Anatomy of a Drive: Crowd Noise Factors In

In a loud, raucous environment like Lambeau Field, the Bears offense had a hard time communicating, leading to blown assignments, incomplete passes, and six sacks on Cutler. The last drive in the first quarter magnified these problems, as the Bears were unable to build on two fantastic runs from Matt Forte. After no punt return, the Bears started on their own 16-yard line.

Forte rushed to the left for 25 yard gain -- Forte is effective when working the edges, like in this play that brought the Bears close to midfield. He was helped out by Greg Olsen, who made a key block that allowed Forte to get the first down and more.

Forte rushed to the left for 21 yard gain -- This time, it was Chris Williams and Olin Kreutz who open the hole for Forte, who ran diagonally to get the Bears into Green Bay territory.

Taylor rushed to the left for 2 yard gain -- On a similar play, Taylor could not find the same opening, and was tackled before he could get anywhere.

Cutler incomplete pass down the middle --  A.J. Hawk blew by Roberto Garza and dragged down Cutler, who couldn't get the ball to Brandon Manumaleuna.

Cutler sacked by Wynn and Hawk -- This is when the crowd noise at Lambeau started to take its toll. When trying to line up the offense, Cutler had to call a timeout. The rabid crowd seemed happy with their ability to disrupt the game -- as they should be -- and just got louder. When the Bears returned from the timeout, the Packers ran a pitch-perfect blitz. Garza and Williams missed their assignment, and Wynn and Hawk pulled Cutler nine yards behind the line of scrimmage.

With that, the Bears wasted two excellent runs by Matt Forte, and were forced to punt.

The upside to the Bears playing in the crazy environment of Lambeau Field so close to the postseason is that they were forced to deal with a playoff-atmosphere before the playoffs even start.