2024 Week 11: Packers 20, Bears 19
The Bears should have won, but like the Broncos their game-winning FG attempt was blocked. That being said, the Bears never should have had a chance to win, but an INT and a turnover on downs on two separate red zone trips gave Chicago a fighting chance. After throwing a bunch of checkdowns and screens the Bears needed to mount a comeback so Caleb started throwing downfield and GB never tried to stop it.
Green Bay (7-3) is 2 games out from the division title, and will likely finish in second place in the NFC North, Detroit is playing the best football in the league by a long shot right now.
The Bears (4-6) just lost their 4th straight game and pretty much play the rest of the NFC North to finish out the year… this was their first division game, 11 weeks into the season. Chicago’s defense is so good that they may steal a win or two from their remaining games, but they’re playing playoff teams from here on out.
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QB Report:
- The new OC didn’t change much about the offense, I do think Caleb Williams (23/31 for 231 yards; 9 rushes for 70 yards) ran the ball better than he has as a pro. Passing-wise nothing changed. I say that but when you look at his game log you’ll see this as one of his best games as a passer he just didn’t find the endzone. My counterpoint to that is… in the entire first half he never completed a pass 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The entire offense was just screens, check-downs, and quick hitters.
- This game was the least amount of times Jordan Love (13/17 for 261 yards, 1 TD/1 INT; 4 rushes for 18 yards, 1 TD) had thrown the ball in a game in his career. The Packers only possessed the ball for 23.5 minutes, and it’s easier to move the ball on Chicago on the ground, thus the low attempts. Despite that, Love was still trying to push the ball downfield, averaging 20 yards per completion and a ridiculous 15.4 yards per attempt.
Green Bay doesn’t play Chicago again until Week 18 and the only other tough defense they play is Detroit in Week 14, who Love threw for 273 yards against.
RB Report:
- D’Andre Swift (14-71-1; 2 catches for 13 yards) and Roschon Johnson’s (10-33-1; 1 catch for 8 yards) seasons are effectively over for fantasy purposes, this is the most brutal running back schedule I’ve ever seen:
Week 12: MIN (1st in least yards allowed)
Week 13: at DET (5th)
Week 14: at SF (8th)
Week 15: at MIN (1st)
Week 16: DET (5th)
- Just putting this out there as a friendly reminder, but Emanuel Wilson (2-17-0) is the best running back on the Packers, and he’s the Josh Jacobs (18-76-1; 4 catches for 58 yards) handcuff until Marshawn Lloyd recovers from his appendicitis.
WR/TE Report:
- Only 13 completions for Green Bay and 6 of them went to running backs, so that leaves *checks calculator* 7 completions for the wide receivers (there were no completions to TEs).
Of those 7, 4 of them went to Christian Watson (4-150-0/4), so there was basically nothing left after that, except Jayden Reed (2-23-1/2) managed to find the endzone saving his day.
- This game is not a ‘sign of things to come’, there were just a lot of obstacles to overcome for this passing game. The Bears great secondary, Jordan Love’s lingering groin injury, low time of possession, all of that combine for a low passing game. I still hold the Love-Reed-Doubs trio in high regard, this offense has just had to battle injuries and weather the last bunch of weeks. This was a top-5 passing game in the second half of last year, and it was getting to that again this season before all of the setbacks.
image source: (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)