Offense:
Quarterbacks: B+. Aaron Rodgers was mediocre at best Sunday night, but that wasn’t entirely his fault (I’ll get to the offensive line in a minute). Given all he had to put up with, Rodgers did a passable job (pun intended) directing the offense and obviously came up with the play of the game when he hit Greg Jennings for a 50 yard touchdown on third and one late in the fourth quarter. I bumped his grade up for this one play as well as his ability to (finally) engineer a game-winning drive, something he couldn’t seem to do last year when the Pack lost seven games by 4 points or less.
Running Backs: B. Without Brandon Jackson (who was inactive with an ankle injury) the Packers’ backs couldn’t find much room to run against a stout Bears front seven. They didn’t get much help from the offensive line either, but the run-blocking was not as bad as the pass protection. To be fair, Ryan Grant and DeShawn Wynn only ran the ball 19 times, so they didn’t have too much of a chance to get going. And Grant did have a touchdown, even if it was a one-yarder set up by a long interception return by Tramon Williams. After Ted Thompson kept three fullbacks on the roster (much to many fans’ chagrin), the two who were active (Korey Hall and John Kuhn) didn’t look terrible, but their pass blocking left a lot to be desired. Not to mention the halfbacks could’ve used the extra pancake ability of inactive fifth-rounder Quinn Johnson…
Wide Receivers: B-. Thank goodness for Jennings’ late touchdown or the receivers may have received a failing grade. The rapport that Rodgers seemed to have developed with this group in the preseason vanished on Sunday, as the corps as a whole dropped four balls (Wynn dropped a fifth) and only caught 10. James Jones was effectively absent and Jordy Nelson, who only dropped one pass all of last season, dropped two Sunday night. Without Jennings’ TD catch, no receiver would have gone over 60 yards against a suspect Bears secondary whose best player (Charles Tillman) was playing at less than 100% after offseason back surgery.
Tight Ends: Incomplete. I found it difficult to judge the tight ends’ performance this week for one significant reason (again, I’ll get to the offensive line in a minute). Because Donald Lee and Jermichael Finley were asked to block more than they were supposed to in Joe Philbin’s new high-octane offense, it was nearly impossible to get a read on their overall performance. They were not directly responsible for a lot of the pressure that got to Rodgers, but they didn’t help matters much. On the receiving end, Lee had three catches for eight yards, or a 2.7 yard average, and Finley had only one catch for six yards: not exactly living up to the “breakout” hype he generated in camp.
Offensive Line: F. Well, it certainly was offensive, but a line? Hardly. I prefer to call it something of a rotating morse code message, a serious of spaces between dots and dashes that shifted each play to form new gaps. Maybe that’s a strained analogy, if for no other reason than it invokes communication, of which there seemed to be none on Sunday night. Allen Barbre looked like the Taylor Swift to Adewale Ogunleye’s Kanye. To say the first-time starter was a deer in the headlights would be giving him a little too much credit. He looked overmatched and certainly nothing like the reliable Mark Tauscher we Packer fans had always counted on manning the right tackle spot. Ogunleye handily beat him twice for sacks before the Packers finally shifted to help. "Allen wasn't the only one that didn't play well up front," head coach Mike McCarthy said
Defense:
Defensive Line: A-. Boy, is it good to have Cullen Jenkins back. One of the most quietly disruptive defensive players in the league missed all but four games last season with a torn pectoral muscle and quickly re-announced his presence against Chicago. Playing the nondescript end position in defensive coordinator Dom Capers new 3-4 alignment, he garnered four tackles and a sack. With first-rounder B.J. Raji out with an injury, Ryan Picket did yeoman’s work at the nose tackle position getting two stops while limiting game-changer Matt Forte to 55 yards on 25 carries (2.2 yards per carry). From the other end position, if you didn’t see this play by Johnny Jolly, well, you can thank me later.
Linebackers: B+. For the last few years, the knock on the Packers’ linebackers has been a glaring lack of big plays (primarily turnovers and sacks). Although the linebacking corps did little to dispel this criticism (aside from Brandon Chillar’s freakishly athletic sack of Bears QB Jay Cutler), it played well enough stopping the run and bringing pressure on Cutler to goad the Bears into four turnovers. It still feels strange to talk about Aaron Kampman as a linebacker, but he and rookie Clay Matthews made some nice plays in the backfield and opened things up for what was ultimately a successful defensive effort.
Cornerbacks: A. Did Charles Woodson get burned by a rookie? Yes (Bears receiver Johnny Knox caught a 68-yarder in the second quarter before Jolly’s interception). Did Al Harris get flagged for an extremely costly illegal contact penalty in the fourth quarter? Yes (even if it was completely bogus). But otherwise, Green Bay’s corners simply took this game over. They seemed totally at home in Capers’ new zone scheme after playing a lot of bump-and-run man coverage under former coordinators Bob Sanders and Jim Bates. During the preseason, Woodson in particular spoke about his ability to read the quarterback better in the new scheme and how excited he was to test it out. Although Chuck didn’t have an interception this week (he’ll get his), Tramon Williams had a pick that he almost returned for a touchdown and he should have had at least two more. With the Packers up six and about a minute left, Al Harris sealed the victory with a pick eerily reminiscent of his game-winning touchdown
Safeties: A-. Slightly lower marks for the safeties than the corners because Nick Collins was responsible for the Bears’ only touchdown when he failed to provide over-the-top coverage on Devin Hester’s third quarter touchdown catch. Immediately after the play Collins was treated for cramps, so it may not have been entirely his fault, but his lapse was the only black mark on a great day for a defense that otherwise allowed only two field goals. Rouse replaced Collins briefly and will likely start in place of an injured Atari Bigby this coming week so he must be on his game (or Capers will have to find a way to disguise him in coverage, which is not his strong suit). When Collins was not on the sideline he did have an interception, as he continues to exhibit the ballhawking nature he established last year as he pushes for a new contract.
Special Teams:
Kicking: B. I can’t give Mason Crosby more than a B after he missed a 49-yarder on the Packers’ first drive. He was inconsistent throughout the offseason and didn’t exactly inspire confidence in big situations last year. Now he has some sort of nagging abdominal injury? Why did this just come to light now? He’s had every excuse in the book recently from this latest setback to using rotating holders in the preseason. It’s time for Crosby to put up or shut up. It’s immeasurably frustrating when he misses a 49-yarder and then nails a 52-yarder with room to spare. Yeah, he added a 39-yarder to give the Pack the lead late, but he needs to be more consistent.
Punting: B. Surprisingly pleasant performance from Jeremy Kapinos. After being gifted the job in the preseason when Durant Brooks was injured, Kapinos kept getting better each week and was solid against the Bears. He could have done better on his directional kicking with three touchbacks, but he only shanked one punt and that was only because the snap before he had had a beauty negated by a holding call on Clay Matthews. He also kicked a respectable 65-yarder after the Bears got to Rodgers for a safety.
Return & Coverage Units: B+. Matthews’ penalty was unnecessary but the units were clean otherwise. The special teams’ best moment came on the opening kickoff when Jordy Nelson ran it back 46 yards for the longest return of his career. Surely they missed usual returner Will Blackmon but still fared well against a Bears team that always prides itself on good special teams play. Interesting sidenote: on Kapinos’ great punt that got called back, Jarrett Bush made an impressive play to keep the ball out of the endzone so it could be downed at the six. Sure, it didn’t count, but I’ll put it in as “extra credit.”
Coaching:
Offense: B. Philbin and McCarthy need to get the offensive line straightened out before they can open up the playbook. Rodgers’ timing was off on some long throws and I can’t fault them for buckling down as the game progressed, especially because it opened up the game-winning deep ball.
Defense: A. Capers deserves every bit of this grade. To quote my favorite football website, profootballtalk.com, “Dom Capers’ new 3-4 Packers unit has come out of the womb fully formed.” If this Packers team is going to contend for the postseason and, ultimately, the Super Bowl, Capers’ defense has to play like this every week. The only reason this game was close is because the offense couldn’t fully capitalize on its routinely good field position.
Special Teams: B. Solid but unspectacular performance for Shawn Slocum. In his first year filling Mike Stock’s shoes, he promised to bring more tenacity and use the Packers depth better, which should take a little time. The Bears were a good first test and it appears the special teams merely needs tweaking rather than restructuring.
That’s all for now, folks. Be sure to catch the Packers’ next game, 1:00 PM ET Sunday at home against the Bengals. Then, be sure to check back here next week for my breakdown. after the game. He wasn’t kidding. Two costly holding penalties by Jason Spitz and Josh Sitton wiped out first downs and a false start by Chad Clifton turned a late third and seven into a third and 12 and forced a punt. All in all, Rodgers was sacked four times and hit four more. Yikes. And to think that we have no one behind him… against the Seahawks in 2004.
Overall Grade: A-
Good, hardfought way to open up the 2009 season. Lovie Smith’s Bears have been the Packers’ bugaboo ever since the coach came to Chicago and this Packer team has high expectations. Making a franchise quarterback look silly in his first start for a division rival is always a smart way to live up to those expectations early.
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