Bears Film Study: New faces on defense made Rodgers work
Losing to Green Bay is never a fun experience for Bears fans. But at least this year, they can check the 2023 NFL draft order for some immediate relief.
The overall theme to this game was the Bears putting up a pretty good performance for three quarters while taking a very deep dive into the roster.
A sequence that summed things up came right after the Bears took a 19-10 lead late in the third quarter. A.J. Thomas made a nice tackle on the kickoff, then DT Andrew Brown stuffed A.J. Dillon for no gain on first down.
Those were the first tackles of the NFL season for both players. Thomas, a rookie from Western Michigan, had been on the Bears practice squad, while Brown was signed off the Cardinals practice squad.
After that good start, the Bears defense couldn't get off the field. DB Jaylon Jones was called for pass interference on third down. Taco Charlton, another new addition, then got the first and only pressure against Aaron Rodgers, but the play was wiped out by another penalty.
This was a game where any sort of pass rush might have made a difference. At one point during Green Bay's 12-play drive to take the lead in the fourth quarter, Rodgers floated in the pocket for six seconds without the hint of a defender in his face, then hit Dillon for an 11-yard gain.
Eventually, the outmanned Bears started looking like outmanned team, but there were some interesting moments. CB Josh Blackwell, an undrafted rookie from Duke, has played special teams all season, but not a single snap on defense until Sunday. He played well, allowing 48 yards on 8 targets according to pro-football-reference.com.
There's no Davante Adams wearing green and gold anymore, but the defensive backs had some good moments. Jones made some mistakes late, but played better than he has, and safety Elijah Hicks took a step up from his first action against the Jets.
Fields stays home:
Of course, the Bears had a realistic chance of winning this game. Trailing by a point, they picked up a first down on the Green Bay 43-yard line with 2:58 remaining. This would have been a good time to try running the ball into field-goal position, considering they averaged 6.2 yards per carry in this game.
Instead, QB Justin Fields made a tough mistake and threw the interception to Jaire Alexander. Fields had at least two better options on that play, but assumed Equanimeous St. Brown would be open on a comeback pattern and Alexander read it all the way.
Overall, it was a decent day for Fields, coming back from the shoulder injury that kept him sidelined last week. Maybe less inclined to run coming off the injury, Fields hung in the pocket and made some nice throws early in the game. One complaint would be the third-and-nine on the game's first drive. Fields scrambled and could have maybe pulled up and made a throw for the first down, but kept running and didn't get it, setting up a field goal.
The good news was Fields took just one hard hit after a throw. The second-year QB had not been sacked less than twice in any game this season, so credit the offensive line for throwing a sack shutout.
Best play:
Let's make it two plays. Former Packer St. Brown was fired up after scooting past Alexander for a 56-yard reception. The next play was a good one, too. The Packers had the Bears outnumbered on the play side, but David Montgomery completed a 7-yard TD run thanks to good cuts and blocks from St. Brown, Cole Kmet, Braxton Jones and Cody Whitehair.
Born to tackle:
It would be crazy to compare Jack Sanborn to Roquan Smith, but it's safe to say the difference between the undrafted rookie and the No. 8 overall pick in 2018 has been relatively small. Sanborn has 47 tackles in four games, including a couple of nice shoestring stops on Aaron Jones last week.
Sanborn set up a Green Bay field goal in the fourth quarter with an end zone pass defense against tight end Robert Tonyan. The battle of Lake Zurich and McHenry residents was a strong highlight.
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