CHICAGO — The Green Bay Packers might not have to rely on quarterback Aaron Rodgers as much anymore.
At the very least, they can survive until Rodgers and first-year head coach Matt LaFleur get things rolling — and not have to do it against a defense as fierce as the one the Chicago Bears fielded in Thursday night’s NFL opener.
That’s because for the first time since perhaps the Super Bowl season of 2010, the Packers can match teams defense for defense. Unless, of course, the Bears’ offense is as bad as the one that got booed off Soldier Field after several drives in the Packers’ 10-3 victory over the defending NFC North champs.
Not that this is a Super Bowl-contending team yet, but it has the makings of a top-10 defense — something the Packers haven’t had since the championship-winning group ranked fifth. But it looks as if the money that general manager Brian Gutekunst dished out in free agency was well spent.
Everything you need this week:
• Full schedule » | Full standings »
• Depth charts for all 32 teams »
• Transaction tracker: Top news »
• Projected 2020 NFL draft order »
More NFL coverage »
His most expensive signing — Za’Darius Smith ($20 million signing bonus) — set the tone with a sack, a tackle for loss and six quarterback pressures.
His next-most expensive signing — Preston Smith ($16 million to sign) — came up with three pressures and 1.5 sacks in the second half, including the game-clincher with 1 minute, 2 seconds left.
And former Bears safety Adrian Amos ($11 million to sign) had an interception in the end zone with 1:58 to play.
It was early in the preseason when it was suggested the defense could carry the Packers in the early going while LaFleur and Rodgers work through the installation of a new offense. LaFleur is the first Packers head coach to win in his head coaching debut against the Bears since Vince Lombardi in 1959.
“We better be ahead of them,” linebacker Blake Martinez said at the time.
The question now is how long will it take Rodgers to catch up?
0:28
Aaron Rodgers says he needs to lead more urgently in Week 2 after the Packers leaned on their defense for a Week 1 win.
The Packers had minus-12 total yards of offense in the first quarter — their worst total in any quarter since Sept. 18, 1994 (third quarter), according to ESPN Stats & Information research, against the Philadelphia Eagles with Brett Favre as the starting QB. It was the first time under Rodgers that the Packers had negative yards gained through the first three drives of a game. And then Rodgers made one Rodgers-like play — a 47-yard bomb to Marquez Valdes-Scantling that, according to NFL Next Gen stats traveled 53.5 yards in the air for his fourth-longest completion through the air in the past three seasons.
The Packers totaled 213 yards and converted only 2-of-12 third downs.
Just don’t tell Rodgers that he should have played in the preseason.
He warned that, no matter what happened in the opener, there would be “a lot of room to grow regardless of our performance” and that there will be “a lot of room for growth within the scheme as we go on in the season.”
Or maybe Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears’ offense is just that bad. But the hope for the Packers is their defense is that good and Aaron Rodgers & Co. will catch up.
Credit: Source link