Morning Box Score: Pack Attack
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Nov 17, 2008 4:30PM
With the Bears atop the NFC North, Lovie Smith's perfect record at Lambeau and Kyle Orton's return to the field, we Bears fans felt pretty good when waking up Sunday morning. But none of that mattered as the Packers destroyed the Bears 37-3. The Bears were equally horrible on both sides of the ball, where the offense managed 234 yards of total offense and a lone field goal while the defense showed little ability to stop the run or pass.
Kyle Orton returned to action after missing just one game due to an ankle sprain initially expected to keep him on the sidelines for a month. Did he return too soon, even if doing so meant that Rex Grossman was safely on the sidelines? He completed 13 of 26 passes for 133 yards, and he managed to find his wide receivers just four times -- the bulk of his passes went to his tight ends and running backs for short gains. In fact, Matt Forte alone accounted for nearly half the Bears' offense, with 40 yards receiving on six catches while rushing for 64 yards.
Meanwhile, the Bears defense took another step backward on Sunday. All season long, they've let mediocre QB's -- Brian Griese, Kerry Collins -- put up career numbers against their secondary, but they'd been pretty good at shutting down their opponents' running game. Not this week. The defensive adjustments made to better defend the passing game only made things worse. Aaron Rodgers sill managed to complete 23 of 30 passes for 227 yards and 2 TDs. And Ryan Grant's 145 yards on the ground paced the Packers, who accumulated over 200 rushing yards against the Bears.
In suffering their most lopsided loss of the season, the Bears fell to 5-5 and now share the crowded top spot in the division with both the Packers and the Vikings. The Bears, however, are looking more and more like the team on the decline. Do they have enough time to right the ship and sail into the playoffs? Or will they miss the boat and make Bob Babich walk the plank?
AP Photo/Morry Gash