Green Bay Packers v. Bears: 6 Big Questions Revisited
By Paul Bretl
Q: Can Aaron Rodgers find continued deep-ball success?
A: Eventually
Through the first 10 games of the season, Aaron Rodgers and this offense were not finding the same downfield success that they did in 2020. But against Minnesota and Los Angeles, that began to change.
In that two-game stretch, Rodgers completed 6 of his 12 passes of 20+ yards, the most in each category during that span, and he also ranked second in passer rating, fourth in yards per attempt, and second in yards.
While the run game and quick passing offense are what makes this unit go, having the deep ball element is a must as well if this group is going to be firing on all cylinders.
Against the Bears, Rodgers was 2/4 on downfield passes, per PFF, for 70 yards and a touchdown–another nice week. Although one thing I’ll point out that I covered in my 3 Big Things article is that early on during the opening script, there appears to be too much of trying to force the ball downfield, which has led to Rodgers holding on to the ball and what I believe is a big contributor to some of the slow starts on offense.
"“At times the last couple years we’ve been so good in the first 15 to 20 plays that we script, and scoring on opening drives, touchdowns,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers via Packers.com. “Hasn’t really been the case this year. We’ve been a lot slower starting, so we gotta look at that.”"
Q: Can the Green Bay Packers cure those post-bye week blues?
A: Eventually
Green Bay entered Sunday’s game 0-2 coming off regular-season byes during the Matt LaFleur era. While they faced two difficult road opponents in both instances — 2019 San Francisco and 2020 Tampa Bay — it’s not as if they played well either, losing by a combined score of 75-18.
This Sunday again started off very slowly. The offense struggled to move the ball during the opening script, the defense was allowing some uncharacteristic big plays, and the special teams unit was horrendous. Green Bay quickly found themselves down 10-0 and then 24-14 later on.
Fortunately, with the Packers being the far more talented team, they were able to find their rhythm on both sides of the ball — but not special teams — and ended up cruising to a relatively easy 45 to 30 win.