Fast start fizzles as Packers score 18 in fourth to beat Bears

What a weird game for the Bears on Sunday.

On the one hand we saw some gorgeous throws by Justin Fields that make us believe that, yes, this kid might just have a future as an elite NFL quarterback.

That 56-yarder to Equanimeous St. Brown? Wow.

And that 49-yard rainbow to N’Keal Harry? Impressive.

We also saw a tremendous effort from the secondary. Veteran safety Deandre Houston-Carson was everywhere, and rookie Jaylon Jones looked like WR Christian Jones’ shadow all day.

But when the rubber met the road and the game was on the line, the Bears were absolutely flattened by Packers running back A.J. Dillon and then embarrassed by Watson.

Dillon’s 21-yard TD run and Watson’s 46-yard jet sweep that went for a touchdown enabled the Packers to overcome deficits of 10-0 and 16-3 and walk out of Soldier Field with a 28-19 victory.

“It’s really sickening,” said Houston-Carson, who played extremely well stepping in for the injured Eddie Jackson. “Especially the way that these games go. It’s tight, it’s tight, it’s tight and at some point there’s one drive where they get it.

“To lose in that manner over and over again is the most disappointing thing.”

The Bears (3-10) have now lost six straight and nine of 10. Green Bay, which got 93 yards on the ground from Dillon, improves to 5-8 and 23-3 against the Bears in the last 26 meetings.

The Packers also now have the most regular-season wins in NFL history with 787. The Bears, who are second with 786, had held the lead since December 1921.

“This one hurts. This one’s gonna hurt for a while,” said linebacker Nicholas Morrow.

So where did it really go wrong? That’s an easy one.

After Cairo Santos had a 40-yard field-goal attempt blocked with 11:44 remaining, the Packers put together a methodical 13-play, 56-yard drive that chewed up nearly seven minutes of clock and ended in a 32-yard field goal by Mason Crosby.

The Packers ran the ball six times, picking up 6 or 7 yards on four of the carries. Aaron Rodgers (18-for-31, 182 yards) also sat in the pocket for an absolute eternity on a second-and-7, then connected with Dillon for 11 yards.

The lack of a pass rush on that play was appalling, but so was the Bears’ inability to shut down the rushing attack. The way Green Bay (5-8) asserted its will in crunchtime should be a lesson to Matt Eberflus’ entire squad.

“We missed some tackles,” said defensive lineman Trevis Gipson. “Self-inflicted wounds. They weren’t doing anything special. We’ve just got to tune in more on defense. We’ve just got to get better overall, man, honestly.

“There’s no other way around it. There’s no excuses.”

Morrow said that a slight adjustment on the D-line – where one of the ends was playing more to the outside – may have allowed Green Bay to hit the middle better.

“Now you’ve got to put a smaller guy in that gap, which is usually a corner so it makes it harder to be stout in the run,” Morrow said. “But you’ve got to do it because they can still throw the football and you’ve got to get a pass rush. ...

“That’s the essence of playing a guy like (Rodgers). Once they see it and get a bead on it, they make those adjustments.”

This game puts another spotlight on the undermanned defensive line. It’s definitely where GM Ryan Poles should be looking during the draft and perhaps in free agency.

There are some good players there, but no true difference-makers. And without those, opposing offenses can operate with little fear.

The Bears took a 16-10 lead into halftime thanks to a 40-yard field goal by Santos, a 55-yard TD run by Fields and a 7-yard TD run by David Montgomery. They went up 19-10 late in the third quarter, but then watched the Packers score 18 unanswered points.

Now it’s time for some soul searching as the Bears don’t play again until they host Philadelphia on December 18. Eberflus said players will be at Halas Hall on Monday, where their position coaches will give them three things to improve upon.

At the top of everyone’s list ought to be “Execute down the stretch.”

“We’ve got to be able to execute in critical moments if we want to be a good team,” Morrow said. “That was a winnable game for us. We just didn’t pull through.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20221204/fast-start-fizzles-as-packers-score-18-in-fourth-to-beat-bears-28-19