Short week long on buzz
But don’t expect much trickery in game plan
Bears cornerback Tim Jennings, one of Sunday’s stars, enjoyed the spoils of the season-opening win.
But Jennings knows the Packers aren’t the Colts.
“We know what Green Bay is capable of doing,” Jennings said. “They have a lot of weapons on offense, and we’re going to have our hands full.”
Neither the Bears nor the Packers practiced on Monday as they dive into a short week before Thursday night’s game at Lambeau Field. Today will be the primary workday, with meetings and practice, then the Bears will travel north toward Green Bay Wednesday.
The only difference is that the Bears aches weren’t as bad as the Packers because they savored a win.
The Packers lost 30-22 to the visiting San Francisco 49ers.
“I think the short week is going to help us tremendously, just the fact that we don’t really change a whole lot,” said Jennings, who had two interceptions in the Bears 41-21 win over the Colts. “We just have to stay healthy, get our bodies back right, and I think the coaches have got a good schedule and game plan to give us the benefit to go out there and have a good game.”
Packers center Jeff Saturday said all the talk of a short turnaround is overblown.
“Each team has the same thing. They played a good opponent and they got a home game, now they come here and it’s a division opponent, they know us and we know them and you’ve got to go execute,” Saturday said. “That’s the bottom line, when you play short weeks. There’s not going to be any gimmicks, there’s not going to be any crazy plays. You don’t have time to design it in the sand.”
The Bears, though, may have an edge because there’s so little information on the Bears’ Mike Tice-led offense. The Bears were intentionally vanilla during the preseason, and they attacked the Colts with a balanced game plan on Sunday. In addition, the Bears feature a host of new offensive players, most notably receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, as well as backup running back Michael Bush.
The physical challenge aside, Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton does enjoy one aspect of playing Thursday night.
“I mean, we do get the weekend off,” he said.
The inevitable aches, though, will be much more tolerable for the players on the winning side of Thursday’s big game.