Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears: 2013 Game 8
Unfiltered game day blog post of comments, observations and first impressions.
GAME NOTES:
Good news announced just before game time: James Jones is active and will play.
Packers staring outside linebackers tonight are Mike Neal and Andy Mulumba… dramatic pause…
The Packers have won six straight and eight of the last nine meetings against the Bears (including playoffs).
Packers CB Tramon Williams and Bears T Jordan Mills are cousins; both attended Louisiana Tech and Assumption High School in Napoleonville, La. …
Tonight’s captains for the Packers: – Jordy Nelson, Tramon Williams, Davon House
Inactives for today:
Green Bay Packers
10 WR Chris Harper
25 CB James Nixon
52 LB Clay Matthews
53 LB Nick Perry
88 TE Jermichael Finley
93 DE Josh Boyd
98 DE C.J. Wilson
96 Mike Neal will start at OLB in place of Perry; 55 Andy Mulumba will start at OLB in place of Matthews; 81 Andrew Quarless will start at TE in place of Finley.
Chicago Bears
6 QB Jay Cutler
19 WR Joe Anderson
55 LB Lance Briggs
78 T/G James Brown
79 T Jonathan Scott
94 DE Cornelius Washington
96 DT Zach Minter
59 Khaseem Greene will start at LB for Briggs; 12 Josh McCown will start at QB for Cutler.
Mike McCarthy Pregame Show on 620 WTMJ:
Mon nightexcitement: It’s a great atmosphere – Lambeau under the lights, especially a Monday night
Playing a night game: It’s a long day. got up early, had a team meeting. All our guys are here and ready to go.
Jones: James Jones will play – he wants to go and he;s ready – we’ll see how he feels. Same for Brad Jones.
Jarett Boykin: He’s a hard worker – does everything right – tough kid making the most of his opportunity.
Good health of two lines: (knocks on wood).
Kick returns: Will start with Micah Hyde, would definitely like to get Johnathan Franklin another opportunity.
Different Bears: with Trestman: Definitely. They’re dynamic schematically on offense.
Josh McCown: He played really well last week. He’s had a long time to get ready for this game. He has experience. This is a very productive offense.
Turnovers: Definitely a dangerous defense. They do an excellent job of ball extraction. The weather comes into play as well. Have to protect the football.
Wind: Always factors into field position. We have a pregame report we’ll look at and then examine thingsagain right before kickoff
Hester: Always a big factor – you have to know where he is every single week. That hasn’t changed in my time here. His ability to read, stretch and cut up the field is unique.
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Packers vs. Bears – First Impressions – First Half:
Bears win the toss and defer.
Josh Sitton with the nice cut block on a Lacy toss for a 10 yard gain. Pulling is not his forte…
Ruh-roh, Rodgers wincing after a sack. Later jogs to the locker room – probably for a quick X-ray. Looks like his non-throwing shoulder. Paging Seneca Wallace…
Nothing like having make-up speed, right Sam Shields? beaten by Brandon Marshall but recovers to break up a potential TD pass.
Have no idea how McCown shook off Mike Neal to get that pass off to Brandon Marshall. TD Bears.
Bears defense: What the hell is that thing wearing #27?
Tillman close to stripping the ball from Lacy…
Not impressed with Seneca Wallace’s throwing motion/mechanics so far…
Bears defense: What the hell was that thing wearing #44 that just blew by us?
Banjo with the “deliverance” of the big hit on Devin Hester.
Think the #Packers “D” is feeling the need to win this game?
Score at end of 1st quarter: GB 10 CHI 7
Pretty impressed Wallace was able to get away from immediate pressure from both edges.
Baktiari getting beat regularly by Julius Peppers…
So Matt Flynn was cut by the Raiders and Bills, yet #Packers fans are still in love with him? Twitter ablaze with calls for Flynn. Seriously folks, enough of the Matt Flynn romanticism…
Aaron Rodgers will not return. They’re saying shoulder or collarbone – nothing official yet.
Packer just gave Scott Tolzein a big raise to keep him on the Practice Squad. Cleveland wanted to sign him.
McCarthy chooses not to challenge an out-of-bounds call on a pass to Quarless. Everyone who saw the replay thought it was a good catch. Little to lose by challenging yhere. Don’t understand why he passed.
Perhaps the Packers might want to keep a closer eye on Brandon Marshall? Just a thought…
Still trying to figure out the recurring theme of the Packers letting one receiver have career days against them…
Score at end of 1st half: CHI 17 GB 10
Packers vs. Bears – First Impressions – Second Half:
Packers defense with a big three and out on the Bears’ first possession of the second half. Now can the offense do something?
Well, a 56 yard run by Eddie Lacy sure helps… Then Lacy scores from the 1 yd line.
Quarless with the key block (with a little hold) on the Lacy run…
ONSIDES KICK!!! MM always has something special for the Bears…
TJ Lang out for the game with a concussion. Barclay moves to his spot and Marshall Newhouse takes over at right tackle.
Third and goal, Wallaces misses Quarless. Either that was a bad throw or he was going back shoulder and Quarless wasn’t on board…
Packers defense playing well overall, but not enough pressure on McCown. Letting him get too comfortable back there.
Mike Neal with good pressure all night – still has lot to learn technique-wise. Look out next year.
Bears get the ball in Packers territory, Packers up by three. Big series for D here.
Bears Offensive line holding like crazy. no whistles. Refs letting them play. Hold by Long lets McCown complete a big third down pass.
With receivers like Marshall and Jeffry, you don’t have to be that accurate a thrower as a QB.
Score at end of 3rd quarter: CHI 24 GB 20
Tramon Williams – when you get two hands on the ball, can you please catch it? No interceptions in his last 21 games… smh
Bears rotating to single safety, yet not one shot down the sideline. No confidence in Wallace… Have to at least try it…
4th and inches on their own 33 – Trestman goes for it and Forte muscles through for a first down.
Packers defense tiring badly- tackling going south and they’re getting pushed around now.
I so miss Lovie Smith.
Trestman was a great hire by the Bears.
Call me crazy, but the #Packers hanging in this long without Aaron Rodgers means I can’t get overly upset by this.
With no offense, the #Packers D has been on the field all day. Are we surprised they’re dead tired?
Final Score: CHI 27 GB 20
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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Baktiari getting beat regularly by Julius Peppers…
– Definitely Baktiari’s worst game of the year.
McCarthy chooses not to challenge an out-of-bounds call on a pass to Quarless. Everyone who saw the replay thought it was a good catch. Little to lose by challenging yhere. Don’t understand why he passed.
– Terrible non-challenge
Perhaps the Packers might want to keep a closer eye on Brandon Marshall? Just a thought…
– Capers has a secondary full of players that do not know how to play a over and under coverage. The player who is underneath does not take away the line drive throw and the player over the top leaved way too big of a window. When you paly over/under the coverage still needs to be TIGHT!!!
ONSIDES KICK!!! MM always has something special for the Bears…
– Why was this the only aggressive call by MM???
TJ Lang out for the game with a concussion. Barclay moves to his spot and Marshall Newhouse takes over at right tackle.
– This was another major factor that contributed to he loss
Packers defense playing well overall, but not enough pressure on McCown. Letting him get too comfortable back there.
– Blitz, Blitz, Blitz!!! This is a back-up qb.
Tramon Williams – when you get two hands on the ball, can you please catch it? No interceptions in his last 21 games… smh
– I have felt for a long time now that TW now belong as the dime back.
Bears rotating to single safety, yet not one shot down the sideline. No confidence in Wallace… Have to at least try it…
– ABSOLUTELY!!! When they stack 8 in the box and your receivers are single covered it demands that you take shots down the field – I do not care who the qb is. Terrible on MM’s part.
For years their mantra was…..we don’t need no stinkin RB. They proved themselves wrong on that beginning late last year. BALANCE in all things grasshopper.
DC should have played nickel instead of base and blitzed all night. He has to know this base defense with these two OLBs = NO PASS RUSH! Then our midget CBs vs their giant WRs was too laughable. TT very challenged at drafting defense. Takes too many undersized and/or one-dimensional guys.
I have a weird question… what does aaron rodgers eat out of a purple bag when he’s sitting on the sidelines? My daughter wants to know…