Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears: 3 things we learned in Week 1

The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears started the NFL’s 100th season, and here are three things we learned from Week 1.

The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears were able to kick off the league’s 100th season. It’s a season of change for the Packers. There’s a new Head Coach. There are a lot of new pieces on defense. The team has a feel of being essentially brand new. Sometimes new is good, sometimes it isn’t.

Through one game of the LaFleur era, however, the Packers won a defensive struggle with a 10-3 victory over the Bears.

Here are three things we learned about in the Packers’ victory.

1. Mr. and Mr. Smith

The Smiths were the biggest ticket items of the offseason. Za’Darius and Preston Smith were signed within an hour of each other and were brought in to transform the Packers’ defense.

It’s only been one game, but did they ever. They finished with a combined 2.5 sacks. Preston Smith had a pressure on Trubisky for Adrian Amos’ interception. Za’Darius Smith had a big night and lived in the Bears’ backfield. The game, fittingly perhaps, ended on a sack where the two combined to pressure Trubisky, with Preston finishing him off inside the five yard line.

The Smiths are both being paid to be big time pass rushers. For one night, at least, the Packers are getting their money’s worth.

2. 3rd down offense

Really, the offense as a whole is going to be a work in progress. That was always going to be the case. Matt LaFleur is installing a new scheme. The starting offense did not get any live reps during the preseason. There are a multitude of factors at play as to the inexperience within the offense. Tonight, third down was especially ugly. The Packers were sacked five times with four of those coming on third down. Some of them were protection issues. Others were Rodgers holding on to the ball. It will be interesting to see if Rodgers was gun shy about pulling the trigger on some plays. That said, the offense needs a lot of work. Outside of two series, they did not move the ball. That’s especially true on third down.

3. Smash Amos: 

Adrian Amos does not intercept passes. That was the argument coming from Bears fans when the Packers signed him. The Bears replaced him with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Clinton-Dix had a non-descript night. Amos, however, made one of the biggest plays of the game. The Bears finally were putting a drive together late in the game. With Chicago threatening  in the red zone for the tying score, Mitchell Trubisky threw up a jump ball for Allen Robinson. Instead of finding Robinson, he found the waiting arms of Amos in the back of the end zone. It was not the game sealing interception like many Packers fans hoped it would be, but it was a big play to deny the Bears the tying score.