| Packers dominate in Champaign Story by Mike Joerndt Neenah, Wisconsin PackerZone Columnist since 2001 |
| "That's better!" I shouted it at the television several times Monday night as the Packers whipped the Bears, 34-21. Green Bay head coach Mike Sherman may have shouted it a few times himself as his offense moved the ball easily and racked up points early. Packers defensive coordinator Ed Donatell might have shouted it too as the defense contained the Bears offense through the first half and nabbed three interceptions in the second half. Actually, the final score shouldn't have been that close. The first two Bears touchdowns came after strange plays that gave Chicago excellent field position. Chicago's opportunistic safety Mike Brown picked up a Donald Driver fumble and ran the ball back to the Green Bay 4. It was by far the Bear's shortest field of the night. The other early Chicago touchdown came as a result of poor officiating: a weak taunting penalty on Green Bay tight end Tyrone Davis after he scored a touchdown. The call pushed the Packers back 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. Allow me to digress a moment to examine that penalty. Davis may have exchanged some words with Chicago's Mike Brown. Words don't usually draw taunting penalties though. That means the official threw the flag for the way Davis tossed the ball into the air. That throw was rather half-hearted, and though the ball hit the ground near Brown, it certainly wasn't aimed at him. In fact, the official who threw the flag was already walking toward the two players before he called the penalty. Davis may have actually been trying to lob the ball in the direction of that official. Davis had turned around and was walking out of the end zone before the ball came down. That's not the body language of a player guilty of taunting. You can forgive the errant throw because it didn't come from the Packers' touchdown-chucking tight end, Bubba Franks. Back to the game itself. Those two easy touchdowns aside, the Bears looked clueless in the first half. Most of the Green Bay heroics were done by halftime. Brett Favre turned in another MVP-caliber performance Monday night, reaching 40,000 passing yards for his career. Wide receiver Terry Glenn demonstrated the talents we knew he had and Donald Driver continued his development as Favre's favorite - and best - target. The Bears seemed to wake up in the second half and began moving the chains while holding Green Bay to just three offensive points. Yet the Chicago offense managed only seven points in the second half and the Packers were repeatedly in scoring position. Chicago tried to open up their offense and paid the price. The Packers countered the Bears' success at throwing the ball by putting greater pressure on Chicago quarterback Jim Miller. Though Miller enjoyed strong pass protection in the first half, he was hurried, hit and harassed in the second half. Miller's three interceptions are the best indication of that intense pass rush. Though the one Chicago touchdown after halftime represents a let-down on the part of the Packers, that score wasn't enough to even give the Bears the necessary momentum to mount a comeback. The Green Bay offense, meanwhile, concentrated on protecting the second-half lead and eating up time on the clock. The understandable result was fewer fireworks than the first half. I was distressed to see Packers placekicker Ryan Longwell struggle, going 2-for-5 on field goals. On the whole, however, the offense did what it had to do: kill the clock, not turn over the ball deep in Green Bay territory and keep the Bears from creeping back into the game the way Detroit did in Week 3. It wasn't perfect, but it was the kind of game the Packers should have put together in the first four weeks of the season. Best of all, they did it despite entering the game with a long injury report that only grew against the Bears. My last two articles on this site have been about the Packers building on the good of the 2002 season while addressing their weaknesses. On Monday night Green Bay took yet another step. Each week the team has faced new challenges but has taken a two-game lead over the Bears in the NFC North standings. Next week will feature a new challenge. The New England Patriots silenced critics (like me) with their fast start but have since lost two straight games. They'll be eager to snap that streak and prove they are for real. Let's also not forget the "Terry Glenn vs. his former team" grudge match. In short, the Patriots will be fired up and hungry for the win. But the Packers faced a fired up and hungry team in Champaign Monday night and took the fight out of the Bears in a hurry. Perhaps the next challenge for Green Bay is to put together two straight convincing victories. |