Well the games are over and now we must look at the aftermath..........
Green Bay 21, Chicago 14
The Packers jumped ahead in a hurry led by a furious passing attack going 84 yards in under five minutes. The first two plays were passes to Greg Jennings for 48 yards, then later in the opening drive QB Aaron Rodgers hit Jordy Nelson on a key 22 yard toss. Rodgers ended up running the ball into the endzone on bootleg to cap off the drive. Green Bay's opening drive would be indicative of the first half. Chicago's inability to bring pressure with a four man rush would allow Rodgers time to find receivers down the field. Jennings was basically unstoppable and when the Bears were able to cover him they allowed Rodgers to scramble for first downs. The Packers scored again to go up 14 points at the beginning of the second quarter keyed by another pass to Nelson deep in Chicago territory. The Bears would only have five first downs in the first half as Cutler was flustered by the Packer pass rush and only able to complete one pass down the field. The Bears only success in the first 30 minutes came on short passes to RBs Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. The Bears had their best two chances at the end of the half but were wiped away by a phantom holding call on Taylor and a questionable interception that showed the ball hitting the ground but upheld by the replay booth.
The second half started out just like the first one with the Bears unable to move the ball and Green Bay dominating the field. When the Bears pulled Cutler (MCL Injury) and brought in backup QB Todd Collins some thought we might see some life in the Bears offense...we were wrong. It didn't come until coach Lovie Smith put in third string QB Caleb Hanie that the Bears were able to show signs of life. On Hanie's first drive of the game, he led them to their first touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The key play was a 32 yard pass to Johnny Knox down to the 1 yard line. The Bears were now in the game only trailing by one score, thanks in large part to their defense which had managed to shut down the Packers in the second half. After the defense forced two more punts, the Bears got the ball back down 14-7 with 7:22 to go in the game. Then the play of the game was turned in by Packer DT B.J Raji, he picked off Hanie on third down and ran it back for the game winning 18 yard touchdown. The Bears would score later on a 35 yard touchdown pass to WR Earl Bennett making it 21-14, but wouldn't be able to complete the comeback as Hanie would throw another interception with under a minute to go deep in Green Bay territory.
What we learned: The Green Bay defense is playing their best at the right time. They were able to generate pressure with just a four man rush. DTs Cullen Jenkins and B.J. Raji were dominant and when a team doesn't have to blitz to create pressure, then it is very hard to beat down them the field. The only thing that the Bears were able to do is dump the ball short to Forte (just as we predicted) and hope that he could break tackles. The Packers even outplayed the Bears on special teams, making Devin Hester irrelevant. The Bears punted twice after failed drives inside the Packer 35 yard line instead of attempting long field goals. I was shocked to see Lovie Smith play so conservatively down multiple scores in the first half. Rodgers and the Packer offense played better than what the score indicated. He was intercepted inside the Bear 10 yard line by Urlacher and had one ball go off Donald Driver's hands then bounce off his foot into the air resulting in a pick by Lance Briggs. Coach McCarthy dialed down the offense in the second half (predicted) to protect the lead and run the clock out. RB James Starks was better then his 3.3 YPC, but not by much. Jennings and Nelson combined for nearly 200 yards on 12 catches and were virtually unstoppable. The play of the game and point spread buster came on the pick by Raji. The Packers barely covered the spread at the end of the game with the two late interceptions. Our Under 43.5 came through rather easily even with the flurry of fourth quarter points.
**We will examine the AFC Title Game tomorrow. Pittsburgh 24, NY Jets 19. We Won Pitt (-3.5) and the Over 38.5...Great Game!
Let's get to the NBA games real quick:
1. Let's go Orlando (-11.5) at home vs Detroit. The Magic are 17-5 at home while the Pistons are 4-19 on the road. The Pistons were down 15 last game in the 4th but rallied to win at home vs Phoenix, that should not happen this time. Go Magic!!
2. The Kings are at Portland (-6.5) in the Rose Garden where the Blazers have dominated opponents (16-5). The Kings are 3-16 on the road while sitting in last place in the Pacific Division. Let's Go Portland!!
3. The Spurs (-5.5) play at G-State. The Spurs are coming off a 24 point beat down loss at New Orleans. They should respond with a win tonight against the Warriors which needed overtime to beat the lowly Kings on Friday night at home. Taking Spurs but the Warriors are tough at home.
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