It was quite a week leading up to today's Bears game in Green Bay against the hated division rival Packers. First there were questions of whether or not Kyle Orton's sprained ankle would be in good enough shape for him to spare us another week of Rex Grossman, and of course, there was all the talk about the Bears defense. Well, to be more specific, their utter lack of one.
Everywhere you looked you would find an article written by the evil media saying that the Bears defense wasn't getting the job done. Sure, they could stop the run, but they were getting picked apart through the air thanks to a shaky secondary and a lack of anything resembling a pass rush. Then there were rumors circulating that Bears defenders were growing tired of Lovie Smith and Bob Babich's Cover-2 scheme, and whether or not the defense utilized Brian Urlacher's abilities enough.
We got some answers on Sunday afternoon. First we'll start with the good news, that defensive scheme that limits Brian Urlacher led to his first interception of the season as he patrolled deep centerfield. Other than that play, the only positives for the Bears were that nobody died, and depending on who you ask, that may not even be a good thing.
The Packers dominated the Bears in all phases of the game from start to finish. Going into the week there weren't many questions about the Bears run defense -- one of the top rated in the league -- but Ryan Grant had 100 yards before halftime and would finish the day with 145 yards and a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers picked up right where Brett Favre left off in his Bears domination by picking the defense apart for 227 yards and two touchdowns while completing 23 of his 30 passes.
All in all, it was a wonderful day. If you're a Packers fan. Green Bay racked up 427 yards of total offense -- 227 through the air, 200 on the ground -- and the Bears defense once again went without a sack.
Kyle Orton did start for the Bears, but his contributions were minimal. Orton finished the day completing half of his passes for 145 yards, and did fumble a snap that was returned for a Packers touchdown, but really, I'm not sure whether the Bears would have been better off with Orton on one leg or Rex Grossman on two. Matt Forte had a decent game, but considering the Packers run defense has been much-maligned this year and they were without their best run-stopper in middle linebacker Nick Barnett, the Bears needed a lot more than the 104 total yards -- 64 rushing, 40 receiving -- Matt gave them.
With the Vikings losing to the Buccaneers there is now a three way tie for first place in the NFC North. Obviously the Bears are not out of the playoff hunt by any means, but if we don't see drastic improvements out of the defense and offense in the coming weeks, they will be soon enough.
