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Green Bay Packers: Instant Takeaways from Dominant Win Over Bears

By Paul Bretl

Nov 29, 2020; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers linebacker Preston Smith (91) returns a Chicago Bears fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2020; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers linebacker Preston Smith (91) returns a Chicago Bears fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Green Bay Packers bounced back in a big way with a dominating win over the Bears. Here are some instant takeaways from their performance.

After a disappointing loss last week to Indianapolis, the Green Bay Packers bounced-back in a big way with a dominant win over the Chicago Bears. The offense torched the NFL’s fourth-ranked defense by DVOA, while the defense came away with three turnovers.

As always, here are my immediate takeaways from the Packers’ performance along with some highlights sprinkled in.

  • I just mentioned it, but I’ll say it again, this was one of the top defenses in the NFL that Green Bay faced tonight. The Bears rank fourth by DVOA and have given up the sixth-fewest points per game this season, however, the Packers dominated.
  • The Packer offensive line held up very well tonight, especially considering that Corey Linsley had to leave the game again with an injury. We also rarely heard Mack’s name, a credit to Billy Turner.
  • I wrote about it last week, but we saw again that the Green Bay Packers OL in 2021 appears to be in good shape. Due to cap constraints, there’s a good chance Linsley ends up elsewhere, but this unit looks just fine with Jenkins at center and Runyan at left guard.
  • It was evident that the Chicago defense missed Akiem Hicks in the middle. The Packers’ run game had a lot of success between the tackles.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/1333255279996137472

  • Green Bay dominated the time of possession, several of their scoring drives were 10 plus plays and ate up a lot of clock.
  • I love how aggressive LaFleur is on 4th downs.
  • Since the San Francisco game, Darnell Savage has been trending upwards, so it was nice to see him come away with not just one, but two interceptions.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/1333249561121341440

  • We saw the offense get Equanimeous St. Brown more involved. Two receptions on two targets with a run on a jet sweep as well.
  • Turnovers were a big factor in the first half. The Packers went into the half with a 17 point lead and had scored 14 points off of two forced turnovers.
  • Matt LaFleur was excellent once again with his play-calling. We saw plenty of motion even though Tyler Ervin was out, misdirection, play-action, bootlegs, quick passes; just a wonderful job of keeping Chicago off-balance.
  • We saw some milestones set on Sunday night as well. Davante Adams hauled in his 500th reception and Aaron Rodgers surpassed the 50,000-yard mark. And he did so on this touchdown pass to Bob “Touchdown” Tonyan, who caught his seventh TD this season.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/1333251134841004040

  • For the second week in a row, we saw more 5-wide from the Packer offense.
  • It’s happened several times this season, but the Green Bay defense gave up another score before the half. Once again playing a little too conservative.
  • It was a nice night for Kevin King. When he’s healthy, he’s been a very solid player. On the flip side, it was not a good night for Christian Kirksey.
  • Hey, the special teams unit didn’t do anything egregious tonight. So there is that.
  • Is Preston Smith coming alive? We will have to see what the All-22 shows, but initially, it looked like a very nice game for him. Including this fumble recovery that he took for six.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/1333236093194436613

  • Through three quarters the Green Bay Packers were very efficient on third downs, going 6/9 including 5/5 to start the game.
  • When it comes to the Green Bay defense, my initial thought is that tonight’s performance was more of a product of playing Trubisky and the Bears rather than them making strides in the right direction.
  • Fortunately, Chicago couldn’t stick to the run game since they trailed by so much, but they were averaging 7.9 yards per carry. The defense was also eaten up over the middle of the field as well. So nothing really new there.
  • Overall, the Packer defense hasn’t consistently pressured the QB this season, but they have performed well against bad OLs. And that continued tonight.
  • At 8-3, the Packers have a three-game lead over the Bears and Vikings. The North is all but wrapped up at this point–especially with Green Bay’s remaining schedule being relatively easy.
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