GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Promises made, promises kept. The Green Bay Packers vowed to rebound from another listless season opener and they did by dispatching their oldest rivals, the Chicago Bears 27-10 before 78,350 in the home opener at Lambeau Field Sunday night. Head Coach Matt LaFleur promised to get his running backs, Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon more involved in the offense, and he did. Jones piled up 180 yards of total offense, 132 on the ground with just 15 carries, another 38 on three receptions and he found the end zone twice. Dillon chipped in with 61 tough rushing yards and a catch for 6 more. After combining for 23 touches in last week’s loss to the Vikings, the pair accounted for 37 touches against Chicago.
The Pack also welcomed back two key players on offense. Wide receiver Allen Lazard made his season debut and caught just two passes but his second was a five yard slant from Aaron Rodgers that built a 24-7 lead at halftime. Elgton Jenkins also returned, incredibly 10 months removed from tearing his ACL last November 21st. He started and played the entire game at right tackle. LaFleur said his presence inspired the entire team.
As for the rivalry, it continues to be one sided as the Packers handled the Monsters of the Midway for the 21st time in the last 24 meetings to open up a 104-95-6 lead in the NFL’s most distinguished series.
Green Bay struck first by driving 53 yards on 13 plays over 6 and a half minutes to open the game with a 40 yard field goal from Mason Crosby.
Former Packer quarterbacks coach, Luke Getsy, now the offensive coordinator for rookie Head Coach Matt Eberflus, pulled out a trick play on his opening scripit as Justin Fields took a lateral and completed a 30 yard flea flicker to another ex-Packer Equanimeous St. Brown who fooled Jaire Alexander on the play. Fields finished off the drive by diving to tap the pylon on a three yard run to give Chicago it’s only lead of the night.
Sammy Watkins made the first of several big plays getting free for 24 yards on the ensuing Packer drive, capped by Jones’ first TD, a well blocked pitch around the right side from 15 yards out on the opening snap of the second quarter.
Green Bay’s defense then got very salty, producing three straight three and outs. After the second, Amari Rodgers returned a punt 20 yards to give Green Bay solid field position. A holding penalty on Royce Newman backed them up and then Rodgers got sacked by Trevis Gipson who got around a rusty Jenkins and Green Bay was looking at 2nd and 28. Rookie Romeo Doubs got nice blocking on a screen pass that gained 20 yards and on third down, Rodgers and his old friend Randall Cobb connected for 9 more to move the chains. Three snaps later, a Jones took a shovel pass to the right and with Dillon paving the way, easily scored from 8 yards out for a 17-7 lead. Rodgers called the conversion the key point of the game.
Another stop led to the Pack’s 67 yard march that ended with Lazard’s TD catch and the comfortable 17 point lead at the break.
Halftime was spiced by the introduction of more than 30 Packer alumni, highlighted by a couple of Pro Football Hall of Famers. LeRoy Butler got a huge ovation after getting inducted in August and Jerry Kramer was helped from a wheelchair by Josh Sitton and another Hall of Famer, Dave Robinson to take several steps into the end zone.
The Packer offense misfired on back to back series in the third quarter. Rodgers and Dillon mishandled and exchange and Chicago recovered the fumble which resulted in a 44 yard field goal from Cairo Santos. Then, after reaching midfield, a Josh Myers shotgun snap glanced off Christian Watson who was crossing the backfield in motion. Dillon recovered the loose ball but the Packers had to punt.
The Bears took over at their 10 and ran the ball on all 13 plays on the drive. David Montgomery ripped off a 28 yard run and on the next snap, Khalil Herbert found a hole for 27 more. The Bears would finish with 180 yards rushing on the night, a 6.7 average on 28 carries. But once in close, the Packers tightened up and got a huge stop. Fields appeared to step out of bounds just short of the sideline stick on third and 5 from the 15 but the Bears challenged the spot and it was overturned making it first and goal at the 10. On third and goal from the six, Fields bolted from the pocket and headed to the right pylon but his hand touched the ground just before extending the ball across the plane. On 4th and goal from the one, out of shotgun formation, Fields tried to push his way over left guard but the Packers closed it off with Preston Smith, Jarran Reed and De’Vondre Campbell holding firm. Chicago challenged the spot again but this time, the play stood as called and the Packers took over at their one with 8:07 left.
Facing third and two from the 9, it was Rodgers who ran a keeper around the right side and slid for a chain moving gain of four. After Dillon got dropped for a loss of one, Rodgers ran a play action fake and hit Watkins deep over the left middle of the field running away from two defenders for a backbreaking 55 yard gain. The Bears dug in but Crosby hit a 28 yard field goal for the final 27-10 lead with 2:28 remaining.
Alexander made amends for the early flea flicker by chasing down a Fields pass to the right sideline with a diving interception that finished off the game.
Even though the Packers were on the short end of the score in their last three games, the regular season finale a year ago, the difficult playoff loss to San Francisco and last week’s opener in Minnesota, Matt LaFleur still hasn’t lost back to back regular season games in the same year and a prime time victory over a division rival at Lambeau was reason to celebrate:
The Packers dominated the statistics, piling up 414 yards while giving up 228. They controlled the ball for 37:15. The rushing numbers were comparable. The Packers, led by Jones, put up 203 yards on 38 carries, a 5.3 average. Chicago averaged 6.7 yards on the ground, rushing for 180 yards. Rodgers hit 19 of 25 passes for 234 yards and two scores without a pick for a passer rating of 131.1. It’s the 11th time he’s posted a rating above 125 against Chicago, the most by any quarterback in NFL history against a single opponent. Rodgers also spread the wealth, 8 receivers caught balls, ,no one had more than three receptions. Rodgers said after relying on Davante Adams for 15 targets or more each week, this is how they’ll have to play moving forward. Now 24-5 all time against Chicago, Rodgers said he wasn’t happy with the second half performance but getting Lazard and Jenkins back and getting Watkins involved, plus the great production of the running backs, the offense is making progress.
After getting scorched by the Viking passing attack a week ago, the secondary blanketed Chicago receivers all night. The wide receivers accounted for just three receptions for 35 yards and 30 came on the EQ flea flicker. Fields finished 7 of 11 through the air for 70 yards and after getting sacked three times for 22 yards, Chicago’s net passing yardage was a miniscule 48 yards. With the late interception, Fields produced a passer rating of 43.8.
Smith had two of the sacks, Gary the third. Preston finished with a team high 7 tackles with two for losses and three more quarterback hurries in a solid effort.
The inactive players were Tariq Carpenter, David Bakhtiari, Caleb Jones, Sean Rhyan, Samori Toure and Jonathan Ford. Running back Patrick Taylor was the lone game day call up from the Practice Squad.
There did not appear to be any injuries of significance.
Up next is a date with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who overcame a slow start to put away the Saints in New Orleans with 17 fourth quarter points in a 20-10 victory to improve to 2-0 on the season. Week three will kick off at 3:25 PM next Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
