Pack mauled by Bears

All the Packers had to do to keep pace with Dallas in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC was go into Chicago and beat a mediocre Bears team.

Well, they didn't.

The Bears annihilated the Pack in a 35-7 romp. Nothing was clicking today. It appeared the running game was working, but after the Pack fell behind, they had to throw to get back into it, which did not quite work as Favre threw two picks, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Two of Jon Ryan's punts were blocked, one of which was also returned for a touchdown.

The Packers attempted to keep it close, as the Bears lead was 13-7 at half, but the defense broke and allowed 22 second half points.

Packer of the Game: Ryan Grant. Grant rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries, including a 66-yard scoring play in the second quarter to give the Packers a 7-6 lead.


Quarterback: C-. Favre completed 17 of 32 passes for 153 yards and two interceptions. One of the interceptions was returned for a touchdown by Brian Urlacher. The bad weather definitely hindered Favre's play as did trying to play catch up in the second-half.

Running backs: B. Grant looked good early, but was rendered useless in the second-half by the Bears' big lead. Grant had his fifth 100-yard game since Week 8.

Wide receivers: C. Jennings again led the Pack, but with only three catches and 42 yards. Driver followed him with four receptions for 32 yards. The longest reception by a Packer wide receiver was 20-yards. Four Packer wide receivers caught passes. Rookie James Jones was the only receiver without a catch.

Tight ends: D+. Franks and Lee combined for a measly two catches for ten yards. Lee had only two yards receiving.

Offensive line: C+. Scott Wells had two fumbles while the line gave up only one sack. They did clear the way to another 100-yard game for Grant, but other than that, their performance was nondescript.

Defensive line: C. The D-line was eventually worn down by Adrian Peterson's rushing and they did not sack Kyle Orton. Kampman (two tackles) was taken out of the game by the rushing attack while rookie Justin Harrell registered five total tackles (four solo).

Linebackers: B-. Barnett, Poppinga, and Hawk were the three leading tacklers for the day, but they were also held sackless. Barnett paced all tacklers with 11 solo efforts.


Secondary: B-. They only allowed 101 yards receiving and one touchdown through the air in a solid effort. However, they were not able to intercept Orton.


Special teams: F---. The three minuses could also stand for another word describing this effort. Ryan had two punts blocked, one for a touchdown and shanked a nine-yarder in the third quarter. Ryan averaged only 15.0 yards per punt. However, Devin Hester had only -1 return yards for the game, saving them from four minuses.

Overall grade: D. Horrible performance against a mediocre team today.