Bears drop season opener to Packers 31-23

It was yet another Chicago Bears loss to the Packers, the 10th in 11 meetings, but this one had a different feel to it.

For openers, the 31-23 final score was not a double-digit degradation as 5 of the past 7 losses have been. In John Fox's debut as Bears head coach, his team made it a game for 60 minutes on a picture-perfect, sun-splashed afternoon at Soldier Field.

That should count for something after Green Bay outscored the Bears 93-31 last year, including a 55-14 embarrassment in Week 10 in which the Bears trailed 42-0 at halftime.

But forget about calling it a moral victory.

“That's 0-1,” Fox said, noting the bottom line. “But we have 15 more, which is the good news. You're only in this game to win. There's no consolation prize and no second place.”

It's also good news for anyone looking for a new direction after the Bears have regressed in successive years from 10-6 to 8-8 to 5-11 last year.

The Bears actually led the 192nd meeting with the Packers — three different times.

“We're heading in the right direction as an offense and as a team,” said left tackle Jermon Bushrod, who helped pave the way for 189 rushing yards, including 141 from Matt Forte. “We're trying to change the mentality. Even though we get down, we're going to keep fighting. That's what we did, we kept fighting. We lost the lead in the beginning and we got in back, then we lost it and got it back.

“At the end of the day we just kept fighting until the end.”

After holding leads of 3-0 in the first quarter and 10-7 and 13-10 in the second, the Bears came back again late in the third quarter to pull within 17-16 on Robbie Gould's third field goal without a miss, this one from 44 yards.

But, as is usually the case, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was the difference.

His 5-yard TD pass to Randall Cobb extended the lead to 24-16 with 10:26 left.

Rodgers wasn't prolific, but he was efficient. The reigning league MVP finished with a 140.9 passer rating, completing 18 of 23 passes for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns with zero interceptions.

The Bears came back again, though.

Jay Cutler's 50-yard hookup with Marquess Wilson helped get the Bears within 2 yards of a potential tying touchdown, but after 3 incomplete passes they gave the ball up on downs.

The defense forced a three-and-out, and the Bears were soon back at the Packers' 29. That's when Green Bay's Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews darted in front of Martellus Bennett for an interception and 48-yard return that set up another TD and clinched the Packers' victory.

“Marty popped (open),” Cutler said. “(Matthews) just kind of floated in there. As soon as I let it go, I knew we were in trouble. It was a good play by him. He's a good player.

“I feel like I let the offense down with that pick.”

The Bears' last-minute touchdown may have been strictly cosmetic to some, but it was another example of a team that already has made progress from last year. It's a different mindset with more toughness from a mental and physical standpoint.

That was crucial to Fox from the day he arrived.

“There's a reaction when you get punched in the mouth,” Fox said. “It's (about) how long you let that reaction take over. Our team competed. What I mean by that is, we got hit in the mouth a few times, and we came back.”

That didn't always happen last year, especially against the Packers. The difference this year is noticeable in all phases of the team, according to its players.

“The mentality out there is don't even blink,” Forte said. “After the turnover, they went down and scored. We got the ball back and nobody blinked.

“Nobody had that stupid look on their face, like before, when something (bad) would happen, saying, ‘The game is lost already.' I was glad we didn't have that. We came out and kept fighting.”

That was a victory of sorts … and the biggest difference between this year's team and last year's.

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