How sweet it is!
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotr...int-uh-oh.html
What the Packers told us about the Bears (hint: uh-oh)
Doesn’t matter that the Bears weren’t in the Super Bowl yet again. It’s still about the Bears. Around here, anyway. It’s still about the Bears because that’s the new barometer for the Bears.
As in, What did the winners tell us about the Bears? That’s the football issue. The other issue is why Kenny G is pushing tin for Audi. He shouldn’t be selling cars, he should be under one.
But anyway, what the Packers told us is that the Bears are in bigger trouble than we thought. Better hope there’s a lockout.
We already knew the Bears had a general manager who is almost useless on draft day and a head coach who is almost useless on Sunday, but the Packers told us just how much.
The Packers had half their roster tied behind their back and still won. The scary numbers are the Packers put 15 players on injured reserve and still won the Super Bowl. The Bears had a ridiculously healthy team and still lost two in a row to the Packers when winning either one of them would’ve stopped Green Bay’s Super Bowl dreams right there.
Even in the Super Bowl, the Packers lost a starting receiver and their top defensive player, and still won. The Bears spent all season being lucky and opportunistic, and still couldn’t beat the beaten-up Packers when it counted.
The Bears faced a bunch of third-string quarterbacks. The Packers spent the last six weeks beating Eli Manning, Michael Vick, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethslisberger and Jay Cutler twice.
What’s more, the Packers won three straight playoff games on the road, then won the Super Bowl away from Lambeau Field. The Bears lost a home playoff game, and Lovie Smith is getting an extension? One playoff win in the last four years -- against the worst postseason entry of all-time, mind you -- is worth a contract extension? Yeesh.
The Packers have the second-youngest team in the NFL to go along with the Lombardi Trophy. The Bears have Jerry Angelo drafting and Smith coaching. Would the Packers have made Todd Collins their top backup quarterback? Jeez, would the Packers have even bothered with that cadaver?
The Choice (and remember, death is not an option): Smith using timeouts vs. Smith making replay challenges vs. Smith evaluating talent?
The Packers told us something about game-planning based on the game your talent can play best. Mike Martz’s play-calling can get the quarterback killed, while Mike McCarthy’s play-calling neutralized the defensive player of the year. By spreading the Packers’ offense, McCarthy kept Steelers safety Troy Polamalu from blitzing. He was forced to stay in coverage. He didn’t have the option of breaking Aaron Rodgers’ ribs. That was the key matchup, but the fear is that the raw data of Green Bay’s 41-11 pass-run ratio will become Martz’s aerial crack pipe.
The sane among us, however, know why it worked. Two reasons, in fact. First, even without a running game, the Packers have an offensive line that provides protection. By contrast, when the Bears don’t have a running game, their blockers provide toe tags.
Second, the Packers have actual receivers who, despite surprising drops Sunday, still run actual routes, a concept that troubles Bears receivers beyond the idea of doing a down-and-out at the trash can.
Another thing: The Packers made it pretty obvious how stupid the Bears were with Cutler’s injury. They hung out their quarterback with bad public information after he tore a ligament in his left knee, an ongoing savaging that continued through some of the Super Bowl pregame shows. Idiot Bears. The Packers, meanwhile, had Donald Driver in a boot on the sideline and put a sling on Charles Woodson. They were injured, folks. They were telling other NFL players to keep their Tweets to themselves. I swear, I expected the Packers to hook up somebody to a defibrillator if necessary.
So, to recap, the Packers do a better job than the Bears with healthy players and with injured players, while the Bears pants them when it comes to bad backup quarterbacks.
But let me say this: The Packers told us something favorable about the Bears. Shocking, sure, but true: The Bears’ defense does a better job on the Packers than the Steelers did. Biggest reason is Julius Peppers, who starts on the line of scrimmage while Polamalu can be schemed away from it.
Something else the Packers told us about the Bears, and again it’s somewhat favorable: If the Bears are going to be stuck with Smith, then his emphasis on forcing turnovers even to the point of missing tackles is a productive way to go. The Packers turned three takeaways into three touchdowns, the first being an interception returned for a score, the last a game-changing fumble by a former Illinois running back.
Champaign tangent: The Choice (and remember, death is not an option): Rashard Mendenhall’s Sunday vs. Bruce Weber’s Saturday?
Mostly, though, the Packers told us they are better than everybody and figure to be better still when they get their injured players back. What the Packers told us is the Bears need to petition to move to the NFC West.
