Offensively, ‘It can’t get any worse’
CHICAGO – Matt LaFleur was named the 15th coach in Green Bay Packers history in large part because of his strong offensive resume and the belief he was the man to get the Aaron Rodgers-led attack back to its previous lofty levels.
On Thursday, LaFleur won his debut 10-3 over rival Chicago, but his offense was demolished. Earlier in the week, Rodgers said the lack of preseason playing time wouldn’t factor one way or another in the offense’s performance – and maybe he’s right – but it certainly didn’t help.
“Hindsight’s 20-20, and I knew if we didn’t come out and perform well, there were going to be questions asked. We’ll evaluate everything going forward,” LaFleur said.
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More likely, the mighty Bears defense was the larger problem. Chicago finished last season ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed, among numerous other key categories. Led by Pro Bowlers Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks, the defensive front consistently re-established the line of scrimmage. Led by Pro Bowlers Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson, there were few open receivers for Rodgers to throw the ball.
Added together, the Packers finished with a paltry 213 yards. It was the fifth-fewest yards for the Packers in a game started and finished by Rodgers.
“That defense is going to give a lot of teams fits,” Rodgers said. “But I think stuff that we can control, I can do a better job, a little more urgency out of the huddle. We had a lot of snaps late. We’re trying to obviously get them to show their hand at times, but we had too many up-against-the-clocks, a couple delays. We’ve just got to get in and out of the huddle a little bit better. That’s something that I can do better for sure.”
Green Bay’s first two drives lost 17 yards. The third drive went 5 yards – an infinite improvement – but a third consecutive three-and-out.
“It can’t get any worse” was Rodgers’ assessment.
A 47-yard bomb to Marquez Valdes Scantling on the first play of the fourth possession jump-started the team’s lone touchdown drive. Rodgers went 4-for-4 for 74 yards and a touchdown to Jimmy Graham on that possession. The rest of the night, he was 14-for-26 for 129 yards.
“That was a big drive,” LaFleur said. “When you really look at the game, I felt like there was two drives. There was some sloppy play. I can put our players in a better position with some of the calls. It took us awhile to get our run game going and, really, I don’t think I did a good enough job of staying consistent with the run early.”
Green Bay’s new zone running game managed just 47 yards on 22 carries – a 2.1-yard average. Aaron Jones had 39 yards on 13 attempts and Jamaal Williams had five carries for 0 yards – a long run of 5 and minus-5 on the other four tries. Jones and Williams’ combined 39 rushing yards came on, by our unofficial count, 38 yards after contact.
Rodgers, meanwhile, was sacked five times and the Bears had nine tackles for losses. All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari gave up a sack and was flagged twice for holding in one series. Left guard Lane Taylor, who gave up a sack on the first possession, and right tackle Bryan Bulaga also were flagged for holding.
But a win’s a win, even if the script was different than it has been for years. Green Bay had lost nine in a row in games in which it scored 10 points or less dating to the Week 17 win over Chicago that got the Packers to the playoffs in 2010.
“It’s a big deal,” Bulaga said. “This was going to be a challenge for sure. It was. Not a lot of people probably picked us to come in here and get it done. So, maybe for a lot of people, wow, that’s a big shock, but we were confident in ourselves to come in here and get a win. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We didn’t play up to par for sure on offense, but our defense bailed us out. We’ll continue to improve. That’s the best I can give you on that.”
