Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. The fantastic Hoge and Jahns Bears Podcast recently informed me that the Bears have a record of 15-50 against the Packers dating back to 1992. Though I’ve only been around for a small handful of these matchups, I have to say that it feels about right. Fighting for a playoff spot, the Packers simply looked a little more hungry out there. This game was lost in the trenches. While Bears fans wanted to see Justin Fields thrive in possibly his final Bears game, he was doomed from the start. The lack of receiving weapons the Bears had in Week 18 coupled with an offensive line missing two starters reminded me off the 2022 season.
Both Lines Were Awful
First and foremost, the offensive line was terrible on Sunday. The group made great strides this season and is set up to be an above average unit in 2024. However, with Dan Feeney replacing the injured Lucas Patrick at center, and the previously-benched Cody Whitehair forced into action at guard after Nate Davis was injured on the second drive, it could not stay the course. Meanwhile, despite no injuries to hold it back, the defensive line placed almost as poorly. Together, these two horrid performances led to a game in which everything felt difficult.
To further emphasize the failures of the lines, the Bears forced only 4 QB pressures in Sunday’s game. On the other side of the ball, two seperate Packers players reached that mark on their own (Kenny Clark and Devontae Wyatt), and the team combined for 23 QB pressures in total. The lowest pass blocking PFF grade that a Green Bay offensive lineman finished with was 69.2, while the highest grade a Bears offensive linemen finished with was 65.7 (Darnell Wright). Three Bears o-linemen graded out belew 34.4. For reference, any grade below 50-55 is considered “bad”.
Teven Jenkins, probably Chicago’s best o-lineman, finished with a putrid 19.4 PFF pass block grade. His previous worst mark was 47.6. Jenkins had an awful game, allowing two sacks and four QB pressures. Braxton Jones also allowed four pressures. On the other side of the ball, Montez Sweat and the rest of the pass rush did not help out much. They were quiet for nearly the entire game and let Jordan Love stay very comfortable under center. The battle in the trenches was night-and-day when comparing both teams in Week 18.
Before switching to offense, rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had another fantastic game. After two interceptions last week, he racked up seven tackles against the Packers and made three huge plays. First, he did a great job of breaking up a Romeo Doubs touchdown in the first half. The ball appeared to have been caught, but Stevenson got his arm in between Doubs and the ball and was able to rib it out of his grasp. Then, with time running down in the first half, Love made a short outlet pass to the sideline to make the Packers field goal attempt before the half a bit closer. Stevenson jumped the pass, got a good, hard hit on the receiver, and knocked him out of bounds backwards. By rule, this kept the clock running. Green Bay didn’t have any timeouts left, and wound up losing three points because of this play. Tyrique also forced a fumble in the second half on a Jordan Love scramble. He is getting better every week and is going to be awesome next season.
Fields and the Offense
The poor offensive line play would’ve made passing difficult enough. Add in injuries to Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet, and things get even harder. In the midst of getting pressured 23 times (on only 16 dropbacks), Fields was at the mercy of his wide receivers. DJ Moore is a superstar, but there was no one out there after that. Equanimeous St. Brown, rookie Tyler Scott, and TE Robert Tonyan were Fields next best options. Green Bay could put all of their attention on Moore without worrying about any other threats. If you ask me, this sounds exactly like the 2022 Bears season. We couldn’t properly evaluate Justin Fields because of the poor protection and lack of receiving options. I see the exact same issue this this game.
Luke Getsy only opted to throw the ball 16 times, and I understand why. With Fields getting pressured over one time per dropback, and no receivers getting open downfield even if he wasn’t pressured, passing a lot was not the recipe for success. I don’t think we can take much from this game out of Justin Fields. He was in a bad situation, he didn’t turn the ball over, and he still made a few nice Fields-esque escapes. You would love to see your quarterback rise above the issues and still find a way to make things happen, but that’s a lot to ask for and perhaps a topic for the offseason.
Onto 2024
With the 2023 season in the books, it’s time to look ahead to the offseason. There are a lot of question marks surrounding the team, including the futures of Matt Eberflus, Luke Getsy, Justin Fields, and Jaylon Johnson. Stay tuned for articles diving deeper into these topics.