Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in the final week of the 2020 regular season. A first-round bye and home-field advantage were at stake for Green Bay, while Chicago was fighting for a playoff spot. In the end, the Packers won the game by a score of 35-16, clinching the number 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Let’s go into full detail on what exactly transpired in this game.
There was controversy right at the opening kickoff. The Bears returner, Cordarrelle Patterson, looked to have touched the ball before it went out of bounds near the goal line. For some reason, the officials ruled it as an out of bounds kickoff, giving the Bears the ball at their own 40 yard line. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur challenged this ruling, but it was upheld, costing the Packers a timeout and a challenge before the first play from scrimmage. From the 40 yard line, the Bears offense went on a 14-play drive, slowly moving the ball down the field through short passes and runs that converted third down after third down. The drive ended with a David Montgomery touchdown run from 2 yards out that (with the extra point kick by Cairo Santos) gave the Bears a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. After the kickoff return by Malik Taylor, the Packers started their first offensive possession at their own 20 yard line. During the drive, they faced a third and 8 from the Chicago 45 yard line. Under pressure, QB Aaron Rodgers checked it down to RB Aaron Jones, who stiff-armed a couple of defenders on his way to a 15-yard gain and a first down. Later on, the Packers decided to go for it on fourth and 3 from the Chicago 23. Rodgers was looking for Davante Adams, who was being held during the play by Bears CB Duke Shelley. Thankfully, the CB was called for defensive pass interference, giving the Packers a free first down. 2 plays later, Rodgers found TE Robert Tonyan for a 3-yard touchdown pass that (with the extra point by Mason Crosby) tied the game at 7-7 with 14:55 left in the second quarter. The TD catch was Tonyan’s 11th, tying the franchise record for TD catches by a tight end (Paul Coffman had 11 in 1983). On the ensuing Bears possession, the Packers defense forced a punt after just 5 plays. The key play on this drive was a 4-yard sack of Mitchell Trubisky by LB Christian Kirksey, who was mostly untouched on his way to the takedown. Bad news came in the form of a fumble on the punt return by Tavon Austin, which was recovered by the Bears at the Green Bay 20 yard line. Even with the disadvantage in field position, the Packers defense held Chicago to just a field goal. Malik Taylor returned the following kickoff to the Green Bay 23, where the Packers offense went on their second scoring drive. On third and 4 from the 28, Rodgers found a wide-open Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 72-yard touchdown pass that gave the Packers the lead again at 14-10 (PAT by Crosby was good). The Packers defense quickly gave the offense another chance of putting points on the board. On second and 5 from the Bears 25 yard line, Trubisky connected with Cole Kmet for a short pass completion. Before Kmet went down to the ground, CB Jaire Alexander ripped the ball off his hands, resulting in a fumble. The fumble was recovered by LB Rashan Gary, who returned it to the 22 yard line. From there, the offense went on a short drive that ended with Rodgers’ third touchdown pass in the first half. The receiver who caught the 13-yard TD pass from Rodgers was TE Dominique Dafney, who then laid a big hit to Cordarrelle Patterson on the ensuing kickoff return. With the score now 21-10, the Bears were looking to tighten the score before the halftime break. The Packers almost got another turnover during this drive. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 49 (after a 4th and 1 QB sneak by Trubisky), David Montgomery was stripped of the ball by safety Adrian Amos after catching a short pass. The fumble was recovered by Amos, but it was nullified due to an offsides penalty called against Preston Smith. Later in the drive, CB Kevin King nearly had an interception in the end zone. On first and goal from the Green Bay 9, Trubisky threw incomplete to Allen Robinson. The ball went through Kevin King’s hands, which meant no turnover and a 27-yard field goal by Cairo Santos. The Packers still led at halftime, but either of those turnover chances would have been nice for the defense.
On the first drive of the second half, there was a big missed scoring opportunity for Green Bay. On first and 10 from their own 47 yard line, Aaron Rodgers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling for what should have been a 53-yard touchdown pass. Instead, the ball bounced off MVS’s hands and into the ground. 2 plays later, the Packers were forced to punt back to Chicago. From their own 11 yard line, the Bears offense went down the field in 11 plays. During the drive, Mitchell Trubisky rolled to his left and found WR Darnell Mooney for a 53-yard gain on second and 8 from the Chicago 38. After that big play, the Packers defense held the Bears to their third field goal of the game (this one from 20 yards away). With 5:30 left in the third quarter, the Packers lead was only 21-16. On the ensuing possession, the Packers somehow were not able to convert a third and 1 after a 9-yard run by Aaron Jones on the first play. After JK Scott punted back to Chicago, the Bears had a chance to take the lead on their next drive, which started at their own 24. The Bears went on yet another time-consuming drive that involved plenty of short passes and runs. During this drive, there was a terribly missed call by the officials. On fourth and 1 from the Green Bay 35, one of the Bears offensive linemen moved before the ball was snapped. That should have been a false start, but it was not called at all. Trubisky did another successful QB sneak, converting that fourth down. 4 plays later, the Bears faced a fourth and 1 from the 25. Rather than do a QB sneak again, Trubisky decided to roll out and throw a pass to Allen Robinson. Chandon Sullivan almost had an interception, but the important thing is that he knocked down the pass. That fourth down stop gave the Packers offense a chance to increase the lead with 11:22 left in the game. From their own 25, the offense went on a 12-play drive that took 7:35 off the clock. They had no problem going down the field and scoring their fourth touchdown of the game, which was a 4-yard TD run by Aaron Jones that gave Green Bay a 28-16 lead. The defense sealed the game with an interception of Trubisky by Adrian Amos, who returned the pick to the Chicago 26 yard line. From there, the offense went on another scoring drive that ended with a touchdown that ultimately put the game out of reach. The 6-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Davante Adams was set up by a 14-yard run by Jamaal Williams, who went to his right after bumping at the line of scrimmage. The Bears tried to score at the end of the game, but Jaire Alexander denied TE Jimmy Graham access to the end zone to seal the 35-16 victory.
With the win, the Packers finish the regular season with a 13-3 record, which was their record in 2019. The win also gave the Packers the number 1 seed in the NFC, making sure that the road to Super Bowl LV would go through Lambeau Field (plus a first-round bye). On offense, things were clicking on their first 3 drives as they scored touchdowns on each of them. They did have an ugly third quarter, but the defense got some key stops that helped the Packers score 2 more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away. In my opinion, Aaron Rodgers clinched his third MVP season with a 240 yard, 4 TD performance (147.9 passer rating). Davante Adams tied Sterling Sharpe for most touchdown receptions in a season by a Packers WR. The crazy thing is that he caught those many TDs while missing 2 and a half games due to injury. Marquez Valdes-Scantling had 2 catches for 87 yards, including the 72-yard touchdown in the second quarter. I was not happy when he dropped the potential TD in the third quarter, but I am sure that he will rebound from that mistake come playoff time. Robert Tonyan had a touchdown catch as well, tying Paul Coffman’s all-time mark for TD catches by a Packers tight end with 11 (which Coffman reached in the 1983 season). Dominique Dafney had only one catch, but it went for a touchdown, which I was happy to see. Aaron Jones had a good game with 85 total yards (42 rusting, 43 receiving) and a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. After his big game against the Titans, AJ Dillon only had one carry for 3 yards. I hope that he gets used more often in the postseason (maybe in another snow game). I have to give the offensive line plenty of credit for doing their job well despite the injury to David Bakhtiari. They only gave up one sack throughout the whole game, which I have to applaud. That will be extremely important as the Packers try to get to the Super Bowl. I have no doubt that the offense, led by head coach Matt LaFleur and QB Aaron Rodgers, will overcome any adversity and get through with clutch points in January (and hopefully February).
Other than the first touchdown drive by the Bears, I think that the defense played well when it mattered the most. A key moment was when the defense held the Bears to just a field goal after the Tavon Austin fumble in the second quarter. They also made 2 key stops in the fourth quarter, which set up 2 touchdowns for the offense. First was the pass breakup by Chandon Sullivan on fourth and 1 from the Green Bay 25, which was the only failed fourth down by Chicago. Second was the interception by Adrian Amos, who picked off Trubisky at the end of the 10-3 win at Chicago in the 2019 season opener. I really liked it when Jaire Alexander (who should be named an All-Pro) denied Jimmy Graham a touchdown in the final seconds. Alexander was the one who forced the fumble that was recovered by Rashan Gary. If it was not for an offsides penalty, Adrian Amos would have had two turnovers in his name. Silly mistakes like that can’t happen in the playoffs, where they are magnified to the nth degree. I was proud of the defense’s effort on Sunday, and I hope that they continue to get better from here on out.
On Special Teams, the Packers still have some stuff to work on. There was yet another fumble by Green Bay on a return. This time, it was Tavon Austin who fumbled in the second quarter while the game was tied at 7-7. I was glad that the defense held Chicago to a field goal after the fumble, but mistakes like that can be catastrophic to Green Bay’s championship hopes (especially in crunch time). At least Malik Taylor did not fumble on his kickoff returns. Dominique Dafney laid out a big hit on Cordarrelle Patterson right after his TD catch, which was awesome to see. JK Scott only punted twice, with both of them being fair catches. Mason Crosby made all 5 of his extra points, which was an improvement after missing a PAT against the Titans last week. Even with no field goals on Sunday, Crosby became the first Packers kicker to have a perfect field goal percentage for the whole season (he went 16 for 16 in 2020). From now on, the Packers cannot any big mistakes on Special Teams, which include fumbles and blocked kicks. Any of those events can give the opposing team momentum at Lambeau Field in the playoffs. As long as they are avoided, they will be fine come playoff time.
Overall, it was a great win for the Packers as they clinched home-field advantage for the first time since 2011. The Bears still made the playoffs due to the Cardinals losing to the Rams on Sunday. As for Green Bay, I am extremely confident that they will make a deep playoff run. They have the wild-card weekend off as they wait for their next opponent, who will have to go to Lambeau Field on the weekend of January 16-17. Stay tuned for future posts. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great week ahead. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
Коментари