Top Hat's Complete Bears Game Review & Preview; Grades; Individual Reviews!
SUMMARY: The Packers were outplayed in all phases of the game, offense, special teams, & defense, losing to the “spoilers” archrival Bears in tough weather conditions. The Bears blocked two punts & had two interceptions leading to four scoring touchdowns.
HIGHLIGHTS: 1. ESPN. 2. JSOnline. 3. Packersnews. 4. NFL. 5. WSJ.
QUOTES:
ESPN: "Chicago was able to perform better than archrival Green Bay in adverse weather conditions. The Bears established the line of scrimmage in the trenches and controlled the tempo of the game. Chicago also fared much better in special teams….QB Kyle Orton was efficient with the short and intermediate passing game….The RB combination of Peterson and Wolfe was able to pound the ball effectively against the Packers….The poor weather clearly leveled the playing field for the overmatched Bears.”
Scout: “With a game-time temperature of 17 degrees, snow showers, and wind gusts of up to 40 mph that made for a minus-1 wind chill, the Packers appeared to cave in to the elements before the game began. Players were huddled around the heaters on the sideline and put coats on quickly when coming off the field.”
Packersnews: “The Packers wouldn’t use the brutal weather conditions as an excuse. It was a strong factor: When conditions are that bad, it levels the playing field, and the team with better talent loses its edge. Things like speed, quickness and even strength are negated. It can come down to execution and even luck.”
PLAY-OF-THE-GAME: On the 2nd play of their 1st possession in the 2nd half, the Bears executed a predictable screen pass gaining 33 yard setting up RB Peterson’s touchdown run & giving a comfortable 21-7 lead to the Bears.
REPORT CARD---GOOD, BAD, & UGLY: [USA TODAY GRADES]
Rushing Offense—B- [B-]
The Packers rushed 17 times for 125 yards averaging 6 ypc. RB Grant had 14 carries for 100 yards & one touchdown averaging 7.1 ypc. Grant needs 101 yards to get 1,000 yards for the season. If the two big runs are excluded, Grant had 10 carries for 12 yards because the plays became too predictable. The Bears made the necessary adjustments with their linebackers & an eight-in-the-box scheme. Overall, only T Tauscher & G Colledge looked good. Otherwise, the Bears' defense dominated the line of scrimmage against the Packers' offensive line.
Passing Offense—D [D]
Favre bobbled & dropped snaps, while he threw badly in the cold & windy weather. Also, his receivers dropped crucial passes. He completed 17 of 32 passes for 153 yards & two interceptions [at least 3 more interceptions dropped] with a 40.2 passer rating. In the first half alone, he had only two completions for 9 yards. "The Bears defense exacerbated matters with a [coordinated] zone blitz [scheme],...a longtime nemesis for Favre, whose two interceptions wound up in the hands of [DE] Brown [& LB] Urlacher...." WR Jennings had 3 catches for 42 yards. WR Driver had 4 catches for 32 yards
Packers Q Favre (4) looks back towards the field while walking to the locker room following a 35-7 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Tom Fluegge-US Presswire.
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/teams/page/GB
Rushing Defense—D [D]
The defense had an awful game unable to hold the line: "the...struggles in stopping the run started before [DT]...Pickett suffered a groin injury....Still, Pickett's absence was conspicuous when the combination of...Petterson & Wolfe bulled inside & darted outside." The Bears rushed 45 times for 139 yards. RB Peterson had 30 carries for 102 yards & one touchdown. LB Barnett had 11 tackles, LB Hawk had 8 tackles, & LB Poppinga had 6 tackles, but they failed to dominate. DE Jenkins, DE Kampman & DT Williams had a "washed" game. Rookie DT Harrell was on & off, but he mainly got pushed onto his butt.
Passing Defense—C- [C-]
Following the deja vu game plan & facing little pass rush, Q Orton successfully ran the Bears' offense using short passing plays combined with power running plays in textbook clock control drives. Orton completed 8 of 14 passes for 101 yards & one touchdown [and one touchdown pass was dropped] with a 103.6 passer rating! WR Wolfe had 2 passes for 38 yards. A reviewer summed it up:
"The...linebackers & safeties were caught out of position on...pass catches... including a touchdown thrown to wide-open [TE] Clark....[CB] Blackmon missed badly on a diving tackle of diminutive back Garrett Wolfe on a screen pass that turned into a 33-yard gain, which put the Bears in position...to strike for a go-ahead touchdown before halftime....[CB] Harris would have given up a [TD] if not for a drop...on fourth-and-goal earlier....The pass rush was handled...."
The safeties were nonexistant. S Rouse did not play, seriously. CB Blackmon had a bad game.
Special Teams—D- [F]
The special teams had a horrendous "high schoolish" game. The Bears averaged a very good forty-four yard line starting position. P Ryan had two blocked punts, one dropped punt & one botched punt for 9 yards. The return game did little. K Crosby's kickoffs were solid.
Coaching—D- [F]
The "unbearable" Bears team outcoached, outschemed, & outplayed the "amateur" McCarthy team. The lack of extensive game preparation, poor play calling, & awful execution led to the horrible performance. On offense, the play calling was questionable & predictable with the Bears making quick adjustments. On defense, while the Bears' game plan was perfectly predictable, the defensive coordinator failed to make the necessary game adjustments & got outschemed in crucial plays. As Coach McCarthy admitted: "We did not play very well . . . at all. Our performance was poor today in all three phases." Finally, the team must learn how to handle success.
Overall—D
The Packers lost badly to the “spoilers” archrival Bears: “The Packers…didn't come close to matching the Bears' intensity, execution or resourcefulness.”
Sportsline.com Overall Grade: "F for flubbing. Packers cough up golden opportunity. A week after the Cowboys opened the door for the Pack to claim No. 1 in the NFC, Green Bay slammed it on its feet....That was really bad. Brett Favre looked off. The special teams were a disaster and they looked flat in a game they had to have. Ryan Grant is the only guy who seemed to show up."
CheeseheadTV.com Good, Bad & Ugly: Good--Grant, Wells & Driver; Bad--McCarthy, Sanders & Stock; Ugly--Ryan.
Bloggers' headlines: "Gone With The Wind"; "Ugly...Well, that was heinous"; "Well, that was an embarrassing loss"; "Packers Give It Away Again"; "Meet the Bizzaro Packers"; & "Embarrassing".
COMMENTARY: Home field advantage in the playoffs was gone with the wind in this ugly loss. The greatest cardinal sin was giving the hilarious headlines & highlights to the Bears [jealous about the Packers' success & legendary QB Favre]: "Bears' win good for Chicago, better for Dallas"; "Bears shock Packers, clinch NFC home field for Cowboys"; & "Bears Sweep Packers." Echo: Bears-Packers a great rivalry? That's a laugh! [Were Bears laughing?]. Forever, forever.
PREVIEW: Still, the Packers are 12-3 moving forward.. In the final game at home, the Packers have a must "momentum" win game against the Lions to regain the momentum & confidence for the playoffs. As Coach McCarthy acknowledged: "Some of the things that manifested today showed up against St. Louis. I thought we addressed it this week in practice, but I didn't get that done, and that's my responsibility. We need to clean our house. We need to go out & perform well against Detroit.'' _______________________________________________________________________
SOURCES:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=271223003
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699706
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...0071223/PKR0201/71223042/1057/PKR&located=RSS
http://www.nfl.com/videos?categoryId=highlights&seasonId=2007&periodDecode=Week 16&campaign=ec_VH
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/263705
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=271223003
http://gnb.scout.com/2/713947.html
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699806
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699706
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/263691
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/10543815
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/gamecenter/recap/NFL_20071223_GB@CHI
http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/PKR07/712240554/1058/PKRFeatures
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/features/writers/prisco/grades/week16
http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/story/2007/12/24/93325/470
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/packers/home.htm
http://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/bears-35-packers-3/
http://packerama.blogspot.com/2007/12/gone-with-wind.html
http://packergeeks.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/ugly/
http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/story/2007/12/24/93325/470
http://packerfansunited.blogspot.com/2007/12/packers-give-it-awayagain.html
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...kers,1,4927914.column?coll=cs-bears-headlines
http://www.bratsandbeer.com/posts/2007/12/647
http://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/embarrassing/
_______________________________________________________________________
:USA: mg: :stpat: :yeah: mg: :USA:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
SUMMARY: The Packers were outplayed in all phases of the game, offense, special teams, & defense, losing to the “spoilers” archrival Bears in tough weather conditions. The Bears blocked two punts & had two interceptions leading to four scoring touchdowns.
HIGHLIGHTS: 1. ESPN. 2. JSOnline. 3. Packersnews. 4. NFL. 5. WSJ.
QUOTES:
ESPN: "Chicago was able to perform better than archrival Green Bay in adverse weather conditions. The Bears established the line of scrimmage in the trenches and controlled the tempo of the game. Chicago also fared much better in special teams….QB Kyle Orton was efficient with the short and intermediate passing game….The RB combination of Peterson and Wolfe was able to pound the ball effectively against the Packers….The poor weather clearly leveled the playing field for the overmatched Bears.”
Scout: “With a game-time temperature of 17 degrees, snow showers, and wind gusts of up to 40 mph that made for a minus-1 wind chill, the Packers appeared to cave in to the elements before the game began. Players were huddled around the heaters on the sideline and put coats on quickly when coming off the field.”
Packersnews: “The Packers wouldn’t use the brutal weather conditions as an excuse. It was a strong factor: When conditions are that bad, it levels the playing field, and the team with better talent loses its edge. Things like speed, quickness and even strength are negated. It can come down to execution and even luck.”
PLAY-OF-THE-GAME: On the 2nd play of their 1st possession in the 2nd half, the Bears executed a predictable screen pass gaining 33 yard setting up RB Peterson’s touchdown run & giving a comfortable 21-7 lead to the Bears.
REPORT CARD---GOOD, BAD, & UGLY: [USA TODAY GRADES]
Rushing Offense—B- [B-]
The Packers rushed 17 times for 125 yards averaging 6 ypc. RB Grant had 14 carries for 100 yards & one touchdown averaging 7.1 ypc. Grant needs 101 yards to get 1,000 yards for the season. If the two big runs are excluded, Grant had 10 carries for 12 yards because the plays became too predictable. The Bears made the necessary adjustments with their linebackers & an eight-in-the-box scheme. Overall, only T Tauscher & G Colledge looked good. Otherwise, the Bears' defense dominated the line of scrimmage against the Packers' offensive line.
Passing Offense—D [D]
Favre bobbled & dropped snaps, while he threw badly in the cold & windy weather. Also, his receivers dropped crucial passes. He completed 17 of 32 passes for 153 yards & two interceptions [at least 3 more interceptions dropped] with a 40.2 passer rating. In the first half alone, he had only two completions for 9 yards. "The Bears defense exacerbated matters with a [coordinated] zone blitz [scheme],...a longtime nemesis for Favre, whose two interceptions wound up in the hands of [DE] Brown [& LB] Urlacher...." WR Jennings had 3 catches for 42 yards. WR Driver had 4 catches for 32 yards
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Packers Q Favre (4) looks back towards the field while walking to the locker room following a 35-7 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Tom Fluegge-US Presswire.
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/teams/page/GB
Rushing Defense—D [D]
The defense had an awful game unable to hold the line: "the...struggles in stopping the run started before [DT]...Pickett suffered a groin injury....Still, Pickett's absence was conspicuous when the combination of...Petterson & Wolfe bulled inside & darted outside." The Bears rushed 45 times for 139 yards. RB Peterson had 30 carries for 102 yards & one touchdown. LB Barnett had 11 tackles, LB Hawk had 8 tackles, & LB Poppinga had 6 tackles, but they failed to dominate. DE Jenkins, DE Kampman & DT Williams had a "washed" game. Rookie DT Harrell was on & off, but he mainly got pushed onto his butt.
Passing Defense—C- [C-]
Following the deja vu game plan & facing little pass rush, Q Orton successfully ran the Bears' offense using short passing plays combined with power running plays in textbook clock control drives. Orton completed 8 of 14 passes for 101 yards & one touchdown [and one touchdown pass was dropped] with a 103.6 passer rating! WR Wolfe had 2 passes for 38 yards. A reviewer summed it up:
"The...linebackers & safeties were caught out of position on...pass catches... including a touchdown thrown to wide-open [TE] Clark....[CB] Blackmon missed badly on a diving tackle of diminutive back Garrett Wolfe on a screen pass that turned into a 33-yard gain, which put the Bears in position...to strike for a go-ahead touchdown before halftime....[CB] Harris would have given up a [TD] if not for a drop...on fourth-and-goal earlier....The pass rush was handled...."
The safeties were nonexistant. S Rouse did not play, seriously. CB Blackmon had a bad game.
Special Teams—D- [F]
The special teams had a horrendous "high schoolish" game. The Bears averaged a very good forty-four yard line starting position. P Ryan had two blocked punts, one dropped punt & one botched punt for 9 yards. The return game did little. K Crosby's kickoffs were solid.
Coaching—D- [F]
The "unbearable" Bears team outcoached, outschemed, & outplayed the "amateur" McCarthy team. The lack of extensive game preparation, poor play calling, & awful execution led to the horrible performance. On offense, the play calling was questionable & predictable with the Bears making quick adjustments. On defense, while the Bears' game plan was perfectly predictable, the defensive coordinator failed to make the necessary game adjustments & got outschemed in crucial plays. As Coach McCarthy admitted: "We did not play very well . . . at all. Our performance was poor today in all three phases." Finally, the team must learn how to handle success.
Overall—D
The Packers lost badly to the “spoilers” archrival Bears: “The Packers…didn't come close to matching the Bears' intensity, execution or resourcefulness.”
Sportsline.com Overall Grade: "F for flubbing. Packers cough up golden opportunity. A week after the Cowboys opened the door for the Pack to claim No. 1 in the NFC, Green Bay slammed it on its feet....That was really bad. Brett Favre looked off. The special teams were a disaster and they looked flat in a game they had to have. Ryan Grant is the only guy who seemed to show up."
CheeseheadTV.com Good, Bad & Ugly: Good--Grant, Wells & Driver; Bad--McCarthy, Sanders & Stock; Ugly--Ryan.
Bloggers' headlines: "Gone With The Wind"; "Ugly...Well, that was heinous"; "Well, that was an embarrassing loss"; "Packers Give It Away Again"; "Meet the Bizzaro Packers"; & "Embarrassing".
COMMENTARY: Home field advantage in the playoffs was gone with the wind in this ugly loss. The greatest cardinal sin was giving the hilarious headlines & highlights to the Bears [jealous about the Packers' success & legendary QB Favre]: "Bears' win good for Chicago, better for Dallas"; "Bears shock Packers, clinch NFC home field for Cowboys"; & "Bears Sweep Packers." Echo: Bears-Packers a great rivalry? That's a laugh! [Were Bears laughing?]. Forever, forever.
PREVIEW: Still, the Packers are 12-3 moving forward.. In the final game at home, the Packers have a must "momentum" win game against the Lions to regain the momentum & confidence for the playoffs. As Coach McCarthy acknowledged: "Some of the things that manifested today showed up against St. Louis. I thought we addressed it this week in practice, but I didn't get that done, and that's my responsibility. We need to clean our house. We need to go out & perform well against Detroit.'' _______________________________________________________________________
SOURCES:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=271223003
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699706
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...0071223/PKR0201/71223042/1057/PKR&located=RSS
http://www.nfl.com/videos?categoryId=highlights&seasonId=2007&periodDecode=Week 16&campaign=ec_VH
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/263705
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=271223003
http://gnb.scout.com/2/713947.html
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699806
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699706
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/263691
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/10543815
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/gamecenter/recap/NFL_20071223_GB@CHI
http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/PKR07/712240554/1058/PKRFeatures
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/features/writers/prisco/grades/week16
http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/story/2007/12/24/93325/470
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/packers/home.htm
http://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/bears-35-packers-3/
http://packerama.blogspot.com/2007/12/gone-with-wind.html
http://packergeeks.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/ugly/
http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/story/2007/12/24/93325/470
http://packerfansunited.blogspot.com/2007/12/packers-give-it-awayagain.html
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...kers,1,4927914.column?coll=cs-bears-headlines
http://www.bratsandbeer.com/posts/2007/12/647
http://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/embarrassing/
_______________________________________________________________________
:USA: mg: :stpat: :yeah: mg: :USA:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!