Early Bird Breakdown Week 4 – Bears @ Packers

Early Bird Breakdown Week 4 – Bears @ Packers

Hello and welcome back to Early Bird Breakdown. It’s week four of the regular season. Before diving into the breakdown let’s recap last week’s game:

The Recap:

Last week Green Bay hosted the Cincinnati Bengals, and despite the early struggles in the season for the Bengals offense, the combination of a motivated Dalton and an injured Packers defense led Cincinnati out to an early lead. The Packers rallied in the second half, tying the game with only 0:17 left on the clock and winning in overtime on a game winning field goal.

The Breakdown:

Packers’ Offense vs Bears’ Defense:

If Packer fans have not looked south of the Wisconsin border recently they may be in for a bit of a surprise as the Bears have assembled themselves a good defense lately. Chicago held Atlanta week one to only 23 points and nearly upset them and last week they held another Super Bowl contender in Pittsburgh to only 17 points. With both starting tackles Bryan Bulaga and David Bakhtiari both doubtful once again Chicago will likely be able to pressure Rodgers and give the Packers offense a challenge.

Establishing the run with Ty Montgomery is going to be key. While that may seem counter intuitive with Chicago being better versus the run than the pass, the Packers need to play this as a defensive contest and grind the Bears into submission similar to the Seattle game. Until the Packers offensive line is healthy, Rodgers will not have the time to make big plays that are not on free plays.

Packers’ Defense vs Bears’ Offense:

Fortunately for the Packers, even with the injuries on defense this is an offense that is struggling to find an identity and has a distinct lack of playmakers. Chicago has only averaged 15.7 points per game through three games this season, fifth worst in the NFL. Veteran backup Mike Glennon was signed this offseason to be the Bears’ starter and so far he has been mediocre at best. The passing attack for Chicago is extremely limited due to his lack of skill set and a lack of wide receivers. Only Bears backup running back rookie Tarik Cohen has shown any explosiveness and is the leading receiver for the team.

Containing Cohen and starting running back Jordan Howard is the only gameplan Green Bay needs. If they can force Glennon to throw it the Bears will not convert enough drives into points to keep up with the Packers.

The Packers once again ruled out cornerback Davon House for the second straight week. Mike Daniels and Nick Perry are both still listed as questionable, ideally the Packers will have one suit up to help the pass rush.

The Weather:

A pleasant 60 degree kickoff is expected in Lambeau.

The Prediction:

While Green Bay is banged up and playing a short week the Bears likely aren’t quite good enough yet to steal this game in Lambeau. The Packers need to be careful, between their injuries and an emerging defense for the Bears, the Packers should be on a bit of an upset alert. However, Glennon has not shown in any capacity that he has what it takes to win a prime time game in a hostile environment. As long as Green Bay plays level headed and churns out some long drives in the first half, they should comfortably walk away from this one. Packers win 24-16.