Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You may say Monday’s 27-14 victory was ugly, I call it breathtaking. The Packers moved to 8-4 and right in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot. The Packers play at Chicago this week in what will be the Bears’ Super Bowl. The Bears aren’t going anywhere so they would love nothing more than to knock the Packers out. The Packers would love nothing more than to stick one of the final stakes in Bears’ head coach Lovie Smith.
The Packers had to overcome their own mistakes and the mistakes of the officiating crew and they accomplished both. Aaron Rodgers threw two interceptions and Donald Driver lost a fumble that briefly turned the game in the Ravens’ favor. However, when the Ravens closed the Packers’ 17 point lead to three, the Packers offense answered with a TD and the Packers defense intercepted the Ravens twice in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice. The Packers are learning how to close games finally and that should bode well as we start the final quarter of the season.
The offensive line is getting better now that Mark Tauscher is settling in at his old right tackle position and it appeared Chad Clifton made it through the game OK. If those two guys stay healthy the rest of the way the Packers offense should continue to improve even at this late stage of the season. The Packers also should have gotten a good feel for what the weather will be like in three of those final four games. Only a trip to Arizona the final week will be in warm weather. At Chicago and at Pittsburgh and home against Seattle will be games similar to Monday night when it was about 20 degrees at kickoff.
Lets focus on Chicago first. The Bears are not a very good team but they are a division rival who always plays good against the Packers since Lovie took over. Last week they barely got by the lowly Rams on their own turf breaking a three game losing streak. Lovie will have them ready to play this week that is for sure. In the first meeting between the two teams the Bears probably should have won, but a late touchdown pass to Greg Jennings saved the day for the Packers.
The Packers defense did rise to the occasion against Baltimore and can’t afford a letdown against Chicago. Many are already picking the Bears in an upset. Five in a row would sure be nice heading into Pittsburgh, which lost to the lowly Raiders in Pittsburgh Sunday. The fact that is the Bears makes me believe the Packers won’t overlook a lesser opponent. Certainly one game isn’t a reason to push the panic button, but one has to wonder if the Vikings are primed for their usual late season swoon, especially with a QB who has a three-year track record of poor play in December. Not saying the the Packers can still win the division, but a Packers win over the Bears and a Vikings loss to the Bengals would make things interesting. I’m not saying, I’m just saying…it could get interesting.