The Bears are not good. The Packers might be.
Winning in the NFL is hard, and convincing wins are rare. Although it’s a cliché, a win is a win.
Having lived through the 80’s Bears-Packers rivalry, there’s no bad time for a Bears beat. In the 80’s, the Bears owned the Packers, not so since the early 1990’s. Nonetheless, Chicago seems so bad, how much can we take from this win?
More about the Bears?
This game is far more devastating to Chicago than it proves the Packers have arrived.
This is a team that’s mostly been mocked and ridiculed by Green Bay teams and fans for the last 30-years. Then, they get the off-season gift-of-gifts when the Packers trade away “Bears owner” Aaron Rodgers. Plus, they had an exciting off-season adding talent, draft picks and future draft capital. There was actual Bears hype. There was big talk about a big jump from Justin Fields.
Then the Packers came to Chicago
Early in the second half the Bears went 3-and-out after a Packers scoring drive. Boo’s rained down from the Soldier Field faithful—during the season opener! Be still my heart.
The Bears in general, and Justin Fields in particular, looked like a hot mess for most of the second half. When they showed brief signs of life, the Packers put their collective foot back on their neck. Most of the Packer key players were resting on the bench with 6-minutes left. That was a great feeling, especially after our last couple shaky season openers.
What’s the takeaway?
The Bears being bad, and generally in disarray, seems like a good thing for the Packers in the short-term. With the Packers in a reset-reload mode, a weak division opponent seems like an advantage. Long-term, any team would benefit in the playoffs by having to compete at their best within their division. It seems like that’s not where the NFC North is at the moment.
None of this should take away from a really strong performance from the Packers. You can only beat the team that’s on your schedule, and better teams find ways to lose to lesser teams all the time (see the Vikings loss to Tampa).
The Packers got everything they could have hoped for against Chicago. A dominant win, solid defense, turnovers and very productive offense in spite of a new quarterback and very young skill players. If only we could play the Bears every week.