on 15 carries. Bears 180 yards rushing.
• Fields  7 of 11 for 70 yards. One TD run, one pick. Rodgers 19 of 25, 234 yards, two TDs, 131.1 passer rating.
• Fields throws the pick on the run to Jaire Alexander. Terrible decision by Fields to throw it that way. The target was fine, but he needed to throw it over St. Brown and let him run to it instead of at him where Alexander could track it down.
• Mooney: one catch minus 4 yards. Kmet: No catches.
• Trestan Ebner's big return will be wiped out by a penalty for an illegal block on DHC.
• Packers' dump-off pass doesn't net a first down so Rodgers tries to get them to jump on fourth down and it doesn't work. They kick the 27-yard Mason Crosby field goal.
• Jackson delivers another huge hit on Watson on a jet sweep, then Justin Jones with a TFL and Packers are in third-and-11.
• Both Brisker and Gordon left the outside wide open on another Jones run. 
• Packers caught the Bears cheating up for the run.  Rodgers play-action bomb to Watkins and he gets behind Gordon and Eddie Jackson for 55 yards. Game, set match.
• It's 27 runs and nine passes for the Bears. Sounds like we've gone back to the John Fox era. 
• Justin Jones' penetration results in a TFL and Bears burn a timeout.
• Rodgers runs around end for the first down. That's where you run the quarterback in short yardage out of a shotgun, not inside.
• Two runs and it's third-and-2 for the Packers 10.
• Wow, the replay on the goal line shows Fields may have actually scored. But the camera angle is not clear and obvious with so many bodies there and Packers have the ball at the 1.
• Bears 180 yards rushing, Packers 166. Montgomery has 122 yards on 15 tries.
• Packers ball at their 1. Barring a turnover here, that was the game.
• Fields lines up in shotgun and runs into the line. Officials say he didn't make it. Why would you run a QB keeper from the 6-inch line out of a shotgun? That was a Matt Nagy style of play.
• Fourth-and-goal from the 6-inch line.
• Fields scrambles and hits the pylon for a TD but he appears about 6 inches short on the replay.
• Hole opened behind Lucas Patrick for a second but Montgomery read the block wrong and went the wrong way. Third-and-goal at the 6.
• Packers finally slow Montgomery, hold him to 2 on first-and-goal from the 10.
• Duh. Officials admit their mistake and give the Bears a first down.
• Montgomery now has more yards than Aaron Jones, 118 yards to 112. The Bears have outrushed the Packers 171-166 yards.
• Eberflus has challenged the bad spot, which says he's half a yard short. He intentionally stuck the ball out front the way Aaron Rodgers has done for years to get first downs, and they didn't give it to him.
• Kmet with a crushing block on Preston Smith and Fields appears to have the first down as he sticks it out in front and officials cheat him out of the first down.
•  Montgomery falls forward for a few and Bears face third-and-5 after a false start slowed things.
• With 11:20 lefft the Bears are at the Packers 25 and the running continues with Herbert knifing for 6 out of the I.
• A 27-yard run by Khaliil Herbert follows behind great blocking by left tackle Braxton Jones, took two players out.

• Montgomery with a second-and-20 run of 28 yards. He's tearing up Green Bay. Too bad they didn't stick to the run in the second quarter.

Third Quarter

• Eddie Jackson with another hard, low tackle on a short pass after running across the field. Packers punting to start the fourth quarter. Packers 24, Bears 10
• Watson runs into the snap as he's in motion and the Bears miss a golden opportunity to recover it at the Packers 33. Third-and-22.
• Packers go to the inside zone scheme once and it gets nothing. They should stick outside, they're chewing up the Bears there. Second-and-9 now at the Packers 46.
• Running game onslaught by Jones continues. Morrow got out of his gap on the play and it resulted in an 8-yard run.
• Nicholas Morrow flagged for pass interference on a short third-down pass but Packers take the other penalty on the play, Vildor for holding the jersey of his old buddy Sammy Watkins. 
• Pennel gets through and disrupts a toss to force the Packers into third-and-6.
• Brisker backs off of Robert Tonyan on a short pass after it's apparent Rodgers is under pressure. And he allows a 2-yard completion. But it could have been no yards if he had stayed on Tonyan.
• Darnell Mooney? Cole Kmet? They here?
• It looked like a botched RPO play and the Bears are left trying a 44-yard Cairo Santos field goal with 5:11 left in the third quarter. Packers 24, Bears 10
• Montgomery lowers his head and gets 6 to make it third-and-2 at the Packers 22.
• Finally Bears get back to the ground game and Montgomery churns it out, then they go play-action to Ryan Griffin in the middle of the field for 18. Bears at the Packers 31.
• Bears have been outrushed 151 yards to 51 yards.
• Bears couldn't stop the Packers, but they stopped themselves. An aborted handoff falls onto the ground and Mike Pennel has it for the Bears at their own 31. Jones 10 carries for 102 yards, Dillon 11 runs for 42.
• Brisker misses a tackle on Dillon and Smith is nowhere to be found on that play to the 28.
• Finally a big hit and by Eddie Jackson of all people, hits Christian Watson for a yard loss. 
• More missed tackles on Jones as he barrels through for another first down. Jones then finds no one home on a 36-yard run. Jaquan Brisker fell and left the gap wide open. 
• Josh Blackwell, a new Bear, comes up with a big tackle on Amari Rodgers on a deep punt by Trenton Gill to the Packers 14.
• No one open and Fields dumps it down to Montgomery. Bears punting. 
• Fields keeper for 7 but is sacked as the whole pocket shrank on him as he searched for an open receiver.
• Bears go back to Ebner on kick return starting the half and it's probably a good idea but he only brings it back to the 22.
• Fields starts the second half 5 of 6 for 45 yards.

Second Quarter

• With 35 seconds left Bears have been outgained 232 yards to 81.
• Play-action slant for a TD to Lazard. Burned Gordon again. This was the great fear when Bears decided they were making Gordon into a nickel cornerback. It's a difficult position in the NFL for a veteran, let alone a rookie. Packers 24, Bears 7 
• Rodgers steps up to the B-gap then throws on the run to Cobbs, who got behind Gordon to the Bears 14, then tight end Robert Tonyan gains 9 more. The Packers are out of timeouts but they're at the 5. 
• From the Bears 38, Dillon has plenty of time to choose a hole but doesn't and only gains 3 when he could have had 6 or 7.
• Packers work a nice screen and Quinn had lined up offsides. 
• During the week, Matt Eberflus said he didn't like the  "tape delay" reaction his defensive players had sometimes against the 49ers. They're still having them, especially the linebackers and DBs against the run. The linemen aren't. They're just getting blown off the ball in real time. 
• TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!!
• After the punt, Jones with 14 on first down. That's 91 yards rushing by Green Bay in the first half.
• Fields drills one to St. Brown but it's well short of a first down.
• TFL by Rashan Gary for 5-yard loss. Beat  Borom badly.
• Cole Kmet drops his first target. Had no catches last week. 
• They try Ihmir Marsette-Smith back on returns and it's a debacle. He is stopped at the 15.
• This isn't the level of play a linebacker has if he wants to be the highest paid player at his position in the NFL.
• Dillon block shoves Smith right out of the way and Jones scores on a short flip from Rodgers with 4:36 letft in the half.  Packers 17, Bears 7 
• Missed tackle by Armon Watts and Dillon is able to get positive yardage. Poor tackling by the Bears defense tonight compared with last week. Green Bay at the 8.
• Cobb burns Smith for the first down over the middle on a 9-yard gain.
• Tremendous blocking for the Packers on a wide receiver screen to Romeo Doubs and Packers get into field goal range at the 22. Facing third-and-8.
• Third sack of Rodgers. Second one by Gipson. They waved a blatant hold and trip by by Elgton Jenkins. 
• They catch Newman holding Blackson. Ball at the 34 
• Dillon breaks right past Angelo Blackson and Justin Jones for the first down at the 24. 
• Gordon misses a TFL on Jones and they give up another 7 on the ground. Had an Eddie Jackson-style whiff.
• Jones gets the first down. Roquan Smith ran him out but was nowhere near making the play when he should have. He's nog having a good game so far.
• Packers start at their 46. Rodgers to Randall Cobb for 8. Bootleg pass and Muhammad didn't bite but there was no one home on Cobb near the sideline.as they were in zone.
• Fields went over the line on a throw and Bears must punt due to loss of down.  False start to start the drive on Ryan Griffin was a killer as Bears aren't showing the same discipline they did at home.
• Tremendous 72-yard punt by former Bear Pat O'Donnell against his old team. Only problem was he kicked it into the end zone. That's typical O'Donnell. Powerful leg, but inconsistent. Tends to come up with more short punts and low ones as the season wears on.

• Robert Quinn's 102nd career sack, beat Yosh Nijman for his fourth sack against Green Bay in the last three games.

• Gipson with another hit on Rodgers on a jailbreak and he dumps it to prevent the sack. Gipson and Quinn both there but Gipson wouldn't buy the play fake.

• Packers burning a second timeout. Very un-Packerlike to be wasting timeouts. Rodgers didn't like what he saw for some reason.

• Gordon learns fast. Rodgers tried hitting Watkins again on the slant on first down but Gordon was right there as the slot cornerback breaking it up.

• Montgomery stopped on a short screen and they'll punt it away. Packers with a fair catch at their 40. Green Bay's defense looked totally different on that series after being embarrassed on the first Bears possession.

• They finally find a way to get Mooney the ball behind the line and he is tackled for another 5-yard loss. Fields threw too low and he had no time to escape Rasul Douglas.

• Fields stripped of the ball by Preston Smith when Fields turned the wrong way to scramble but Teven Jenkins recovered for a 5-yard loss.

• Pitchout to Jones and he finds a gaping hole for the TD run six seconds into the second quarter from the 15-yard line.

First Quarter 

• Rodgers tries unsuccessfully to draw them offsides as the quarter ends on second-and-11 play. Bears 7, Packers 3
• Rodgers burns Kyler Gordon on a slant to Sammy Watkins for the first down at the Bears 14. If they get time, they have a good idea how to attack the Bears zone but Bears need better interior rush.
• Jaylon Johnson could have stripped the ball from Chirstian Watson on a 9-yard end-around run but didn't really reach out for it, just bumped him. Another Packers run and they're at the Bears 38.
• Jaquan Brisker penalized for illegal contact. actually looked like a hold more than illegal contact. 
• Robert Quinn was held on the last play badly right in front of the official but no call.
• Packers come back with the ground game themselves with Jones and Dillon picking up the first down at the 36 on two carries but then Rodgers inexplicably has Dillon wide open on a dump off and throws it intot he ground.
• Montgomery 38 yards rushing on the drive on four carries. Had 26 yards for the full game last week.
• What an answer, a  71-yard drive and everything done right, even a trick play. The running game on that drive looked better than it did at any time in the rain last week.
• Bootleg TD by Justin Fields from the 2. And Santos makes the PAT this time. Bears 7, Packers 0
• Wide zone blocking scheme working behind Teven Jenkins. Two Montgomery runs to the 2-yard line. Borom and Jenkins took them out.
• Flea flicker and Fields' main target isn't there but he finds Euanimeous St. Brown at the 25 of Green Bay. Adrian Amos tried to strip him as he fell but he held it.
• Bears have to burn a timeout when the play doesn't get in with expediency. Difficult to tell whether it was a headset issue or what happened on that. They had all kinds of headset issues last year. You'd think they could solve that in an era of technology.
• Justin Fields handles the ball all through that rain last week well, then drops the snap at the Bears 45 and has to fall on it on a dry night.
• Montgomery slashing across left guard and tackle breaks two tackles and gets loose for an 11-yard run.
• Solid push off right side for a 4-yard gain by David Montgomery. He had a better push from blockers on that one than all but maybe one run from scrimmage last week.
• Trestan Ebner returning again without Velus Jones available and takes one back to the 29, a 30-yard return.
• Trevis Gipson with his Thor celebration after sacking Rodgers on third down and forces a Mason Crosby field goal try of 40 yards. Gipson has sort of lost his starting job. Al-Quadin Muhammad took it away but Gipson now plays about as much, just doesn't start.  Packers 3, Bears 0
• Aaron Jones with a first down catch on the sidelines appeared to be bobbling it and did not have it when he hit the ground but is given the catch. Green Bay realized it and rushed to the line but got a 5-yard penalty for moving. Then Kyler Gordon knoced a TD pass in the end zone away from Allen Lazard. Great leap by the rookie.
• Timing slant for the first down to Allen Lazard. This is how  you attack a cover-2 based zone,, posts and skinny posts.Rodgers takes advantage of a rare Bears man-to-man coverage for a first-down throw to Sammy Watkins, who is Vildor's worst nightmare.This time he beat rookie Kyler Gordon.
• Bears called for a 15-yard penalty on Kindle Vildor for blocking low on the blockers of Aaron Jones. The problem was, he failed to make any contact, just as James Daniels whiffed last year against Pittsburgh in a night game. You have to have an actual block before that penalty can be called.
• Elgton Jenkins and Jon Runyan starting so the Packers have a part of their starting line back.
• Bears defer and Packers receive the kick. After a touchback, play begins at the 25.

Inactives

Bears

• WR Velus Jones Jr.

• DB Elijah Hicks

• G Michael Schofield III

• DB Lamar Jackson

• G Ja'Tyre Carter

• TE Jake Tonges

Packers

• S Tariq Carpenter

• T David Bakhtiari

• T Caleb Jones

• T/G Sean Rhyan

• WR Samori Toure

• DL Jonathan Ford

Pregame

• The early forecasts had said there would be rain during the game tonight but the latest forecasts say no chance of rain at all. Temperatues are to be low 70s to 67 degrees and cloudy.
• Nominee for ex-Bears player of the week: Breshad Perriman. He caught a critical 28-yard TD from Tom Brady and had three catches for 45 yards against the Saints in Tampa Bay's 20-10 win.
• Nominee for ex-Bears failure of the week: Mitchell Trubisky. Averaged 5.1 yards per pass attempt as he couldn't get it downfield (where have we seen that before) in a 17-14 loss to New England in Pittsburgh. His passer rating in two games have been 78.2 and 73.8.
• Maybe the ex-Bears player of the week should be James Daniels for what he said after the Steelers' anemic effort, one which will no doubt lead to calls for Kenny Pickett.

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Personnel

Bears defensive end Robert Quinn will not be facing Packers former All-Pro tackle David Bakhtiari in Sunday night's game.

Bakhtiari, who has not played since the playoffs following the 2020 season, has had a long rehab from a torn ACL and will not play according to Bill Huber of Packer Central.

Bakhtiari was listed inactive when the inactive list came out. He practiced Wednesday on a limited basis and also did that on Friday but on Thursday did not practice at all.

The Packers have a few other injury issues on the offensive line. Guard Jon Runyan had been in the concussion protocol and tackle Elgton Jenkins is questionable for the game but was able to practice in full on Friday after he had limited practices Wednesday and Thursday.

Yosh Nijman is the backup who replaced Bakhtiari against the Vikings. Nijman started last year against the Bears in a game when Quinn made two sacks of Aaron Rodgers.

• It was also reported by Huber that wide receiver Allen Lazard will make his season debut after missing last week with an ankle injury. He had been questionable for the game.

• Mark Grote, Bears sideline reporter for WBBM, reports Velus Jones Jr. will not play. He was doubtful for the game and did make the trip to Lambeau but will miss a second straight game with a hamstring injury.
• The Bears will have guard/center Dieter Eiselen up off the practice squad and available on the 53-man roster for the second straight week after designating him Saturday for temporary promotion. They can move Eiselen up one more time but after that he would no longer be eligible for temporary promotion. 

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