Rodgers does enough to win it for Packers
Improved defensive unit comes up big as Green Bay tames Bears in NFL opener
Heading into the NFL’s second century, more prognosticators than not were picking the underdog ( by 3½ points) Green Bay Packers to upset the reigning NFC North Division champion Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
Most used the same reasoning: Are you going to put your trust in Aaron Rodgers or Mitch Trubisky?
Sure enough, the 35-year old Packers quarterback did just enough to prove them right. He led his team on one touchdown drive and into position for a lategame field goal, plus he didn’t make any damaging mistakes. Trubisky had his team in position to at least send the game into overtime, but with two minutes left, on third down from the Packers’ 16-yard line, he made a bad call.
He threw a pass intended for Allen Robinson into either double or triple coverage.
Adrian Amos, who jumped the Bears ship for the Packers in the off-season, made the interception to effectively end the game.
Trubisky had another chance with 1:33 left, when the Bears got the ball on their own 14. But on a night when the Packers defence was almost as good as the Bears, it wasn’t going to happen.
And so the season has begun the same way it did last year: with the Packers defeating the Bears, this time by a score of 10-3. The only scoring was a 38-yard field goal by Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro in the first quarter, an eight-yard touchdown catch by Packers tight end Jimmy Graham in the second and a 39-yard field goal by Green Bay’s Mason Crosby to wrap it up.
Rodgers wound up completing just 18 of 30 passes for 203 yards, while Trubisky connected on 26 of 45 for 228 yards. But Rodgers had the touchdown pass and Trubisky the interception and that was the difference in the game.
SECOND AND LONG: The Packers didn’t move the ball forward a grass blade (yes, yes, it’s turf ) until their third possession of the night. Boosted by the roaring fans, the ‘D’ was as good as can be its first time on the field. Second-year linebacker Roquan Smith (who Matt Nagy had singled out as being anxious to hit someone) proved his coach’s words true right off the bat when he held Aaron Jones to no gain on a run and no gain on a pass. Then the Packers were called for holding (they weren’t very good at it) while Ray Robertson-Harris sacked Rodgers, leaving the Packers with a fourth-and-20 in a welcome-to-the-NFL moment for head coach Matt LaFleur …. Robertson-Harris is a little-known backup on the Bears D-line, but he won’t stay that way if he keeps playing like he did on this night. An undrafted free agent, he missed the entire 2016 season with a heat-related illness and is now making up for lost time …. Leonard Floyd and our honourary Canadian, Akeem Hicks, also sacked Rodgers in the first half … Is it a thing this season that the coaching staffs of both teams have to wear white?
SIDELINE TO SIDELINE: Jarrett Payton, the son of Walter (Sweetness) Payton, did play for the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argos, but that doesn’t make him Canadian. He’s Canadian or Canadian-like because I bumped into him in the press box — and he apologized. A couple of times … Rodgers’ eight-yard TD pass to Graham was even more impressive because the Bears had one too many men on the field … Smith took a 38-yard pass interference penalty early in the second half that, in a close and low-scoring game, could have proved quite costly. This one didn’t … Bears rookie running back David Montgomery was impressive with early opportunities and was the game’s leading rusher after the first half — with five carries for 18 yards. Against a Bears defence that was the best in the league against the run last season, three Packers combined on six carries for seven yards in the opening 30 minutes … The Bears feel they’ve made an immediate upgrade with Montgomery, a third-round pick, over Jordan Howard, who has rushed for over 1,000 yards in two of his three seasons. The 27-yard catch Montgomery made over the middle in the second half is a big reason why.
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS: NHL teams should follow the example of the NFL when it comes to revealing attendance numbers. For the Bears opener, 62,435 tickets were distributed, while the actual attendance was 58,563 … There was crowd overreaction to Pineiro’s first career field goal, a 38-yarder around the 11-minute mark of the first quarter. Understandable. The last time the Soldier Field faithful watched a Bears kicker attempt a field goal, it ended the team’s season … One of the passes Trubisky threw that should have been intercepted probably kept Packers corner Kevin King from sleeping Thursday night … After an offensive pass-interference penalty in the fourth quarter, the Bears were first-and-40. When was the last time you saw that?