The Green Bay Packers turned to small ball Thursday night and worked it to perfection in the second half as they ran away from the Bears 26-10. Aaron Rodgers threw the ball 56 times, completing 39 of them for 326 yards and three TDs, but only averaged 5.8 yards per attempt. With no real running backs on the roster, this style of ball may be here to stay.
I kind of liked it once they got going, the ball was coming out faster, the receivers caught the ball for the most part and they moved the sticks. The game should have been a rout but the Packers struggled in the red zone in the first half. It took a while to figure out the best ways to use Randall Cobb and Ty Montgomery at running back, but they figured it out.
The Packers were without Eddie Lacy, James Starks and new call up Don Jackson, who got hurt in the game after two carries. Newly traded for Knile Davis didn’t have enough time to learn the offense so couldn’t be used, so the Packers had no choice but to go to Cobb and Montgomery as running backs. Montgomery actually had some nice runs and finished with 60 yards on the ground.
Of course, this was the lowly Bears the Packers were playing, we’ll see if that kind of offense can hold up against a real team like the Atlanta Falcons next week. The Packers should have had 30 points last night but a missed PAT and blocked field goal were the difference. They will likely need to score at least 30 to beat Atlanta.
The Packers’ defense returned to form, but again, it was the Bears, who also lost quarterback Brian Hoyer to a broken arm in the first half. Matt Barkley had to come in and he hadn’t played in two years. In Atlanta the Packers will face the league’s highest scoring offense, so we’ll find out more about this defense that has look dominant at times, and extremely leaky at other times.
For now the Packers have a mini-bye to start to figure out who might be available for their next game and work on a game plan that utilizes the talent they have left. It remains to be seen when Starks comes back and Jackson’s status is up in the air as well. It’s been a strange season for the Packers this year, who knows what’s in store for the final 10 weeks.