Hester's punt return for TD ignites Bears

The undefeated Chicago Bears hosted the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Monday Night football and after going undefeated through the first two games of the season, the Chicago Bears remained so and pulled out a 20-17 win over the Green Bay Packers.  This game wasn’t the cleanest game in the series by any means but the Bears won, move to 3-0 and take over the lead in the NFC North.

Here is an in depth look at the Bears win over Green Bay on Monday night football including how they did it, what they did wrong and what they did right.

Scoring Summary

The Packers got on the board first after quarterback Aaron Rodgers hit wide receiver Greg Jennings for a seven yard touchdown to put the Packers up 7-0.  Green Bay would tack on a 38 yard Mason Crosby field goal in the second quarter to go up 10-0 on the Bears.  At this point it appeared as if this game would be a big win by Green Bay as the Bears could do nothing on offense to score points.

However, before halftime, Chicago ended up getting their first score of the game after quarterback Jay Cutler connected with tight end Greg Olsen on a nine yard touchdown pass to make it 10-7.  That is how the half would end.

There was no score in the third quarter but in the fourth quarter, the Bears would end up going ahead of the Packers after Devin Hester returned a punt 62 yards for a score (his first in over two years) to put Chicago up 14-10.  The Packers wouldn’t let the Bears lead stand up too long though as Rodgers took the offense on a long time consuming drive culminating in a three yard touchdown run by Rodgers to put the Packers up 17-14.

The Bears wouldn’t lie down however and they ended up tying the game on the heels of a 25 yard field goal by kicker Robbie Gould.  After linebacker Brian Urlacher caused a fumble (recovered by cornerback Tim Jennings) the Bears had great field position and were able to drive down towards the goal line to kick the winning field goal (19 yards) and take control of the NFC North with a 20-17 victory.

Stud of the Game

Both Julius Peppers and Devin Hester deserve this honor.  Peppers was disruptive in many ways despite the fact he didn’t have any sacks.  His presence can be directly contributed to four penalties called on the Packers which hampered their efforts to move the ball down the field.  He also blocked a field goal and supported the run very well.

Hester returned a punt for a touchdown his first in over two years and had some nice catches on offense.  Instead of running side to side he ran up and down the field and that will make a big difference for him on future returns.  Look for him to be much more productive as the season goes on as not only has he figured out how to return punts (again) but he’s also got his confidence back.

Dud of the Game

The defensive line, aside from Peppers, really didn’t get much pressure on Rodgers and allowed him to complete passes all over the field.  The thought was that if Peppers could be enough of a distraction (which he was in this game) that other players on the defensive line could take advantage and get to the quarterback.  So far this hasn’t happened and needs to happen or else the Bears are going to lose some games farther on down the road.

Analysis

The Bears went into this game with a lot of question marks and feelings from many that there was no way that they could possibly win this game.  So many people felt that the Packers were not only better than the Bears but they were also the best team in the NFL.  But the best team in the NFL doesn’t play the way that the Packers did on Monday night and win.

The Bears started off the game on shaky ground as, in what has been the norm, the offensive line failed to protect Cutler to start the game so the passing game looked a little bit shaky initially.  They ended up performing better as the game went on and Cutler was able to complete some throws.  He did get lucky on those other interceptions that he threw that ended up being called back because of a penalty.  If there hadn’t been an infraction on those plays the Bears would have lost the game.

The running game went further into hiding in this game.  The Bears started out the game running the ball and ended it running the ball but there wasn’t much running in between.  The Bears need to keep possession of the football as often as they can and they won’t do it unless they can get their running game going.

The wide receivers continue to improve and Martz continues to make good use of his tight ends.  Olsen has been one of the most consistent players on the team on offense and is actually one of the better tight ends in the NFL at this time.  So much for not using the tight end in a Mike Martz offense.

In addition to the punt return that he had, Hester played pretty well as a wide receiver and is becoming a much bigger part of the offense.  Teams are going to have to start considering him a bigger threat at the wide receiver than they are giving him credit for and will have to do something to stop him.

On defense, Peppers proved that his presence alone is enough to disrupt opposing offenses and as we previously mentioned, he had a definite effect on the Packers Monday night.  He is proving that you don’t even need to sack the quarterback sometimes to be disruptive.  Hopefully Peppers will be able to continue to play like this in each and every game this season and make a huge difference (like he has been so far this season) to help the Bears win on defense.

The Bear’s linebackers had their usual good game this Monday night.  Their night was highlighted by the tackle and forced fumble close to the end of the game by Urlacher.  This fumble and the fumble recovery (by Jennings) gave the Bears the ball in Packers territory towards the end of the game and allowed them to drive down and kick the game winning field goal.  Lance Briggs was also in on several plays making the linebackers the most consistent group on the field for this game.

The secondary was picked apart by the Packers passing offense but some of that can be related to the lack of pressure on Rodgers.  Cornerback Charles Tillman quietly had a pretty good game as did nickel back D.J. Moore.  Zachary Bowman was pulled from the game and benched after he struggled in run support on one play and was replaced by Jennings.  The Bears didn’t seem to miss Bowman that much after he was pulled and Jennings did end up having a good game.

The Bears special teams were solid except for the coverage units.  The Bears were allowing the Packers some decent yardage on kickoff returns and have to do something about that or else someone is going to break a long one at a critical point in a game.  Kicker Robbie Gould missed a field goal and almost missed an extra point and hasn’t been as solid as he was in the past.  Hopefully he will get better as the season goes on.

Finally, Hester did return a punt for a touchdown after an over two year drought giving hopes to the Bears and their fans that he has overcome whatever it was that held him back for so long and that now he will be able to return more kicks yet this season.

The Bears will travel to New York to take on the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.  A full preview of this game will be forthcoming.