Week 13 Recap: Packers Take All-Time Wins Lead from the Bears
The following is an adapted transcript of Episode 603 of Blue 58 — a Packers Podcast. If you enjoy what you read here, consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you prefer to listen.
It’s weird how rare this has been this season, but this week the Packers outlasted an opponent. That team just happened to be the Chicago Bears.
It's been a while since the Packers have been able to rely on their depth, their talent, and their execution to get a win, but that's what happened Sunday. The Packers looked like a deeper team. The Packers looked like a better team. And the Packers looked like a team that just had things together in ways the Bears didn’t.
Now, there are caveats to each of those three things. The Packers did look like a deeper team, but that's probably just because they were the less injured of two very injured teams. Yes, they looked like a better team, but that's only because the Bears spent the second half almost exclusively getting in their own way on offense and defense. And yes, they looked like a team that had things more together, but again, they're winning that essentially by default because of how the Bears self-destructed in the second half. Two interceptions and a blocked field goal will ruin just about anybody’s day, and if you throw in a fumble in the first half you’re already down four possessions. That’s a tough game to win if you’re the Chicago Bears.
But on the Packers’ side, it’s still a win, and those have been pretty rare: this is just the fifth one in 13 tries. I’m ultimately not sure if this game is more of a reflection on the Packers or the Bears, but the Packers got the win.
And they got the win by getting plays from the guys who needed to contribute the most when the Packers needed to have them the most. AJ Dillon showed up in a big way when Aaron Jones was hurting. Aaron Rodgers did just enough. Christian Watson was ready to score whenever he touched the ball and was there for a touchdown on a fourth down throw by Rodgers and a touchdown to put the game away late.
Of course, this wasn't a perfect game. Aaron Rodgers, in particular, was not perfect. He had more than a couple of missed throws and often looked like he was playing with the hurt ribs we all know he had. I'm not sure what painkiller he was on, but he might have needed something stronger than Ibuprofen the day. There were a couple of throws he missed that looked exactly like the throws you’d expect a guy playing with sore ribs to miss, especially a bad miss on a check down to Randall Cobb in the flat on the left side.
The defense, too, had a rough game. They were better in the second half, but Justin Fields still finished the game with just five incomplete passes. Two of them, of course, were interceptions, but aside from that the Packers didn’t too much to slow down the Bears’ passing game — and Fields did plenty of damage on the ground, too.
And yet, here we are with the Packers win. As we said in the lead-up to this game, a win is not necessarily optimal, since the Packers aren't necessarily hoping to pile up wins at this point, though we can expect them to keep playing this way until they’re mathematically eliminated.
But if you’re going to get a win that you don't necessarily want, I'll take this one. Beating the Bears is always good. Beating the Bears to take over the league’s all-time lead in wins? That's pretty good too. Sweeping the Bears in the season series? I'll take that every time. And going into a bye week with a win is a bonus on top of all of that.
An expression comes to mind thinking about this game: don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Supposedly — not that I’d know — you can tell a horse's age by looking at its teeth, at least if you know what you're looking for. (If I looked at a horse's teeth, I would only be able to tell you whether or not it has teeth, and then I would probably rather stop looking into a horse’s mouth. I don't know if you've ever seen a horse with its mouth open. It's kind of terrifying.)
Anyway, the saying is getting at the fact that if someone gives you a free horse, don't bother checking the age. If you're in a situation where you need horses, you're better off with a free horse no matter what the age it is. Don't go looking to find out the bad stuff if you don't have to.
Apply that saying to the Packers' situation this week. Did the Packers improve their draft position today? No, they did not. Did the Packers get a look at Jordan Love? No, they did not.
But they got the win and a win over the Bears is good. That's the gift horse. If you’re hoping for the tankapalooza or an evaluation of Jordan Love, it’s not what you wanted. I get that. But if I have to have a win that I didn’t want, I’ll take this one.
Three Good Things
1 - Christian Watson continues to be spectacular for the Packers
Christian Watson is a rare threat, both with and without the ball. They were talking all game long about how the Bears’ defense had to constantly be aware of where Christian Watson was — not that it did them any good, because he still ran away from them anyway.
The Packers have had a lot of good offensive players in my lifetime. We can go back to Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman and Dorsey Levis and Edgar Bennett in the 1990s. Bill Schroeder was great on some bad teams around the turn of the century. Javon Walker was very good for a season or two. Jordy Nelson. James Jones. Greg Jennings. Randall Cobb. Davante Adams. All of those guys, too, were dangerous in their own ways.
But I don’t know if there’s been another guy who’s as frightening as Watson. It feels like anytime he touches the ball, it could be a score. Ahman Green is the only other player who, at least to me, was close to that kind of a threat.
The Packers have been taking pains to put him in situations to maximize his speed. If you pay close attention to where he's lined up in the Packers' formations, he's been number three in their trips formations a lot lately. (That is, counting from outside to inside, Watson is the third receiver in the group of three). That’s often where Marquez Valdes-Scantling lined up, and it’s a great way to get some advantageous matchups for a really, really fast player.
If they go, man, chances are they have to really rework a lot of their secondary to make sure they've got a defensive back on him because if they don't, he's going to barbecue a linebacker. If they go zone, he's probably going to have a free release through the middle of your defense. Either way, that is something that is working to Watson’s advantage. He is becoming a real threat, not just with his deep speed but as a refined receiver, in real-time in front of our eyes.
2 - AJ Dillon fills in for Aaron Jones
With Aaron Jones in and out of the lineup with a variety of injuries, somebody needed to step up to keep the offense humming along. Dillon did. Outside of the Titans game in 2020, I think this was his best game as a member of the Green Bay Packers. His 18 carries ties the third-heaviest workload of his career, and he managed more than 100 all-purpose yards. He consistently ground out yards and threw in a couple of explosive carries as well.
3 - Jaire Alexander brings the swagger
I’d argue that Jaire Alexander’s game was overall very solid. Yes, he gave up the big play to Equanimeous St. Brown. Yes, he gave up the big play to N’Keal Harry. But he also sniffed out two screens, earning two tackles for a loss there. He made a great play on the interception late. And I think overall he was a net positive for the Packers' defense.
My suspicion is that the big play to Harry was a result of the Bears breaking tendency, because Alexander got beat on a pretty simple route there. He bit on the “out” in an out and up move, and he was triggering on the short stuff all day. I think the Bears were probably just breaking tendency a little bit there, going deep with Harry, who's not necessarily known for explosive deep speed, and they caught Alexander looking.
But I like Alexander gambling a little bit. I know it seems like headhunting or tuffing his own box score, but the Packers could use a little bit more of that, quite honestly. Their defense this year has been far too passive. And the trade-off for not being passive is giving up a couple of big plays. Getting beat deep is not ideal, it’s true. But I don’t mind a gamble now and then, and if he guesses right on the Harry play and the Bears do throw the quick out there, it’s six the other way. You have to take the bad with the good sometimes.
Two Bad Things
1 - The Packers' defense continues to be the Packers’ defense
On some specific points, the defense was okay. In aggregate, I think the defense is pretty atrocious. It's even hard to give the Packers' defense a ton of credit for what they did well, because the Bears really moved the ball fairly well outside of those two interceptions, and the Packers managed to block the field goal pretty much by accident.
Fields ran well when he did take off and run, and it seems like he could have gone for more had the Bears not gone away from it. He slowed down after the half, but it didn't seem to be from anything the Packers did.
On top of that, Fields still had a very accurate day as a passer. He did have two interceptions, but those were part of a day where he had just five incompletions. The Packers were not doing very much at all to slow down the passing game other than those two plays.
The Packers also did very little to pressure Fields, one of the most-sacked quarterbacks in football — not that you’d know from what the Packers did. Sure, the Packers are missing Rashan Gary, but Joe Barry did not show himself to be particularly creative in finding ways to get pressure on a guy who allows himself to be pressured a lot. Yes, Gary is by far the Packers’ best pass rusher and is almost certainly their best defensive player overall. But the Packers have a bunch of other guys getting paid, too; they're professional football players for a reason. Barry has to figure out something he can do with the other warm bodies he has available.
2 - Nixon’s returns have the Packers moving backward
Keisean Nixon must have a green light on every single kickoff return. He was bringing out kicks that went deep into the end zone, and I’m not sure that’s a great idea. The Packers took possession off a kickoff five times Sunday, and here’s where they ended up after those returns:
Their own 18 (to open the game, no less)
Their own 30
Their own 25 (the one touchback of the game)
Their own 20
Their own 18
A touchback gets you to the 25 every time, and relative to a touchback, Nixon’s returns cost the Packers 14 yards of net field position. That’s not ideal for a team whose offense really struggles to move the ball. If it seems like I’m nitpicking a bit here, I probably am, but these sorts of things are worth watching on a week-to-week basis.
How did the Packers’ draft picks perform against the Bears?
Quay Walker
Walker had three solo tackles and four assists in a somewhat understated performance. Having a quiet game isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Walker didn’t make any plays on the ball or on the Bears’ side of the line of scrimmage. He did chase Justin Fields down a scramble, which is not insignificant because Fileds is about as fast as they come for a quarterback.
Devonte Wyatt
Wyatt finished with just one tackle, though he did make a nice play to get it. It looked close to being a tackle for a loss, showing up in the Packers’ run defense is a sure way for Wyatt to get more playing time. He played nine snaps.
Christian Watson
What else do we need to say? This is the third time in Packer's history that a player has had seven or more receiving touchdowns in a season along with two or more rushing touchdowns. The other players are Johnny Blood and Don Hutson — both proud members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and, incidentally, both known for their incredible speed.
Sean Rhyan
Still suspended.
Romeo Doubs
Still hurt.
Zach Tom
Tom got the start for David Bakhtiari, who was out this week after needing emergency appendix surgery. (Did Bakhtiari make some kind of Faustian bargain for his big contract extension in 2020? He got all the money he could want but his body has seemed to do nothing but fall apart since then.) I didn’t really notice Tom, which is a good thing for an offensive lineman.
JJ Enagbare
A quiet day for Enagbare after a strong few weeks. He got suckered pretty bad on the read option play that resulted in Fields’ long touchdown run. Keisean Nixon, of course, should have made the tackle there, but it would have been a lot easier to do so if Enagbare hadn’t committed so wholeheartedly to following the running back.
Tariq Carpenter
Carpenter had one assisted tackle on special teams.
Jonathan Ford
Inactive.
Rasheed Walker
Walker was active (for what seems to have been the first time this season) but did not play.
Samori Toure
Toure had one catch for seven yards. He was also the outside receiver in the trips formation on Watson's fourth-down touchdown.
Uniform Review
Packers - 3.5 out of 4
The Packers looked good on the road. Natural grass always helps, and a December games t Soldier Field always tends to look pretty good on the Packers. No complaints.
Bears - 4 out of 4
This is the Bears’ best look by far. Blue over white looks sharp, and I always forget how much I like their number font until I see it again.
Matchup - 2 out of 2
This is about as good as it gets. I’d love to see a scenario where the Packers and Bears could both wear their home uniforms, but I’ll settle for this.
Final score: 9.5 out of 10
Notes and Nuggets
What’s going on with the Packers’ socks?
I have completely lost my mind. Last week, Christian Watson scored on a big catch and run against the Eagles, and I noticed on that play that he had the white part of his socks pulled up so high over his green tights (or undergarment or whatever it is) that you almost couldn't see the green at all. I actually spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out if he had any green showing at all. He does, and you could see a bit more of it against the Bears.
But that got me wondering what other guys are doing with their sock situation, and, the Packers’ defensive backs are doing all kinds of weird sock stuff.
Rasul Douglas was definitively not wearing any green at all; he was all white below the knee.
Tariq Carpenter, meanwhile, had very high whites, almost like Christian Watson.
Jaire Alexander and Keisean Nixon both do even stranger things with their socks. Both of them have white on top and green at the bottom, essentially an inverted sock scheme.
On the other end of the spectrum, Randall Cobb is almost entirely solid green below the knee; he has almost no white showing at all.
And I can hear you saying to yourself “Jon, who cares? Why do you care? Why should anyone care about socks?”
And you’re right. My brain has left me.
Luke Getsy and timeout rules
During an early Bears drive, Chicago offensive coordinator Luke Getsy appeared to call a timeout from the sideline. I thought that was unusual, so I looked it up and he is not supposed to be able to do that. To be clear, this is not a big deal. I’m not even saying that the Bears got away with anything, but I just thought it unusual, so I looked up the rules on who can call timeouts.
Here’s what the rulebook says in Section Five, Article One: Charged Team Timeouts: “The referee shall suspend play while the ball is dead and declare a charged team timeout upon the request for a timeout by the head coach or any player (not a substitute) to any official. If an assistant coach signals for a timeout and it is inadvertently granted, the timeout will stand.”
So, to recap, Luke Getsy is not supposed to be able to call a timeout for the Bears, but he did, and the refs just granted it. But by rule, he's not supposed to be able to do that. But by the same rule, if it happens, nothing happens. Again, not a big deal, I was just interested in the procedure and thought you might be as well.
Sammy Watkins provides the smallest of flashes
On AJ Dillon’s touchdown run, Sammy Watkins had a key block on the outside that helped get Dillon to the end zone. This is lost in his overall bad season, but Watkins’ run blocking was a key part of why the Packers wanted him. He has always been a pretty good run-blocking wide receiver, and he was blocking quite well on that run by Dillon.
Several Packers notch career milestones
Keisean Nixon sealed the game for the Packers with a late interception on Justin Fields. It was the first pickoff of his career.
Jaire Alexander, notably, also got an interception, bringing his total to four for the season, a career high.
Finally, with 24 yards against the Bears, Aaron Jones has now surpassed 5,000 career rushing yards. He now sits at 5,010 yards for his career and needs just 15 more to pass John Brockington for third place in Packers history. Not too bad for a fifth-round pick.
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