2-3 never felt so good
A day after the Cubs ended their season, the Bears came within a precious few plays of waiting till next year too. But this year still matters because the Bears won the game in the fourth quarter instead of blowing it. Lovie Smith remains unbeaten in four trips to Lambeau Field, and none of them have meant more than this win, which saved the Bears from falling four games out of the NFC North race. The Bears can build off this confidence to go on a mini-run.
Good Brett, Bad Brett
Brett Favre brought the Bears back into the game with a bad interception to Brian Urlacher. But he was the biggest reason the Packers had built a 10-point lead. A Bears secondary that switched Danieal Manning to cornerback and inserted Brandon McGowan at free safety left some holes. Both struggled, as did the entire Bears defense that looked surprisingly soft against the run and didn’t pressure Favre until the fourth. Losing Darwin Walker hurts.
Tight spot
How else to get out of a tight spot
other than finding the tight end? Before Desmond Clark’s game-winning 34-yard TD catch, fellow tight end Greg Olsen put the Bears in a position to win. Olsen caught a 19-yard TD pass and another key 27-yard pass that kept a fourth-quarter drive alive. The Bears still didn’t run the ball as they would have liked and Brian Griese nearly killed them with a fourth-quarter interception, but the tight ends made it moot. What took so long?
Special decision
The Packers were bluffing beforehand about kicking to Devin Hester, and every cheesehead in Wisconsin breathed a sigh of relief. Packers coach Mike McCarthy might not have made a smarter decision all night. In a close game that kept waiting for the Bears to enjoy a swing in momentum, Hester was neutralized. The kickoff return with the biggest impact came from Green Bay’s Tramon Williams when his 65-yarder got the crowd of 70,904 back into it in the third quarter.
