Man, I went into this game not thinking it was a huge deal either way. But, the way the game played out it became more stressful as time went on. I wasn't very impressed with our offense, but the defense really stepped up and showed that the transition to the 3-4 won't be as time consuming as many thought. I really don't want this team to be the 'cardiac pack', but I was very happy with the win. Let's get our s*&t together on offense and we'll be tough team to beat this year!

Oh my goodness- I thought the game was over when the Bears kicked that last FG. Instead, Rodgers led the team to a late (and fatal) TD. The offense seemed anemic (or was the Bears defense dominant?). However, the Packers defense seemed to swarm towards the ball. What a game! Much different than the pundits guessed. Much different than I envisioned. Sill, a win is a win. GO PACK!!

Wow, talk about a game that lived up to expectations. My heart is still pounding now, a good twenty minutes later.

Football is back in Green Bay, and it's a great feeling.

First, I would like to say that although I was underwhelmed by the offense today (as I'm sure many of you were), I feel good about them getting it together and finding their rhythm sooner rather than later. Other good offenses (Houston comes to mind) got off to slow starts today. The question mark coming in was the defense, and other than a few miscommunications, they more than surpassed expectations. Most importantly, we came away with the W.

Now on to some impressions.

*Aaron Rodgers was not sharp for much of the day. The most glaring play is the overthrow of Driver on an easy TD. He was tentative on third down and went underneath maybe a bit too often. BUT.... he is extremely mobile and nimble in the pocket, avoids the rush well, and he made THE throw when it counted to finally get the monkey off his back in terms of the late game heroics. Look for him to get his groove a little more in coming weeks, rather than expecting it during an emotional, bloody-your-nose battle with a division rival.

*The offense line (I'm looking at you, specifically, Allen Barbre) was shaky. Some of it can be attributed to the prowess of the Bears' defensive line, but the way Ogunleye had his way with Barbre for much of the night was unacceptable. This will need to be fixed. Several sacks or "bad" runs completely derailed drives.

*Cullen Jenkins is the second best player on this defense behind Woodson. He was our answer to Ogunleye and found himself in the backfield on A LOT of plays tonight.

*Mason's struggles are still concerning, to say the least. I'm not sure if it's mechanical or mental, but Slocum better help him figure it out soon. We're going to need it.

*I love Dom Capers. Really. A lot. You can see the guy making adjustments and working hard to keep people off balance. I understand the occasional miscommunication will happen (like the Hester TD, between Collins and Woodson) and that's okay. They didn't let it beat them. They were stout against the run. They flowed to the ball and played fast. They solidified at the goal line late in the 4th. I have no complaints, and hope they can only get better from here. We were in Cutler's head from the first snap, and it's good to see that we can now dictate the pace of a game with our defense.

*I would like to give a shout out to Kapinos for some really good punting tonight. He's still a ways below Maynard, but he definitely was no Derrick Frost or BJ Sander tonight.

*Jordy Nelson performed well in place of Blackmon for return duties. The big one, obviously, was the first kick return of the game. He did field one punt he probably should have fair caught and got laid out. He made some nifty moves on another. He's no Blackmon, but he'll definitely get the job done.

*What was Lovie Smith doing tonight? There was a number of poor challenges, and an awful fake punt that essentially gave the Packers a free field goal. He also rode Cutler a lot longer than he probably should have, considering the lack of effort in getting Forte going.

*As both a plus and a minus, I'd like to point out the plus-four turnover margin (good) and the fact that we really didn't execute to put points on the board for much of the game, except for the TD from the 3 (bad). We'll be expected to make good of those opportunities in future weeks.

*One more thing to note... we came away relatively clean injury-wise.

*Plays of the game: Jolly's athletic one-armed INT in the red zone.
Chillar's leap of a blocker and pursuit of Cutler to a sack.
And the obvious... Rodgers' deep ball to Jennings inside two minutes.

I'm still in awe of what I saw tonight, and this was every bit the battle that an NFC North game should be. This one was really frustrating for awhile, but quite exhilarating in the end. Most importantly, there's a "1" in the win column.

Ladies and gentlemen, football is back!

GO PACK!!

Huge win, but some big concerns

Defense carried this game for the Packers, they had pressure on Cutler all night. 4 picks were huge. we had lots of rotation throughout the DL and LBs which is a good thing

The right tackle spot has to be improved. Barbre was basically a revolving door tonight.

Big night for Rodgers, his number werent all that impressive, but closing out the game will go further than any stats he could have produced.

Crosby concerns me.

Terrible call on Al Harris. I hope the NFL explains how they made that call.

Brett Swain justified his spot with one special teams play.

Jordy Nelson two drops???? Mark this date on your calandar, its a rare day.

Great job by our DL, stuffin the run.

I'm surprised we didnt see more of Finley or James Jones, but I'm sure we will down the road.

I'll take the win, but there are some things to work on. Next up Cincy.

man, I was stressing! Defense played great, lame flag on that go-ahead drive. Play action third and one was inspired. where was Finley? and Barbe better play better in the weeks ahead.

Swain is my new favorite player. If you watch the reply on the punt he saw the fake from the start, took maybe one step forward and then took off towards the ball carrier. That could have been the game if he doesn't make that stop.

I have bnothing to add till tomorow night and I sober up after a 123 hour day in the sun.

Goo night.

TOO MANY drops by Wr's!!!! That's what I saw, esp in the first half.

Defense played really well. Chicago could not run. And given enough pass attempts the Bears hung themselves with int's. I never really felt like the Packers D couldn't change the game at any point. Kudos to Dom Capers, he called a heck of a game, and for the most part defensive players executed.

Good calls all around. I'm glad we have Cincy next week instead of a powerhouse. Things need to be cleaned up for sure.

This defense will be exciting to watch, that's for sure. Dom's going to throw the kitchen sink at the QB...sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. But it will be fun to watch.

Johnny Jolly was active all night long, and that interception was amazing for a huge man like that. Cullen Jenkins looked unblockable at times.

Matt Forte had 25 carries for 55 yards. I loved seeing that.

Brandon Chillar showed up to play...he was hard not to notice out there. I think Hawk was around the ball and made a couple plays in the run game. I was surprised just how much Clay was out there...it will be interesting to see how many snaps each of those LB's had, but it seemed to me that Clay played a lot more than Poppinga.

Other than the long play to Johnny Knox, the TD pass to Hester, and that phantom call on Al Harris, the CB's played well. And I give Capers and the team credit...G. Olsen and D. Clark were not factors in this game.

I saw enough of Ryan Grant to think he's a different player than last year.

As for Jordy's drops...that one long one would have been an amazing catch. He kind of had to lay out on that one. Rodgers wasn't quite on the mark most of the night. He wasn't way off...just a little bit off.

If every CB is a frustrated WR, Tramon Williams fits that bill. He ended the night with 1 INT but had a chance for 3.

How about that play when Chillar hurdled the blocker (Garrett Wolfe) and ended up with the sack? Pretty sweet.

I can't agree more about Barbre, GM...wow, is this an area of concern or what? Disappointing, because Defensive Coordinators will be licking their chops watching this game film, and it almost guarantees that we'll have to keep a potential receiving threat like Donald Lee back helping out blocking, thus taking away options.

Nick Barnett was pretty quiet, as was Bigby before he got hurt. Kampman was pretty quiet too, compared to what we're used to seeing. Hopefully, it's just one game.

All in all...a home win against a division opponent. A physical win, even. That's the way to start the season. I was hoping for a blowout win, but I'll take it.

I really liked how the defense played tonight. Hats off to Chillar and Jenkins both were constantly disrupting the Bears offense. Ryan Pickett may not stand out in the stats book but he held the line of attack and clogged that middle up.

The offensive line struggled .. well at least the right side. What was important is the Packers created 4 turnovers .. 5 if you count the fake punt .. and the offense had no turnovers.

Other positives: special teams. Crosby kicked deep kickoffs, Kapinos played well, and even though the play was nullified by a penalty .. J Bush made a great play on a punt that would have pinned the Bears on their 6 yard line. Punt coverage was good, especially since Devin Hester was back there returning punts.

Post Game Impressions:

Negatives:

Offensive line looks shaky. A lot of optimism in the pre-season proved to be pre-mature. We need work, but Babre looked guilty most of the time, so shoring up the line may not require AS much work as it looks.

We let inexperienced receivers beat us today. We pride secondary on our two vets in Harris and Woodson. Both had moments in the game where they were beaten by young WR's. I don;t expect perfection from them, I was just hoping for a better performance.

A-Rod looked uncomfortable at times, unlike in the pre-season. This is directly linked to my first statement. We need to protect him!

Running game took a while to get going. In the end we established a moderate threat out of the backfield, but I think we were hoping for a bit more.

Our TE's were a non-factor. After all the hype about Finley, I would have liked to see him more involved.

WR's had problems holding onto the ball. This doesn't worry me as usually they are sure handed and I'm sure they will bounce back next week.


Positives:

Though many of us were shaking our heads when Crosby missed his first attempt, he came back and nailed his next two including one from 50+ yards. This is a good sign that he bounced back from early disappointment.

4 picks. What can I say? Defense played great, and made some big plays. Though we gave up a few bonehead plays ( the hester TD comes to mind) we did not fall apart at the end. Two drives by the Bears inside the 10 yard line, both held to FG's. Overall a great effort.

We held their offensive workhorse to 55 yards on 25 attempts. Forte was a non-factor. Great containment by the D.

We got it together and won it in the end. We overcame what riddled us last year. Aaron won the game in the final 2 minutes against a worthy opponent.


Offense: C
Defense: B+
Special Teams: B

I agree this is a whole different game if our WR's could hang on to the ball. Was glad to see the outcome, but there are some things that can be cleaned up. The drops along with the o-line play need to be focal points this coming week. The defense seems to be taking to the new defense really well. It's amazing how a coach can make that much of a difference. I love the way he uses woodson in the nickle package, letting him just roam and make plays. Also noticed that this team needs another body on the d-line. They seemed to lose a lot of steam in the 2nd half and not be making as many plays. Adding Raji to the mix should slove this problem. With mathews getting a lot of snaps in the 2nd half of the game, these two rookies seem to mean a lot to the defense.

Exhausting game to watch, but it was worth it in the end.

I think Cullen Jenkins showed why he's probably the best player on our defense besides Woodson, and Chillar showed why he should probably be starting.

The offense will be much better if Barbe can pass protect. They left at least 10 points on the field.

My additional:

1) What is Driver doing? He is almost automatic, but missed/dropped at least 3 balls early that would have changed the game.
2) Barbre was really bad. He could not stand up to their DE and why did not GB give him help a lot earlier. He is the only player on the OL that I am concerned about.
3) I told you so on the D. They played the exact way I thought they would and I have my posts. They will give up a play here or there and Collins slipping on the that big TD was too bad, but does not change my opinion of Collins.
4) The O was going to struggle more against a top D like Chicago. I did think that GB would have played better, but it was the first game. I look forward to next week.
5) Crosby does not bother me. His first FG attempt from 49 yds, he simply hooked; that is on him. He came back and booted well from 52 yd and the shorter one.
6) Grant was running tough against a very good rush D and I am happy GB did not give up on the run.
7) Playing calling was a bit too much down field, but that is why the play. I think Rodgers getting hit too often was a bit of a problem, but only one player was consistently bad...
8) Too bad the punting team could not have kept at least on of the punts from going into the end zone.

A great win by less than 7. While last year it would seem we would find a way to lose this one, I have great hope for the season.

man that was a doozy. great work in the clutch from Rodgers.

Defense was solid, they are a fun unit to watch for the first time in almost 15 years.

the pass rush and blitzes were pretty beastly, and got good pressure on Cutler on about 3/4 of their passing plays.

that phantom illegal contact was infuriating. i don't think i've ever seen the TV crew so thoroughly diagram why the call was wrong, only to determine that the OTHER team should have been penalized. that really could have done us in. last year it would have for sure. but this year is different.

Jordy Nelson looked fine but not spectacular returning. i miss having Blackmon's spark, but its good to know we have a solid second option. he had a clear drop, and another that should be caught pretty often by a good receiver. disappointing in that department. maybe some of those chances should be going to Jones?

it was lovely to completely spoil Cutler's debut. nice savior, Bears. it could have been even uglier for him, he had two shoulda-been-picks that we dropped right before Tramon Williams finally held on to one.

Raji should make the D Line even more powerful.

Great win in a sloppy game by both teams .On the offensive side it is a little different when the real bullets start flying and you have to play a full game instead of a few series. I remember when the preseason games were used to get teams into shape both physically and mentally instead of cameo appearances by the starters and the rest of the game time going to alot of guys that dont make the team.It takes time for the units to get comfortable and jell to a point where they are clicking . Nowadays it seems like it takes till the 3rd or 4th game before that happens.

This game will hopefully be a wake up call and the Super Bowl talk will go away and the players focus on being the best they can be and perform and make plays that will take them to the Super Bowl.

Positives
Comeback Win
Defense stopped the opponnent when it was critical !!!
Special teams
No turnovers
Good Team Effort which should go a long way toward a successfull season.
First place in the NFC
Undefeated

Playcalling seemed really strange to me. It was so boom or bust. . . especially early when they needed to dictate teh offensive tempo. Every pass seemed to be downfield. Barbre is being abused, and yet they didn't go to any short routes with run after the catch? No quick slants. No play-action until the touchdown. Bad screens that were pretty obvious. No passes to the backs (except for screens) and very few to the tight ends. No shotgun? Pretty much telegraphing the running plays leading to several 3rd and long situations?

Run defense really came to play tonight. They got great pressure on Cutler, but couldn't get him down when they got there. Gotta make the tackle when you get your hands on the QB. Jolly and Jenkins looked damn good. This is a fun defense for the ends. Pickett manned the middle and owned it. Hawk, Kampman and Chillar all looked stout. Barnett was more active than I expected him to be (since he's been out of action so long). Poppinga didn't impress me much, while Matthews did. Nice to see him in there. I think he'll be starting very soon.

Tramon Williams was all over the field tonight. Missed a couple of easy INTs, but more importantly. . . he was nearly always in position to make a play on the ball. He looked really good tonight in some extensive action.

Barbre struggled really bad early on, but then played much better in the 2nd half. Hopefully it was just some 1st game jitters against a good opponent. If he struggles again next week they need to look to make a change. He's allowed to have one bad game to start out with, but Rodgers can't be taking that many hits. There's no way he'll stay healthy the whole season if it keeps happening. Don't know why they didn't get him some help earlier.

Wide Recievers also had a night to forget. Key drops on well thrown passes early on messed with the tempo and kept the Bears in it much longer than they should have been. Rodgers seemed a bit skittish after Ogunleye blew past Barbre a few times, but he was still pretty much dead on most passes except the wide open TD to Driver. Both Driver and Nelson dropped a couple of catchable balls that move the chains and probably put some more points on the board as well. I have no doubt that they'll shake it off and bounce back next week. The important thing is that Jennings caught the one that mattered at the key moment.

Never had any doubt that they would come back and make the plays that they needed to. After allowing the Bears to stay in a game they should have put away early on, they need to gain confidence and rhythm heading into week 2. Improved play from Barbre would help tremendously. Blown plays and sacks to his side killed at least 6 drives that I counted. It's hard to establish a rhythm when that's happening.

Good special teams play tonight. Hester was never a threat as a returner. Kapinos gave the coverage team a couple chances to pin them deep that were missed, but I'll settle for keeping Hester bottled up and not making the decisive return that makes this close game a loss. Heads up play by Swain on the fake punt. That was a horrible move by the Bears.

Loved seeing how the defensive players were all trying to PUNISH whoever had the ball. That's a sign of a physically imposing team. The Bears didn't have an answer for that. Big hits by Hawk, Kampman and Jenkins really got the defense riled up. That's nice to see after so many years of "Finesse" defense under Donatell, Slowik and Sanders. I'm really loving the defense.

The offense needs to work out some kinks, but this was a big win. They should get their groove back against Cincinnati and St. Louis. There's a very good chance that both the Packers and Vikings could be 3-0 heading into the matchup in the Dome. They need to keep working on the defense and eliminate most of the mis-communications. They looked good with the pressure, run defense and 4 INTs, but they need to get sacks and fumbles as well. It was close, but not quite on both of those areas for the night.

Kudos to John Kuhn who looked good on both offense and on special teams. One play in particular where he stood up his guy (even got knocked back a little), but created a crease for Grant and then blocked two more guys when Ryan cut back to get a key 1st down late in the game.

Also, a big kudos to Johnny Jolly for making a game-saving INT in the red-zone when the RB could basically walk into the endzone if he misses that play. Huge play for the eventual outcome and a heck of an athletic play for the big man. He certainly looked like a difference maker tonight.

The Preseason is over. Great win by the Pack at home against a hated division rival (where anything can go wrong) despite some adversity and in prime time. Some things to work on, but it was a pretty encouraging start. Hopefully it'll lower some expectations and let the Packers get back to worrying about football. The defense is for real. Depth on the line and in the backfield is a concern, but those linebackers are stellar. Bring on the Bengals!

A few extra observations:

* Nobody's said it yet but .... no giveaways.

* The Packers continue to run better when there's a fullback in there. Last night it was mostly John Kuhn. Grant rarely ran out of a single-back formation and when he (or DeShawn Wynn) tried the results weren't pretty.

* Much greater mix of zone- and power-blocking in the running game. Grant's three best runs came out of a zone look, but his touchdown was old school. Blocking still very inconsistent on runs up the middle: Spitz had difficulty reaching the second level, just as Wells did in 2008. McCarthy and Philbin will work on this persistent problem.

* The demise of Donald Lee has been much exaggerated. He made two critical blocks to launch Grant's longest outside runs, one by sealing the defender inside, the other by driving him back. Lee was also solid in pass protection and provided an ok outlet for dump passes. Packers used two tight ends on a handful of pass plays.

* The ugly telegraphed third-down screen pass did not take a sabbatical with Brandon Jackson sidelined. They gave it to Wynn instead. It really is time for MM to burn his copy of Holmgren's Guide to Third-down Overprudence.

* Penalties schmenalties.

* Opponents are quickly going to figure that they can't block Chillar or Matthews with a third-down back. In passing situations, Chicago kept its eyes on where Kampman was rushing from and got burnt by everyone else.

* Jolly is much improved over last year. He was noticeably quicker off the line, and didn't give up on any plays. OK, it's week one, but still....

* It's night and day between Sanders' and Capers' defenses, isn't it? I tried to keep count of the different fronts the Packers showed, and gave up, overwhelmed, before the first quarter was through. Kampman played on the line less than I expected, but on third down the Pack went with more five-man fronts than Sanders showed in a whole year.

* A bit disappointed in Charles Woodson. Sure he's a gambler, but I thought he was caught trying to get in on the pick-fest a couple of times rather than shadowing his receiver. Hester showed up his decreasing speed, and Cutler faked him out.

* Last year's interception total could easily be repeated. Most of the picks and near-picks were products of both pressure and coverage. That's a tasty recipe.

* Chicago's fake punt was pathetic, but full marks to Brett Swain and Desmond Bishop for snuffing it out quickly. Overall the special teams were ok, but I'm not sold on the personnel at K, P or KR. Work to do.

* Hard to judge Chicago on last night's performance. Cutler gives them plenty more firepower on offense, and makes their receivers look better than they are, but they're a long way from being in synch. All the chatter has been about the passing game, but the biggest concern for Bears fans must be the offensive line, which was out-thought and outfought by the Packers' front three (or four, or five). The tight ends were too often left in to pick up the pass rush, and so Chicago snuffed out its own best weapons on offense.

* I thought Cris Collinsworth called a pretty good game (I'm not always a fan) but why credit Joe Philbin with the gutsy call on third-and-one that led to Jennings' TD? It's hardly a secret that McCarthy scripts and calls the offensive plays.

In regard to that FG, I think the defense of that last Bears series inside the 10 was crucial. There's no telling, of course, but I can't help but think that that had a significant psychological effect on the offense. It might have helped galvanize them. In terms of points, it wouldn't have made any difference, but psychologically it could have.


Actually, the reason Collins had trouble covering the distance was because that was the very moment when he started to cramp up. I'm not sure there was any miscommunication involved in that play.


I was too (aren't we always?), but in retrospect, I'm glad it was a close game. After all the preseason hype, I think it will be good for the team to have had such a close game. The win provides them with sufficient confidence, but the closeness of it might help make them stay grounded. I'm not sorry the way it turned out. I'll be happy enough with blowout wins in the tail end of the season.


Oh yeah, wasn't it just?! Not only that, but what a pleasure to watch a defense that can actually stop the run. I'm a little less nervous today about Adrian Peterson.


I was thinking about that too, during the first half. I was wondering why all the long passes - what happened to the quick, short, slice & dice ball control passing game. This had me a little concerned during the preseason too.

Having said that, I believe the reason the quick slants weren't there was because the Bears threw a new defensive wrinkle at the Packers that they hadn't seen before - one designed to take away quick slants specifically. Rodgers talked about that after the game. That might be a reason we saw so little of the short passing game. I don't think it's the entire explanation, but I can buy that it was a part of it.


You're right - no one has said it. But I was thinking it, ever since the game. Good point and one that I think cannot be overstated. Ok, we're bound to have fumbles here or there, but I wager that has been worked on a lot and maybe we won't see many. Mostly, I'm very impressed with Rodgers caution with the ball. If Cutler had a bit more of that, we might be having a really down day today. Some poster somewhere talked about that - that Cutler needs to learn to swallow the ball more often, to take the sack or just run with it - in another thread and it was a good point. I'm glad he hasn't learned it yet.


Yeah, I caught that too. Very odd. Speaking of that play, aside from crediting Philbin, it didn't strike me being particularly gutsy. Ok, maybe it is, but it certainly wasn't a surprise to me. I was half expecting it and I was certainly hoping they'd take a shot there. If anything, I'm more surprised by McCarthy's occasional afflictions from the timid virus.

Great thread this, as a whole. Excellent posts all around and I really appreciated some of the more detailed analyses. This type of thread is exactly why I'm here - for the education and for the things I won't usually find in the media. This thread has been especially edifying - could it be that winning, against the Bears, this exciting new season, has inspired us all?

Giveaway/Takeaway ratio is crucial and for GB to get 4 and give up ZERO is fantastic.

I agree with Terry that TD play was not gutsy. It is 3rd and 1 at the 50, but with just over one minute left, the team would be going for it on 4th down. If it was 4th down, then absolutely. The play action was going to be effective there and the original target being Lee. I am glad that Driver was not the receiver on that play. I hope yesterday was just a bad game for himi and not the beginning of the decline.

The reason why Green Bay won this game is because even though Rodgers was under bigtime pressure the whole game he did not throw even one interception, unlike Cutler. There is your difference.

The teams seemed evenly matched if not for the fact.

I'm putting the offensive struggles on two things: 1) our wide receivers inexplicably getting the dropsies and 2) Barbre's complete inability to pass protect. Rodgers looked fine early. He was hitting his receivers. But they kept dropping them, and Barbre started letting the entire Bears defense get free looks at Rodgers. The result was a QB that was shaken by the constant pass rush and receivers that he couldn't completely trust. That led to some errant throws as the game developed. I consider this case of the dropsies to be a one off - our guys are normally the definition of "reliable." Barbre on the other hand...that could be an ongoing problem. Regardless, the offense will get it together - I'm not concerned.

Also not concerned about Crosby. Kickers miss. It happens. Especially from almost 50 yards. Hooked one from 49, and then nailed one from 52. Where's the problem? Solid night from Crosby - he boomed some great kick offs.

Defense looked great, but they still yielded some yardage. That's a mild concern of mine. But as long as they keep points off the board, it's all good.

I agree with this and was pretty frustrated by it. Another poster mentioned that Rodgers said slants were cut off by Chicago. OK, fine. But there are other plays to get the ball out quicker. In fact, I thought that Chicago's offensive playcalling was better in the 3rd quarter than the Pack's regarding getting the ball out quickly. FB swing pass, one-step out to the WR, etc. We didn't do anything like that, so I was definitely scratching my head on McCarthy's playcalling.

D. Wynn did not look very good last night. I was surprised by that.

While I love Kampy, I didn't see too much of him. He did get some pressure on Cutler against the 2nd year RT Williams (essentially a rookie), and it's early. But I wonder if there's not much improvement whether we could get something of value for him after this season. Like I said, it's early. It just doesn't look like a great fit for Kampy right now. Hope very much that I'm wrong.

Barnett only play limited snaps, so it was hard to gauge how well he played. And holy cow is Chillar a playmaker.

While Jenkins had a great game, I was very impressed with Jolly too not withstanding the amazing INT. Glad to see he's carrying the good preseason over into the regular season. Hopefully his down year last season was a fluke.

Defense looked good but CB's are not as solid as I thought.

OL is what I expected. It needs to improve or Rodgers is going to get hit a lot.

Rodgers got his first game winning drive and what a great play to call!

Thank God Cutler has a dismal WR corp. Hester could be good though and they need to get him the ball more.

I was surprised we struggled to score lke we did. Bears gave us a few gifts and in the end, it is a win!

I suspect next week our offense will explode against Cincy!

I paid special attention to Matthews last night. I LIKE what I see. You can call him our starter NOW... he played majority of snaps.... Holds the edge REALLY well; getting pressure; and was step in step in coverage.

Take aside a couple big plays, and our D played Really well.... our safeties missed a couple of assignments and were out of position... growing pains

This is the first time in a helluva long time that I couldn't wait to see our D on the field again and again. I have confidence in them

Hawk played a really SOLID game! Looks like Barnett isn't there yet healthwise, but I'll take Chillar, Hawk tandom.

Wow - how bad was that call?

Nice stand by the defense to hold Chicago to a FG late in 4th quarter

Some quick thoughts...

*Jordy Nelson had a few solid returns but looked shaky in a few spots. One punt he should have fair caught, another he fielded poorly
*Dom Capers is a God (Cutler: 4 picks...Forte: 25 carries/55 yards)
*Brandon Chillar is going to be a stud this year
*Barbre needs to get it together
*Call on Al Harris was among the worst I've ever seen
*Clay Matthews played and played well
*Mike McCarthy's play calling bugged me in a few spots
*Getting the 4th quarter monkey off Rodgers' back is beyond huge
*Carson Palmer is in for a long afternoon next Sunday
*Go Pack Go!

Still don't understand the aclaim for Cutler. Yes, he went to the pro bowl, so what. His record and decision making is not all that great. In Denver, he did not show well and I believe that Denver will be happy at the end of the day that he is gone.

I saw a Black and Blue division football game, WOW
AR had his defining moment at the end, good for him and us fans. This is the first game, with a new defense and two new offensive linemen. Come October we will be hitting on all cyclinders, can't wait!

I think the D had a defining moment at the end also. Rather two of them. One to hold them to a 3(which may have had more of a psychological effect) but they also picked Cutler to seal the deal. Something that wasn't present very often last year. Tough, grind it out win that builds character. Good team win.

Rodgers explained after the game that Chicago threw a new defense at them: quarters underneath, with cover two over the top. It was designed to take the short game away and dare GB to beat them deep and protect Rodgers. It worked out great for Chicago because Ogunleye just abused Barbre, and had Rodgers throwing off his back foot. There were at least a couple TD's left on the field because of that.

I have to agree with you for the most part though, as the execution really stunk most times. I think Chicago gets some credit here for disrupting the rhythm, but GB needs to do a better job.

Let's not forget that the safeties were given an unusual assignment: keep tabs on Chicago's tight ends. Olsen and Clark love to get deep; they line up in the slot or split out wide; and they have the best hands on the team. So how did the tight ends do? They were targeted ten times. Two receptions for 46 yards. One interception. Passer rating in the twenties. Let's hear it for the Packer safeties and inside linebackers.

Your right about the D of course. I've been convinced for a long time that 50% is coaching and scheme that fits the players skill sets. This defense has great potential, I agree with those that said this is a team victory. Our Field General made the play when it counted.

What was puzzling and troubling to me was the playcalling - as usual. I just don't know why, but McCarthy to me, is turning into the offensive version of Bob Sanders. Nothing against McCarthy as a coach or a person, but he just lacks creativity which, shouldn't be the case for a relatively young coach. With the Bears bringing the heat in the first half, we should have gone to a more West coast-style offensive approach. Instead, he chose to air it out- leaving Rodgers and his receivers with zero rhythm heading into a crucial send half.

Granted, the Bears may have been doing something to take away slants, etc. but that's where on-the-fly adjustments have to be made. McCarthy, I've always thought has been a good second half guy, but he's got to start improvising a bit more. If not, this offense will be predictable.

Other thoughts:


* A milk carton this morning showed James Jones and JerMichael Finley on it. Where were those guys?

* Defense saved that game. With Raji, I think it will only be better

* Still not happpy we dumped Anthony Smith. I hope Derek Martin can play S soon. We have three (Collins, Rouse and Bigby) who have been habitually injured the last two years -- especially Bigby.

* Barbre needs a shape up or ship out speech today. That was embarrassing.

* Swain is the definition of a quality football player. Does a lot of the little things

* Kampy was solid. Glad to see him adapting to this defense so well

* Woodson got burned, yeah. But did we hear from that kid again? NOPE. Woodson was toying with that offense last night. What a player.

And finally...........


* Welcome to the club, Rodgers. The NFL should take note -- #12 has arrived.

I'm surprised, unless I missed it, that it took so long for this to be said.

Kudos!

It has been brought up, either here or the others threads. That was one of the first things a few of us thought and said.

#8 by JASIII started it.

Could not agree more. I think GB has a great and innovative play book, but MM is way to predictable in his use of it. I can call the type of play almost every time. Further he gets way too conservative with even the slightest of leads. Have to put up points on people in this league, or it will come back to kill you.

Sure our guys have work to do- everybody does after week 1. Excited about the D. Struggles on O- give credit to the Bears D. they played hard and did a great job with their coverages.

What a storybook ending to this game. I mean, really: can you script it better than that?

You have a BS phantom illegal contact (and as Collinsworth illustrated, if anything, that play should have been illegal formation against Chicago) that allows Chicago to kick a field goal to go up by two.

Well, here you go Rodgers. Your major criticism, though one I think is unwarranted, has been your performance in the fourth quarter; in particular, the last three minutes of the game. So here's the stage: it's the first game of the year, against a division rival, and you have three timeouts, 2:28 on the clock, and 72 yards to go--less if you're settling for a field goal.

And Rodgers delivers.

But the story doesn't end here: there's still 1:11 on the clock.

So now we get a new story. We have Chicago, with no timeouts, relying on their big off-season acquisition, Jay Cutler, to come through in the clutch. We also have Green Bay, whose achilles heel last season was their inability to stop an opposing team in the last seven minutes of a game. Put differently, we have the new look Bears' offense squaring off against the new look Packers' defense. To use a cliche: something's gotta give.

What a difference a season makes, eh? That was the exact type of game the Packers lost last year--and lost often.

It was great to see such an ugly trend reversed in the first game of the year. The fact that it came against Chicago was just cheese on the brat.

Other quick thoughts and responses:

• Like Heat, I'm still puzzled by some of McCarthy's playcalling. And as ammek said, the third and long screen call is getting a little ridiculous.
• The Packers only had 6 penalties for 45 yards, which is an improvement over their average last season, but some of those were deleterious: most notably, Spitz's and Sitton's holding calls. Those are drive and momentum killers. Spitz's hold wiped away what would have been first and ten from the 25 and instead forced the Packers to settle for a 52 yard field goal; Sitton's wiped away what would have been first and ten from the 17 and instead forced the Packers to settle for a 39 yard field goal.
• I don't think the playaction on 3rd and 1 was a "gutsy" call; in fact, I thought it was the right call, and the one I, from my chair, was calling for. That said, McCarthy wasn't going for the home run on that play: as Rodgers said, Lee was the first option on that play; Jennings was the second. In other words, the intent was to hit Lee for 10-to-15 yards on a post to get into field goal range.
• Collinsworth did erroneously credit Philbin for calling that play, but in the postgame wrap up, he admitted his mistake. However, that wasn't the only blunder by Collinsworth, whom I thought was off his game at times but solid on the whole.
• I was surprised as to how much Clay Matthews played, but I was more impressed with how he played, which I thought was quite well considering the time he missed during the pre-season.
• Collins is a stud. I still can't understand the numerous doubters here. And please don't bring up Hester's TD. As Terry said, Collins cramped up on that play; otherwise, he makes that play ten times out of ten.
• There is reason to believe this secondary can continue to grab two to three interceptions per game. They were a great ballhawking, interception generating secondary last year, and that was with an anemic performance from their front seven. Now that this defense is pressuring the quarterback on a consistent basis, this great secondary will have even more opportunities for picks. Williams really is a luxury as a nickel corner. Deion Sanders called this unit "the best secondary assembled in the NFL; they are certainly ballhawks." That said, Woodson's gambles didn't work to well for him last night.
• Chillar and Hawk were constantly around the ball.
• I agree that Jenkins looked unblockable at times.
• Getting Raji back is only going to bolster this line, which played great last night.
• Barbre needs to prove his worth against the Bengals. At times, he single handedly handcuffed and stymied this offense.
• I feel really uncomfortable when Rouse is on the field. That is definitely the Packers' weak spot on defense, at least as it pertains to depth.
• Cutler is one of the most overrated QBs in this league. Two of those interceptions were unconscionable.

Oh, and what great timing for the Packers to finally hit on the deep ball!

I agree as well. Matthews was really flying around. He didn't make any big plays, but he didn't give them up either. He is very close on his pressures and getting a bit of experience should suit him well. He's a really great athlete.

What I liked about this game was that it's the exact sort of game the Pack would have dropped last year.

The receivers were fighting the dropsies, Rodgers wasn't getting enough time, the ball took a few Chicago bounces. Heck, we even had a game-changing zebra disaster with that phantom call against Harris.

But last night the Packers Got. It. Done. Rodgers managed the pressure without throwing an INT. Grant answered the call and established the run late in the game. The D made plays when they counted, and Rodgers finally shook the 2008 "can't make late plays" monkey off his back leading that late drive.

It wasn't perfect, but the Packers passed a serious test by beating the Bears.

Most people seemed to have forgotten about the 1st bogus illegal contact call. It came with 4:20 to go in the 2nd quarter. The Bears had thrown an incomplete pass on 3rd and 5 from the Packer's 36 yard line. The refs didn't call out a number on this call. The penatly was just against the Packers. None of the replays showed ANY contact at all. Maybe the camera's missed it......who knows. Collinsworth also questioned that call and said there was no contact anywhere.

It really didn't matter though, because Nick Collins ended up picking off Cutler on the following play, but it's crazy seeing these stupid calls. If Collins doesn't make that pick though........that penalty could have been huge.

If anyone DVR'd the game, go back to the late game illegal contact call against Al Harris. Watch the ref anounce the penalty. Note how he gets this little smirk on his face when he anounces the penatly is against #31. It's subtle...but I swear I saw a smirk. As everyone else feels, that penalty against Harris goes down as one of the worst calls ever. I'm sure the league will get an earful from McCarthy this week.

Exactly. We saw the routes that the Bears were giving us which were the medium and deep routes that we either dropped or AR missed on. Plus, the pressure was obviously a constant which threw things off and we didn't really have a consistent running attack.

It was a good game plan by the Bears made even better by the fact that Adawale destroyed Barbre all night. With a little more time and a little less constant pressure AR hits several more medium and deep throws and we likely score a lot more. Instead we could get no rhythm with short passes and AR wasn't comfortable in the pocket and was off when he actually was getting the passes off downfield.

Yes you have to wonder what the Ref was thinking on that penalty, he is maybe 5 yards away with a clear view. Plus he looked ready to throw the flag, all he was doing was waiting for Harris to bump the Bear reciever. He even forgot to call the illegal formation on the Bears because he was watching for Harris on that five yard bump.

Yeah, horrible "phantom call". There was no contact whatsoever, and also, even if there was, it was within the five yards so the referee blew it in more ways than one. lol
Horrible officiating on that play but good thing it didn't make a difference in the game.

I said it long before this game, Jay Cutler is the next Jeff George. All the measureables you want, but he wont get it done. Soon he'll start complaining and the Bears will implode.

I saw that too. By reading into the exchange between that ref and Harris I also had the feeling that he had just been waiting to call something on Harris. I've been watching the NFL for 50 years and they still haven't been able to weed out the biased and the just plain bad from the officiating crews. Call it whatever you want, but to me that was an obviously biased call at a critical part of the game. An unnecessary call that could very well influence the outcome of the game.There's no excuse. Especially that they missed the obvious illegal formation call on the same play.And that's when everyone is standing still so there should be no excuse for missing it.

This is nothing new, but with the NFL owners and teams swimming in revenue why do we continue to accept the NFLs excuses for not having professional referees?

Did you see the play where Kampman was dragged to the ground by his facemask with the referee 10 feet away? How does that possibly get missed? I'm sure the NFL league official will come on the NFL channel this week and explain it all away. That segment totally irritates the heck out of me, as the NFL rarely if ever will own up to it's referees glaring errors.

Not to mention the play where Woodson was tackled from behind trying to get out to make a play on a WR screen. Right out in the open and no call. Just BS.

One thing to keep in mind too fellas (and ladies?)

Look back no further than week 1 of the 2007 season with that UGLY win against Philly. People (including me) weren't all that pleased then, either in the sloppiness of the game and overall ineffectiveness of the offense.

As we all know however, that game and a couple others seemed to ignite a bit of confidence, leading to a nifty little run that year.

Hopefully this win -- a big win -- can do the same this year.