The Official WK2 Mobsters-Packers Discussion Thread

[Guest]

According to Chicago expert and our very own, The Shadow, the Chicago Outfit, the infamous organized crime syndicate full of corny Italians, once laundered frogskins through Papa Bear (George Halas) for the mission of keeping the bankruptcy-bound Packers intact. The Outfit wanted to exert its influence in Wisconsin beyond the MKE. Consequently, the Packers were forced to hire some “made-man” Italian named Vince Lombardi. The rest is motherfucking history.

Discuss this week’s battle here.

[run pMc]

Green Bay is the more talented team and they're playing at home
Chicago is likely riding high on a home win to start the year

Both teams should be fired up, because (a) it's a primetime game, (b) it's a rivalry game, and (c) both teams will want to win this badly. Chicago would love to put the preordained NFCN champ Packers at 0-2, Getsy will want to show up MLF. Green Bay will want all the naysayers to R-E-L-A-X and Rodgers is an owner of that Chicago franchise.

I think Rodgers and the defense will be salty after last week, and Chicago doesn't have Justin Jefferson. If the OL can play better (not sure they can play worse; hope they never do) this should be a W for GB.

[JABF]

The Bears do not have the talent to win this game. The new GM and HC nuked the roster, keeping only a handful of players from the Nagy regime. Strangely enough, some of the best players were let go. I "get it" that the new GM wants to tear it all down and build it back up from scorched earth. But 2022 is going to be painful for Bears fans to watch.

Gone are guys like Khalil Mack, who had one hell of a good day for the Chargers (six tackles, five solo, three sacks and one forced fumble during Sunday's win over the Raiders). Eddie Goldman, Tarik Cohen, Christian Jones, Trevathan, Ogletree, Gibson, Bush, Attaochu, Akiem Hicks... well, you get the idea. It was a major youth movement. We didn't have many draft picks left (and no 1st round pick) so the new GM traded down to get 10 lower round guys, and signed a small army of undrafted kids. The cap $ was wrecked by the past GM so there was no money to get decent veteran help. He went dumpster-diving for people to fill out the roster... even got 7 dudes off the waiver wire (the old "one man's trash" thing).

The Bears went from being one of the oldest rosters in the NFL to being one of the youngest. The OL they cobbled together has a 5th round rookie at LT "protecting" Fields' blind side. The RT is a 5th round youngster in his second year. Another second year guy is at RG. The Bears did sign a decent C from Green Bay but he promptly broke his hand. His replacement is Sam Mustipher an undrafted guy who gets savaged like a rag doll when he plays C.

We did have one decent WR1, Allen Robinson. He was let go too. He's playing for the Rams now. The Bears are installing new schemes in all three phases, O, D and STs with this cobbled-together youth roster.

Over on our Bears messageboard, pretty much everybody figures the Packers win this one. And coming off that embarrassing loss to the Vikings, it could be a very very rough night for the Bears. The Bears did win against the 49ers last week. They were helped by a really bad Trey Lance (that dude sucks), and a crazy heavy day of thunderstorms (standing water on Soldier Field) in a mudder game. Oh, and Justin Fields' passer rating for the first half of that game was (wait for it) 2.8. That's not a typo. Two point eight.

LOL, if any of you can see this as being ANYTHING other than an easy 11-on-11 type drill for Aaron Rodgers in prime time on Sunday, I'd love to hear about it

[George Cumby]

Awesome post, JABF.

[RashanGary]

Thanks for the summary JABF. I hope we have a lot of success but I hope you guys get to experience some good years some day too. I mean, I don’t hope that, but for the good fans sake, I do hope that for you guys.

Welcome to the forum. It’s great to get an in depth look at the state of the Bears. It’s hard to follow everything.

[RashanGary]

Rodgers said he wants to see more Mercedes. Said they run the ball better with Lewis. Said he wants to get Tonyan involved. Said he wants to keep working with the rookies. Said he wants to run the ball more to set up the action game.

Sounds like we’re gonna see more runs, more tight ends (because they’re guys 12 trusts) and then try to get the receivers involved off of that strength (run first.)

And no Tex, that doesn’t mean run more than pass. No team in the league runs more than they pass. It means run a lot and be near the top of the league in rushing so the pass gets a little easier.

[MadScientist]

The Bears do not have the talent to win this game. The new GM and HC nuked the roster, keeping only a handful of players from the Nagy regime. Strangely enough, some of the best players were let go. I "get it" that the new GM wants to tear it all down and build it back up from scorched earth. But 2022 is going to be painful for Bears fans to watch.

Gone are guys like Khalil Mack, who had one hell of a good day for the Chargers (six tackles, five solo, three sacks and one forced fumble during Sunday's win over the Raiders). Eddie Goldman, Tarik Cohen, Christian Jones, Trevathan, Ogletree, Gibson, Bush, Attaochu, Akiem Hicks... well, you get the idea. It was a major youth movement. We didn't have many draft picks left (and no 1st round pick) so the new GM traded down to get 10 lower round guys, and signed a small army of undrafted kids. The cap $ was wrecked by the past GM so there was no money to get decent veteran help. He went dumpster-diving for people to fill out the roster... even got 7 dudes off the waiver wire (the old "one man's trash" thing).

The Bears went from being one of the oldest rosters in the NFL to being one of the youngest. The OL they cobbled together has a 5th round rookie at LT "protecting" Fields' blind side. The RT is a 5th round youngster in his second year. Another second year guy is at RG. The Bears did sign a decent C from Green Bay but he promptly broke his hand. His replacement is Sam Mustipher an undrafted guy who gets savaged like a rag doll when he plays C.

We did have one decent WR1, Allen Robinson. He was let go too. He's playing for the Rams now. The Bears are installing new schemes in all three phases, O, D and STs with this cobbled-together youth roster.

Over on our Bears messageboard, pretty much everybody figures the Packers win this one. And coming off that embarrassing loss to the Vikings, it could be a very very rough night for the Bears. The Bears did win against the 49ers last week. They were helped by a really bad Trey Lance (that dude sucks), and a crazy heavy day of thunderstorms (standing water on Soldier Field) in a mudder game. Oh, and Justin Fields' passer rating for the first half of that game was (wait for it) 2.8. That's not a typo. Two point eight.

LOL, if any of you can see this as being ANYTHING other than an easy 11-on-11 type drill for Aaron Rodgers in prime time on Sunday, I'd love to hear about it

Thanks for the view from south of the border. It unfortunately sounds like the GM you have is doing the right things with the roster. The key will be what he does with the drafts the next couple of years.

As for why this might not be an easy romp for the Packers:
1) The Packers Oline is banged up. Which is extra bad given how Rodgers likes to hold the ball way too long.
2) The Packers receivers are a mix of rookies who make too many mistakes and slow vets that are useless enough that you could out Anti Polar Bear out there and not get blown out.
3) The Packers defense is stupid in covering the slot. They had Preston Smith covering Jefferson last week. That's just plain bad coaching.
4) They might be reading posts like yours and overlook this game.

[JABF]

Thanks for the view from south of the border. It unfortunately sounds like the GM you have is doing the right things with the roster. The key will be what he does with the drafts the next couple of years.

As for why this might not be an easy romp for the Packers:
1) The Packers Oline is banged up. Which is extra bad given how Rodgers likes to hold the ball way too long.
2) The Packers receivers are a mix of rookies who make too many mistakes and slow vets that are useless enough that you could out Anti Polar Bear out there and not get blown out.
3) The Packers defense is stupid in covering the slot. They had Preston Smith covering Jefferson last week. That's just plain bad coaching.
4) They might be reading posts like yours and overlook this game.

Regarding the second part of that point #1, what has frustrated me in the past (as a Bears fan) is that there have been years when the Bears did have a great DL that could bring serious pressure on the QB - and Rodgers would get the ball out so quickly with short/strategic passes, that the Bears D just couldn't stop him from beating us. He would just totally neutralize our pass rush. LOL, he wasn't lying when he said he owned us. He does. But yeah, when the OL struggles, it is so hard to overcome that. Even with a great QB.

[Joemailman]

Everybody on the 53 practiced today.

Everybody talks about getting Bakhtiari back, but I think they need Jenkins back more. Reason being that Yosh at LT is better than Newman at RT.

[Fritz]

Everybody on the 53 practiced today.

Everybody talks about getting Bakhtiari back, but I think they need Jenkins back more. Reason being that Yosh at LT is better than Newman at RT.

I agree, and I think most do. But I think we are focused on Bakh because lots of people are wondering if he's ever coming back. We know Jenkins will be back, just a matter of this game or next game. But Bakh is the subject of concern because he can't even practice three days in a row.

Nijman seemed to play well, and if they can get Jenkins back to RT, then they can figure out if Newman or Tom is better at RG.

[run pMc]

I certainly hope Jenkins plays and Hanson is not in the lineup. The right side of the OL did not play well. Getting Jenkins back and playing him at RT improves them considerably.

If I'm the Bears, I'd just rush 4 and drop 7 into coverage. That usually bothers Rodgers anyway, but with an iffy OL in front of him CHI might actually get to him.
One counter to that would be running the ball effectively and often.

I hope the secondary figured out how to cover crossers and handle motion during practice this week. Getsy and Fields will test that, even if nobody on the Bears roster comes close to Justin Jefferson.
Also hope Fields doesn't kill them with his legs.

[pittstang5]

Also hope Fields doesn't kill them with his legs.

THIS! This should be a legitimate concern.

[Joemailman]

Runyan probably has to checked out tomorrow. If there are no ill effects from practice, he can probably go.

[MadScientist]

I certainly hope Jenkins plays and Hanson is not in the lineup. The right side of the OL did not play well. Getting Jenkins back and playing him at RT improves them considerably.

If I'm the Bears, I'd just rush 4 and drop 7 into coverage. That usually bothers Rodgers anyway, but with an iffy OL in front of him CHI might actually get to him.
One counter to that would be running the ball effectively and often.

That used to be the case but Rodgers is handling pressure much worse these days:
https://www.si.com/nfl/packers/news/...ure-to-improve

[Fritz]

That used to be the case but Rodgers is handling pressure much worse these days:
https://www.si.com/nfl/packers/news/...ure-to-improve

Rodgers definitely seems less nifty on his feet. Twelve years ago, he'd get out of the pocket and run for some long gains. Five years ago, he'd shift around in the pocket and still get off a rocket to an open WR. Against Minny, he seemed to be bothered by the pressure and just concede the sack. Maybe that's a one-game thing, though. He was the NFL MVP last year.