The Green Bay Packers have complete control of their playoff chances after a thrilling 30-27 victory over the pesky Chicago Bears yesterday. The Packers were on the verge of a colossal collapse, blowing a 17-point fourth quarter lead before the greatness of Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson saved the day.
With the Detroit Lions losing to the New York Giants at the same time, all the Packers need to do to win the division is beat the Vikings in Green Bay and the Lions in Detroit. Not an easy task by any stretch, and after seeing the offensively challenged Bears shred the Packers’ defense, yesterday’s win might have raised more questions than it answered.
On offense the game was the coming out party for newly minted running back Ty Montgomery. It was a remarkable performance by Montgomery and made it easier for the Packers to overcome the obviously injured Aaron Rodgers. If Rodgers can get healthier and Montgomery keeps getting better, the Packers will have an offense that just might be able to overcome a defense that is showing signs of breaking. With Jordy again being Jordy teams are going to start giving him more attention, which should open up Randall Cobb and Jared Cook.
The Packers have to be more than a little concerned about the defense. The Packers have been feasting on turnovers the last two weeks after solid performances against the Eagles and Titans. Against Seattle and Chicago, the Packers have given up 354 and 449 yards, respectively. And the last time the Packers played the Vikings they made Sam Bradford look like Tommy Kramer. All of a sudden the secondary can’t cover anybody again, yesterday was reminiscent of the Tennessee game when the Packers were shredded by Marcus Mariota and an average group of receivers.
Damarious Randall was the biggest culprit. A week after his best game he has his worst game. He even got benched in the fourth quarter. The kid has tremendous talent but I beginning to wonder about his head. The Packers need all healthy hands on deck on defense and he is big part of it.
I never saw this winning streak coming, not by the way the Packers played in that four game losing streak. But here they are controlling their own fate and Aaron Rodgers is back in the MVP race. Strange league this NFL is.