The Bears couldn't get to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers all night. But they tried, and tried, and tried.
And while they may not have gotten to Rodgers, they were able to get inside the Packers head and win an ugly game.
"This was disappointing" Rodgers said after a game that included 18 penalties against his team. "It was uncharacteristic of our football team."
Rodgers gave credit to the Soldier Field crowd: "They were loud tonight," he said. "We had a couple of back-to-back penalties on the one-yard line . . . I was screaming as loud as I can."
Other Packers like wide receiver Greg Jennings weren't so quick to credit the fans.
“You have only so many shots on your own self to kill yourself and we did everything in our power to beat ourselves as far as penalties and fundamentals. Obviously the Bears did some things tonight so I don’t want to take anything away from those guys in the other locker room but we felt like we did a lot of things that we detrimental to our success.”
Penalties repeatedly took big plays back from the Pack.
Chicago Bears
Jermichael Finley's 16-yard TD grab in the third quarter was negated by a holding call on Tackle Mark Tauscher. An apparent interception was called back because of a roughing the passer call on Safety Nick Collins. Even Aaron Rodgers intentional grounding call with less than four minutes remaining in the game led to Brian Urlachers' forcing a fumble.
That's just fine with Urlacher.
"I’d rather have an ugly win than an ugly loss" Urlacher admitted. And even though Rodgers wasn't sacked, the constant pressure from Julius Peppers, Israel Idonije (who started at Left Defensive End), Mark Anderson and linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs was enough to mess with the team mentally.
That ugly win puts the Bears in great position.
"Right now we sit alone atop the NFC North," Lance Briggs said after the win, "This is where we want to be and we’re going to have to fight to stay there.”
