Bears' run game mostly invisible again

Although the Packers came into Sunday night's game with the NFL's worst run defense, Bears running back Matt Forte didn't get his fifth carry of the game until his team trailed 28-0.

The Bears had runs called on four of their first five plays, but quarterback Jay Cutler changed two of them to passes, both of which went for first downs.

On second-and-6, Cutler threw to Alshon Jeffery for 9 yards. On the next play, Cutler threw to Josh Morgan for 11 yards.

On the next series, Cutler was intercepted on the second play. Forte had 2 runs for a total of 3 yards on the third possession before a third-and-7 became third-and-12 after a delay-of-game penalty.

"We couldn't overcome that," Trestman said, "and by that time the score was what it was."

That would be 21-0 after the first play of the second quarter, which became 28-0 2:39 later.

The Bears finished with 55 rushing yards, 180 fewer than in their first meeting with Green Bay.

F for effort:

Many observers will disagree, but coach Marc Trestman said he did not detect a lack of effort in Sunday's 55-14 loss.

"Overall I didn't see that," he said. "The effort level overall is never going to be good enough because we have a high standard for the relentless play that we want to get out of our players."

There was no evidence of that kind of play on the screen pass that 230-pound running back Eddie Lacy turned into a 56-yard touchdown. Lance Briggs was wiped out by center Corey Linsley and Ryan Mundy got walled off by guard T.J. Lang.

At the conclusion of the weaving run, there were more Packers escorting Lacy than there were Bears who cared enough to pursue him.

"We didn't leverage the play properly," Trestman said. "We had poor pursuit angles on the play and resulted in a very disappointing screen for a touchdown with a lot of work spent in that regard."

Three plays later, after a 37-yard pickup, 265-pound tight end Martellus Bennett tiptoed out of bounds rather than take on the Packers' 208-pound safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

Finding motivation:

If the playoffs are out of reach, what's left for the 3-6 Bears? Plenty, according to guard Kyle Long.

"Pride, respect, love for the game," Long said. "You have to step back and realize there's a reason we all signed up in peewee football to play this game - because we like being physical, we like getting after people. That's why we're here in the NFL.

"We need to do our jobs, we need to block guys, we need to protect the quarterback. I can just speak for the O-line and myself, personally. We work our tails off so hard all week, and it's really frustrating when we come out and have a final score like this one."

Nearly speechless:

The 55 points Sunday night by Green Bay tied a Packers record at Lambeau Field. And on a night full of milestones, Aaron Rodgers' 16th scoring pass of 70 yards or more broke the record he shared with Denver's Peyton Manning and Rodgers' predecessor in Green Bay, Brett Favre.

"The game? Shoot, I don't really have a whole lot to say," coach Mike McCarthy said. "That was clearly our best football that we played this year."

• The Associated Press contributed to this reprot.