When a team loses by 17 points it usually means a lot went wrong. That was certainly the case when the Bears fell to the Packers 27-10 on Sunday Night Football. The defense struggled to tackle Aaron Jones or A.J. Dillon in the run game. Aaron Rodgers picked apart the zone defense when he needed to in the pass game. On offense, almost nothing worked in the passing game after the team’s opening touchdown drive. Still, some moments loomed larger than others when it was all said and done. These were the most impactful plays in the Bears loss.
NO. 5: AARON RODGERS COMPLETES PASS TO RANDALL COBB FOR FIRST DOWN
The scene - Packers: 10, Bears: 7. Packers have the ball 3rd-and-8 from the Bears 22-yard line. 6:05 left in the second quarter.
The play - Randall Cobb lines up in the backfield and Roquan Smith picks him up in coverage. Cobb manages to get in front of Smith on an angle route for a nine-yard completion.
The score was still very close at this point, even though the defense had already started to struggle. On the previous Packers touchdown drive, the defense never got to third down. On this drive, this was the defense’s first opportunity to get off the field. Smith was just a tick too slow in pass coverage, and the Bears missed out on their chance to hold the Packers to a field goal, and to stay within one score. Two plays later, the Packers punched it in, and the rout was underway.
NO. 4: AARON JONES SCORES ON TAP PASS
The scene - Packers: 10, Bears: 7. Packers have the ball 2nd-and-5 from the Bears 8-yard line. 4:40 left in the second quarter.
The play - Jones lines up as the Z-receiver, then motions across the middle of the field in time to catch a quick tap pass from Rodgers. The Packers block well up front, and Jones scores easily.
After overcoming big obstacles to get into scoring range, the Packers capitalize with a touchdown. Green Bay deserves credit for good play design, and for executing the key blocks well, but the Bears did not put up a good enough effort to stop it. Sammy Watkins had the first big block, and took Kindle Vildor out of the play entirely. Roquan Smith was flowing to the play, but A.J. Dillon met him and neutralized him without too much trouble. Neither Smith nor Vildor showed much urgency to get off those blocks to stop Jones. Next on the scene was Jaquan Brisker, but it appeared Brisker didn’t take the best pursuit angle to make a play. By the time he reached Jones, it was too late. Packers went up 10.
NO. 3: JUSTIN FIELDS CHECKS DOWN TO DAVID MONTGOMERY ON THIRD DOWN
The scene - Packers: 24, Bears: 7. Bears have the ball 3rd-and-10 from their own 22-yard line. 13:42 left in the third quarter.
The play - After working through his progressions, Fields opts to throw to Montgomery short of the sticks. Montgomery is immediately brought down and the Bears are forced to punt.
The Bears received the ball to start the second half down three scores. A touchdown or a field goal to start the third quarter would’ve gone a long way to begin rebuilding momentum to get back into the game. It appears like they had the opportunity on this third down play, but they couldn’t convert. Equanimeous St. Brown lined up outside on the right side of the field and beat his defender big time at the line, so he switched his curl route to a go route and waved an arm to signal to Fields that he was going to fly down the field. On the opposite side, Dante Pettis ran a deep curl, and also beat his defender to get wide open. It appeared that Fields looked each man’s way, yet he didn’t pull the trigger to get a pass off to either one of them. If Fields hit Pettis, it would’ve been a chunk play to keep the Bears drive alive. If Fields connected with St. Brown, the play had a chance to go for a touchdown. Instead the Bears had to punt.
NO. 2: ROMEO DOUBS GAINS 20 YARDS ON SCREEN PASS
The scene - Packers: 10, Bears: 7. Packers have the ball 2nd-and-28 from the Bears 42-yard line. 6:50 left in the second quarter.
The play - The Packers make the most of a wide receiver screen by blocking well to gain chunk yardage.
After the game Matt Eberflus didn’t think there was anything special about the screen, calling it a common play that offense will call in similar situations to get back on track. The problem was the Bears didn’t execute on their fundamentals to “cup” the ball, meaning the defensive line didn’t do well enough to stay grounded to run back towards the ball carrier, the outside corners didn’t do well enough to force the ball inside, and the defenders in the middle of the field didn’t do well enough to force the ball back towards the defensive linemen who should’ve been trailing the play. In real time, it appeared the Bears were running in slow motion when compared to the Packers. The defense had allowed the Packers to march down the field earlier for a touchdown, but this was the first moment where it appeared that they may be in serious trouble. Rodgers was able to convert the following 3rd-and-8 play, and the Packers scored a touchdown two plays after that.
NO. 1: JUSTIN FIELDS STOPPED SHORT ON GOAL LINE RUSH
The scene - Packers: 24, Bears: 10. Bears have the ball 4th-and-inches on the Packers goal line. 8:13 left in the game.
The play: The Bears run a QB draw out of the shotgun. Lucas Patrick pulls from right guard to help Cole Kmet at point of attack on the left side of the line, but the Bears can’t generate enough push and they turn the ball over on downs.
After an impressive drive to get into the gold zone, the Bears had a real chance to pull within one score. With over eight minutes left in the game, they would’ve had plenty of time to get a stop on defense to get right back on offense, but the fourth down play failed, and the Bears comeback was stopped dead in its tracks. Eberflus defended the decision to line up in the shotgun, calling it the team’s best play they had for the moment. There was plenty of second-guessing however, as many called for a simple QB sneak from under center, or a Montgomery rush from under center to give the offensive line the edge against the Packers’ talented interior line. A review appeared to show that Fields did cross the line for a score, but neither Patrick nor Kmet were able to generate enough push to make the play a no-doubt touchdown. Afterwards, the Bears admitted the goal line failure changed the complexion of the rest of the game.