I listened to the Packer game on Bears radio, and the announcers might as well have been rooting for the Packers considering how they dominated the game in every way except the scoreboard. It was as if Jordan Love and company were just toying with the Bears all game. Even with the game just 7-6 at halftime it just seemed as if we were just waiting for the team to just say enough with the “games,” let’s just put the Bears out of their misery.
The Packers’ didn’t punt a single time, and their shortest drive of the game was 31 yards, and that was only because it was cut short by a Love fumble. Yet despite outgaining the pitiful Bears—who based on their play the last five weeks was expected to put up some kind of fight—by 432 to 192, the Packers scored just 17 points, with the Bears still a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from tying the game with 9 total points on three field goal. But the Bears just never managed to keep a drive going as both Justin Fields passing and the running game could never put together anything like sustained momentum longer than two plays.
The Packers were fortunate that the Bears didn’t make that game-changing play or turnover that would have meant the difference between victory and defeat (and thus missing the playoffs), because people would be pointing to that disastrous end of the first half when the Packers played with seeming little urgency despite running through the Bears’ defense playing like it was a slice of Swiss cheese. Because of this the Packers allowed time to run out due to poor clock management after pushing the ball to the Bears’ 22 without even time to kick a field goal. An incomprehensible short pass from Love to Wicks with 11 seconds in the half and no timeouts was simply inexcusable and would have been the difference between winning and losing against a better team than the Bears.
In any case, we would expect the Packers to do something more than put up a lot of yards in the playoffs, which this win did make happen, beating out the Seahawks and Saints who also finished with a 9-8 record. Love had his best game completion percentage wise, 27 of 32 for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Aaron Jones was freight-training through the Bears’ line for his third straight 100-yard rushing game. The playoffs, however, are not about statistics but about who has more points on the board, and 17 won’t cut it against most playoff foes.
Anyways, Love finished with 4,159 yards passing, better than Brett Favre’s first full season as a starter, and passed Aaron Rodgers’ yardage numbers with the benefit of an extra game. Love’s 32 TDs to only 11 INTs also bested both his predecessors in their first seasons, as well as did Love’s 96.1 passer rating.
Whether he can sustain such numbers we shall see, but we are thinking that he should, given the promising core of young receivers he has to play with. It is a question going forward if Jones and AJ Dillon can remain healthy enough in the coming years, or if the Packers will have to “rebuild” that part of the offense, which may or may not put “pressure” on Love to perform, in which we will see what he is really made of.
But given what we saw today, admittedly against a weak opponent, Love certainly looks like the next in line. But as was “surprising” as his improvement over the season was, the Texans’ rookie starting QB CJ Stroud, the second pick of 2023 draft, actually had a more impressive year (certainly more so than the top pick, Bryce Young), throwing for 4,108 yards in 15 games, had a 100.8 QB rating, and led his team to a division title.
Next week the Packers play the Cowboys in a wild card game. The Cowboys of today are not the Cowboys of the Tom Landry or Jimmy Johnson days, and the Packers have had their will of the Cowboys at least during the Rodgers’ era. Let’s just say that the Packers have a “chance.”
No comments:
Post a Comment