Tell the truth, How many of you thought this game was going to be a close one?
I, for one, figured the Bears would put up a fight to try and stay in the race for the post season. Before the game started, the Packers sat down Lattimore to activate Brad Jones, I thought “Well, there goes the defense at ILB and Forte is going to have a field day running up the middle.” But low and behold Capers pulled out another mind blowing move by placing Clay Matthews at ILB, It was a look the Bears offense was not prepared for and never did figure out how to attack. While the final score was 55-14, this game was over after Rodgers threw his third TD. He could have sat out the rest of the game and the defense along with special teams would have won with their performance this game!
But as we all witnessed, Rodgers continued to pummel the Bears throughout the second quarter to end the half with a record 6 TD passes going into the locker room and a 42-0 lead.
I suppose the only rant I would have for this game is that I was hoping for a shutout by the defense, but I can’t blame the defense for getting RELAXED after getting such a big lead. Back to Matthews, did this man just show the nation on prime time TV he is one of the elite athlete’s in the NFL? I think so. He played ILB like he has been there his whole career. His speed kept the Bears run game at bay. Forte was held to 54 yards. I’m not sure he will stay at this position but he was a big part of this defense’s stellar play this game. Now at least teams will have to prepare for him being a ILB as well as a OLB and that alone is a tough task.
All in all, if this is a sign of things to come in the second half of the season and they can play like this on all aspects of the game Offense/Defense/Special teams, the Packers will be very hard to beat by any team. Next week against the Eagle will be the true test of where this team stands, If they can do the same thing to them as they did this week then I for one will be chanting about not only play off hopes, but a realistic opportunity to go to the big one this year.
With all this said it was a great start to the second half of the season, Leave me a comment on your opinions of the game and what you believe this team is capable of for the next seven plus games.
Go Pack Go!
Jeff
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Rodgers and Flynn each had 6 TD passing games in 2012. Not a record.
The record was the fact that the six tds came in the first half.
Exactly it tied for a record 6 TD’s in the first half of a game.
Honestly Jeff, I thought it would be a much closer game too. I really thought we would struggle to keep Forte to under 100 yards and that would make it difficult for our offense to get on the field and score points.
Glad to say I was wrong though.
On Matthews at inside linebacker. I am keep seeing McCarthy and Capers commenting that this was successful due to being an unscouted look. That may be true to an extent. However,McCarthy is always talking about match ups. I think it is obvious that Matthews is a match up nightmare at the inside Linebacker position. His athleticism,range and motor make him a natural fit for this position,especially since his production at outside linebacker has fallen. This is one of the things about McCarthy that bothers me. He is stubborn beyond belief sometimes. For example, does Jeff Janis really need to be as good a route runner as Jordy when all you really want him to do is blow the top off the defense? His speed allows him to do this. McCarthy could use him as a decoy to open u the field,much like he used Finley so many times .
I agree to a certain extent Ed, I like Janis and believe he is going to be the next star receiver for this team but for now they do not need him so why put pressure on the kid and take a chance of ruining his confidence early in his career? I believe next year they will start playing him at a slow pace to get him up to speed of the NFL… You got to remember he is coming from a division II school and while he was a beast there he has never seen the likes of NFL corners like Sherman Shields Etc.