I have to be honest with everyone, I did not want to have a chance at winning the division at the beginning of the week. People will call that stupid. People will call that dumb. But honestly, I was emotionally spent. I could not take it anymore. Someone asked me for my thoughts on the game and I could not tell them because the whole thought exhausted me at the beginning of the week. When a team puts you through the meat grinder for two months, you get broken down. Does this make me a bad fan? To some, probably but I had enough of watching Matt Flynn bungle opportunities and MD Jennings miss tackles, I just wanted closure. But things can change in an instant and it did with the return of Aaron Rodgers. My mood changed on an instant. I started thinking about ways Rodgers can help Green Bay move past the Bears and get into the playoffs where they might have a chance even if with all that has went wrong with the season. The classic and maybe the only classic scene of Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III sums it best for me. The season had pulled me back in with Rodgers, and I became elated as he would be going up against a struggling Chicago Bears defense. Green Bay still needs to commit to a balanced attack on Sunday with easing Rodgers back into place and a heavy dose of Bash/Slash as my good friend Seth likes to call our running back tandem.
Mike McCarthy needs to look at some of his previous game plans to start out with Rodgers on Sunday. The short passes he used with Flynn should be utilized greatly in the first quarter of the game. There is no real reason for Rodgers to be in seven-step drops to start the football game off. In the second through fourth quarter, this all goes out the window. Maybe even wait until halftime, but McCarthy needs to stick to a Santorum-style playbook for the first quarter. Although what the hell do I know, Mac might show off his elephant nuts and call a four vertical route first play of the game with Rodgers hits Jordy Nelson in stride with McCarthy doing the DX chop down the field. While I feel like this is a complete joke, I could totally see it happen minus the DX chop.
No matter what the play calling is like in the first quarter, there needs to be a consistent commitment to run the football. Chicago cannot stop the run. Eddie Lacy decimated this defense the first time around. James Starks got into a mix slightly as well. These two guys needs to be prominently featured throughout the game. Not only will this keep the defense rested, but it makes for the playaction beauties we have seen from Rodgers in the past. I do hope Starks sees some time on Sunday with Lacy's ankle being a little iffy, I do not want to see a workhouse load from Lacy. This offense figures to have a big game on Sunday in all facets of the game.
Even with Rodgers returning, this is not a cakewalk for Green Bay. Chicago is still a potent team despite their defensive struggles this season. People can point to the Philadelphia game or giving up 24 points to Cleveland. There is also a ground swell about Jay Cutler's record against Green Bay which is 1-8 if you have not heard enough talking heads discuss it. The fact of the matter is for Chicago to win this football and steal all the Rodgers excitement, they need two things to happen - Matt Fore to be a factor and Cutler to limit his mistakes as much as possible.
The one thing it seems like no one is talking about from last week's Philadelphia game is how poorly Forte played in both running the football and pass-blocking. Now, we can all have bad games, but could he be a little burned out from the season? Forte has 267 carries already for the season which is the most since his rookie year in 2008 when he carried the ball 316 times. He did not look sharp against an average Philadelphia team, and he will need to be the x-factor on Sunday for Chicago to win this football game. One place where Forte can really take advantage is the flats. Green Bay's lack of tackling makes Forte lethal out there, and he could have a big game just being the safety valve for this Bears team.
The other way Chicago wins this football game is for Cutler to play within himself against Green Bay. In his last two years, Cutler has four touchdowns to seven interceptions versus Packers' defenses with a marginal quarterback rating. He tends to make inexplicable errors at the wrong time when playing Green Bay. It seems like once one thing goes wrong for Cutler, everything else just crumbles like a house of cards. That cannot happen on Sunday. With Rodgers in there, the assumption would be Green Bay's recent rash of turnovers will disappear meaning Chicago will have limited opportunities to score thus Cutler cannot be Mr. Hyde if they want to win this football game.
While I do think people are treating this like Green Bay is winning it no matter what and that makes me nervous, I still think the Packers come out victorious in this one. Rodgers will not have an iconic performance out there, but I do think he plays a large part in Green Bay winning. It will come more from a spirited game from the two running backs as well as the secondary playing well enough to help Green Bay out in a cold weather shootout. Green Bay 35 Chicago 31
Charlie.
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