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Three Overreactions From Packers’ Win Over Bears: The Pack Is Back! (Or Is It?)

Are the Green Bay Packers back to being contenders or was it a one-game mirage? That is part of our three big takeaways following a blowout win over the Bears.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love generally had time against the Bears.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love generally had time against the Bears. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were blitzed out of Minneapolis. They were largely incompetent against the Jets. They were run out of Lambeau Field by the Falcons. They barely beat an undrafted rookie quarterback at Tampa Bay.

That motley crew from the first four games looked like a Super Bowl juggernaut on Sunday against the Chicago Bears. The final score was 31-7. It might as well have been 131-7. It was total domination by a team that hadn’t dominated any phase of the game other than penalties, fumbles and dropped passes.

All of which begs this season-defining question: Were the Packers who trounced the Bears the real Packers? Or was it a mirage fueled by revenge and circumstances?

Let’s dive into this week’s Overreactions.

1. One More Step to Fix Offensive Line

Veteran right guard Kevin Zeitler was active, but it was Travis Glover who started and played every snap.

“Going back to last week and his performance in Tampa, I thought he’d kind of earned the right to continue to go out there,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game, “and Zeitler, he just got here, so he’s only had really one true week of practice. The previous week, it was just individual, so he’s had one solid week of practice where he was getting some team reps. So, it’s always a tough decision, but that’s the decision we made.”

Credit to Glover for solidifying the position the past two games after Jacob Monk struggled in his three starts. But the time to make the change will be Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Without question, Glover has added some muscle to the run game and been significantly better in protection. The Packers saved their season the last two weeks, and Glover is a big reason why.

“When you’re getting hit repeatedly, it’s hard to play quarterback,” LaFleur said.

It’s not just easier for Jordan Love. It’s easier for LaFleur.

“I think it’s been immense, an immense improvement in terms of it allows us to call our offense,” LaFleur added, “and it’s a hell of a lot easier calling plays when the guys are blocking for the quarterback up front.”

It’s unfair to point to one or two reps over the course of 61 snaps, but Glover was beaten badly on the third snap of the game, with Love avoiding a sack and scrambling for 6 yards. And this certainly is not a representation of Glover’s play overall, but he got Love obliterated on this play early in the fourth quarter.

With more time, Glover might become a quality starter, but the Packers signed Zeitler for a reason. He’s started 213 games and is coming off a solid season with the Titans. With the Packers moving in the right direction, now’s the time to make a change to build what they’ll hope to be the starting line for the duration of the season.

Zeitler, for his part, is handling the process like a veteran.

“Here’s the simple truth: Wins are what matter, right?” he said after the game.

Wins are what matter. So does getting to the playoffs and competing for a championship. Zeitler gives them their best chance.

“I’m trying to jam a whole training camp into a week or two,” he said. “So, it’s just a million little things. We’re just going to keep attacking, keep trying to get better and, when the time comes … I’m super-pumped with how the O line has been playing right now, which is just outstanding. It’s the best thing in the world right now.

“So, I’m just going to keep working on it. Whenever the time comes, the time will be right.”

2. The Big, Lingering Problem

The Packers’ defense took care of business against the Bears, limiting one of the more potent offenses in the NFL to 246 yards and seven points while forcing five turnovers. Obviously, that comes with the caveat of that production came against Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum rather than Caleb Williams.

However, Bagent frequently had a month of Sundays to stand in the pocket and go through his reads. Of the 30 quarterbacks who’ve had at least 30 dropbacks this week, Bagent faced the fourth-lowest pressure percentage at 23.1 percent.

Sure, the Packers ended the day with four sacks, but that wasn’t a true indication of the power of the pass rush.

Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (95) forces a fumble by Chicago Bears quarterback Case Keenum.
Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (95) forces a fumble by Chicago Bears quarterback Case Keenum. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s a known problem for the Packers, who are trying to muddle their way through the absence of Micah Parsons and now have to do it without Edgerrin Cooper. Adding injury to insult, veteran Javon Hargrave suffered a torn Achilles in the final moments against Chicago. Hargrave ranks third on the team in pass-rush win rate, according to Pro Football Focus.

The challenge is going to get infinitely harder. On Sunday night, they’ll host Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. The following week, the matchup will be against Jared Goff and the Lions. Both players are big-time passers with excellent receiver corps and strong offensive lines.

In terms of clean-pocket passer rating, Prescott is seventh, Goff is fourth and Carolina’s Bryce Young, who the Packers will host after facing Prescott and Goff, is third.

Somehow, defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon must find some pass rush without putting too much strain on his cornerbacks. That’s going to be a tall mountain. For all the reason to feel good about the Packers after Sunday, the lack of a pass rush remains the big barrier to lasting success.

3. The Pack Is Back? Yes, the Pack Is Back

So, ultimately, what do you make out of Sunday’s game? Green Bay’s passing game was unstoppable against a defense that entered the day ranked fourth in points allowed. Green Bay’s defense held the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack to 81 yards and a 3.4-yard average.

On the other hand, you know the asterisks. The Bears didn’t have their rising-star quarterback and top running back. All the intangibles were pointing in Green Bay’s direction.

So, will Green Bay’s win wind up being a real, season-changing achievement? Or will it be, to channel the legendary Ron Wolf in the aftermath of losing Super Bowl XXXII, just a fart in the wind and nothing more than one of those random results that make the NFL so much fun?

I hit on that question after the game and believe, yes, this was a win that could be the start of something big.

It’s worth exploring a bit deeper on a couple fronts.

First, coach Matt LaFleur has lamented all the self-inflicted problems. The Packers entered the week ranked first (or worst) in the league in penalty yards, fumbles and drops. On Sunday, they were guilty of four penalties for 25 yards, fumbled once and dropped one pass.

To state the obvious, it’s a lot easier to beat an opponent when you’re not beating yourself, first. So, that was a huge step in the right direction.

The second is the play of the offensive line. General manager Brian Gutekunst and the coaching staff mismanaged that group to start the season, but credit to them for pivoting before it was too late. The signing of Laken Tomlinson and the insertion of Travis Glover into the guard slots has taken care of the two big issues. Why Glover never got even a sniff of the right guard competition during training camp speaks poorly of the coaches, but at least they eventually got it right.

“It’s something we’ve talked about throughout the course of the season so far, and I thought they did a great job,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “They gave me a lot of time on a lot of those plays. Especially the one to Christian [Watson on their second touchdown], I had all day back there.

“They did a great job. I thought our run game has been improving. We’ve got some big runs going and we’re playing complementary ball right there. That’s what it needs to look like. We got to keep stacking stuff, but I thought O-line did a great job in pass pro.”

The payoff was apparent on Sunday, when Love dropped one bomb after another against the Bears because the line typically gave him clean pockets.

According to Pro Football Focus, here are the pressure rates and time-to-throw numbers from each game.

Minnesota Vikings: 54.3 percent; 2.43 seconds.

New York Jets: 28.1 percent; 2.35 seconds.

Atlanta Falcons: 45.5 percent; 2.51 seconds.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 12.9 percent; 2.20 seconds.

Chicago Bears: 26.5 percent; 2.57 seconds.

Against Tampa Bay, the pressure rate was low because the passes were thrown so quickly. Against Chicago, the pressure rate was low even while Love let plays develop to strike for downfield shots.

The Bears entered the game ranked 14th in pass-rush win rate and 10th in sack percentage. It’s not a great pass rush but it’s not a bad one, either. That the line held up is a great sign for the rest of the season.

“Man, it’s stacking,” Love said of sustaining this production. “You’ve just got to keep stacking stuff. Great win today, but it’s all about how we get back to the film room, continue to build on this performance, continue to build on the plays we did well, cleaning up some of the stuff we didn’t do as well, and just attacking it.

“It’s going to be a new opponent next week, a new defense, so we’ve got to keep building on this. It feels good when everybody’s clicking and making plays. It’s something that we’ve got to keep it rolling.”

So long as the Packers don’t beat themselves and Love has time to do his thing, the Packers will have at least a puncher’s chance in any game.

So, the Pack Is Back? No, but Sunday’s game was a huge step in that direction.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.