A Bears Fan’s Reaction to Week 1 Bears-Packers

Image by Jamie Sabau/USA TODAY Sports

Well, that was not what we expected. Rather, not what I expected.

A brand new start, a clean slate, new beginning for the Chicago Bears. Worst record in the league last year with some asterisks. Number one overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Traded the pick to the Panthers for star wide receiver D.J. Moore and additional draft capital.

The team signing defensive end Yannick Ngakoue seemingly out of nowhere to improve the defense. Countless draft picks spent upgrading or adding depth to the defense. Yet we still lose to the Green Bay Packers. Even more embarrassingly, we lose to Jordon Love. A player seen by many Bears fans as a horrible quarterback. Don’t get me wrong, he is not a Hall of Fame bound QB. It is unfair to give him that comparison when yesterday was his second ever career start. However, he was the better signal caller at the end of the day.

The sting after a Bears-Packers game is always the same. The final score for that game was 38-20. Jordon Love came out the better QB for that game with 245 passing yards and three touchdowns. Justin Fields with 216 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

The rushing attack or rather Aaron Jones was the primary factor for the Packers offense. Nine carries for 41 rushing yards and a touchdown, while also having two receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown. For the Bears, their leading rusher was, to no surprise, Justin Fields. Totaling 59 yards on nine carries. Receiving was mainly done by Darnell Mooney with four receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown.

On the defensive side, the Packers had four sacks from defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt with 1.5 sacks, and defensive ends Lukas Van Ness and Karl Brooks both had one sack each. DT Kenny Clark also contributed on 0.5 sacks.

For the Bears, they only had one sack, which came from Ngakoue. The Bears pass rush could not get anything going for the first game of the season. The lone interception was thrown to inside linebacker Quay Walker.

Reaction

First, who is to blame? Well in this case its a combination. The passing defense could not stop Love for most of the game. Cornerback Kyler Gordon showed a few flashes here and there during the game. Safety Jaquan Brisker had solid play, briefly stepping off the field with an apparent injury but came back quite quickly.

S Eddie Jackson could not stop the pass. He got burned on several throws by Love, including a touchdown to Packers WR Romeo Doubs, who was supposed to be a game time decision on limited snaps yet he got two touchdowns. Most of his catches were in the area where Jackson was watching.

The pass rush could not get anything going. One of our rookies on the defensive line in defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. had shown flashes but couldn’t get past the Packers line. Rookie CB Tyrique Stevenson showed flashes of promise for us yesterday.

For the offense, the play-calling was far too conservative. Too many screens, swing passes, I-formation, single-back. It looks like Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy does not trust Justin Fields to try to throw the ball down field. Other teams try to ease their young QBs into the game and then let them throw the ball more. But Getsy does not seem to trust Fields.

WR DJ Moore was barely seen on the field. He totaled two catches for 25 yards on two targets. Yes, he was only thrown to twice. Watching the entire broadcast you would barely see him on the field at all. Was there an injury? Did Getsy want to ease DJ into the game? All offseason, local media outlets were pointing out the connection between Moore and Fields and how the passing game was going to improve. Yet we barely saw the connection. Sure when Fields threw to Moore, it was two straight first downs. Yet after that, we never saw it again.

I am hoping things improve for week two. Next week the Bears take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday, Sep. 17.