Aaron Rodgers carves up Bears' defense
As Aaron Rodgers dropped back to pass on the 14th play of the Packers' opening drive Sunday night, he settled into the pocket and surveyed the field.
It's third-and-10 from the 12-yard line and five receivers are sprinting into the secondary.
Rodgers bounces up and down a couple of times at the 21-yard line.
He taps the ball once. Twice. A third time.
He pump fakes.
He then drifts back 2 more yards and slings a pass to Davante Adams in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown.
Total time from snap of the ball to the pass? Try 5½ seconds - an absolute eternity in the NFL.
It was a play that encapsulated the Bears' defensive performance during a first half in which they fell behind 27-3.
Rodgers ended up throwing for 211 yards and 4 TDs in Green Bay's 41-25 victory. Running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams ran for a combined 163 yards on 34 carries.
"We definitely gave up way too much on first and second down and let them run the ball at will," said linebacker Khalil Mack. "That's something that this defense doesn't do."
It did Sunday, though, and a big reason was the absence of defensive tackle Aikem Hicks, who was out with a hamstring injury.
"I just felt like today you really could feel the middle of our defense, which is going to affect some of the linebacker play because they're gonna get up to the second level," Nagy said. "When you're going up against Aaron Rodgers, you've got to be able to certainly stop the run and not give him big plays."
The Bears tried different tactics to throw Rodgers off, rushing three at times and other times rushing five or six.
But it didn't matter.
Rodgers had an answer for everything.
• Third-and-4 from the Bears' 28? No problem. Rodgers runs for 10.
• First-and-10 from the 49 and nobody covering Adams? Rodgers whips it to him for a 15-yard gain.
• Fourth-and-2 from the Bears' 28? Rodgers finds TE Robert Tunyan for 14 yards.
• First-and-goal from the 2 with pressure coming? Rodgers spots the arm-waving Allen Lazard and flicks the ball to his wideout for a TD.
• Second-and-8 from the Bears' 39 with a blitz coming? Rodgers runs a misdirection play and hits a wide-open Tunyan for yet another touchdown.
That last play made it 34-10 with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter and all but sealed the deal.
Said Rodgers, who has thrown 4 TD passes in five games this season: "It was a fun night for us on offense."
And a disaster for the free-falling Bears, who are now 5-6 after a fifth straight loss.
So is there any hope left? Nagy says yes.
"We're frustrated, we're (ticked) off, we're angry. Trust me - every feeling that (fans) have, we have," he said. "But we've gotta fix it. And we've gotta do it on the football field.
"This is where you rely on your leaders to do it. It's less talk and more action. The people that you bring in here - times like this is where you rely on them. And that's where I have ultimate trust in our guys."