GREEN BAY — The benefit — the only benefit — of playing an almost meaningless game on Christmas night in the cold on the road was that the Bears could learn something about themselves.
They could be better in 2012 based on what they are learning in the waning days of 2011.
What they learned, more than anything, is they have a running back who can carry the load, be more than a complement to Matt Forte and be more than a capable replacement for Marion Barber as the No 2.
You couldn’t say Kahlil Bell owned the Packers, but, like a lot of people recently, he became a shareholder of sorts by running for 121 yards on 23 carries.
As much as the Bears overvalued Caleb Hanie this season, they may have undervalued Bell.
“Every time he’s had an opportunity he’s done everything you want a good running back to do,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said.. “He can run with power. He can make you miss in the open field. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. In a game of this magnitude, he really showed up.”
What Bell did at Lambeau Field cannot be dismissed as meaningless yards against a disinterested opponent. The Packers were playing for home-field advantage in the playoffs, and their only real concern in this game was stopping the run. They stacked eight in the box and had no worries about deep speed on the field.
The Packers, who came into the weekend ranked 12th in the league in run defense, previously gave up 100-yard rushing performances to only three runners. Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson put up 175 on them; Tampa Bay’s LeGarrette Blount had 107 and Denver’s Willis McGahee had 103.
Bell showed some of Peterson’s intensity, some of Blount’s toughness and some of McGahee’s cutting ability.
“He carries a lot of personality as a football player,” Bears fullback Tyler Clutts said. “It does nothing but help out offense and help get a spark going. Everything he does, he does it with all of his heart and all of his will.”
Bell’s will defined the Bears offense. At the time of the season when some minds start to wander and some players start to go down easily, Bell fought for every inch.
“He gave us a lot of life, lot of yards, second-effort yards,” center Roberto Garza said.
Second effort is what led to Bell fumbling on the 1-yard line in the third quarter. Bell’s extra effort enabled Charlie Peprah to pop the ball out of his grasp. Luckily for him, Edwin Williams recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
Williams’ performance contributed to the notion that the team will have a glut of guards next year. Williams, who had a nice block of Clay Matthews on Kellen Davis’ touchdown, can play.
Chris Williams didn’t perform badly at left guard before his injury. Right guard Chris Spencer has done well. And Lance Louis needs to be moved back inside to guard.
With four players who could be starting guards, the Bears might need to think about moving one of them to tackle. The best candidate? Chris Williams, who was drafted to play tackle and had his best season as a right tackle.
The Bears also learned that playing quarterback isn’t as difficult as Hanie sometimes made it look. Josh McCown did not play like Aaron Rodgers, but he played like a professional. He presided over an offense that got the ball into the end zone as many times as the offense got into the end zone in the previous three games combined.
It is worth considering bringing him back to compete for a backup position in 2012.
Another player being evaluated in the final games is cornerback Zack Bowman. He finally got a chance to start Sunday based on dissatisfaction with Tim Jennings but did not distinguish himself.
Bowman, whose contract is up after the season, was covering Packers receivers when they caught three touchdown passes. Two of the receptions were on short slants. It’s almost impossible for any corner to cover those plays unless they are jamming the receiver, and Bears corners were playing slightly off.
“Zack Bowman will be blamed for an awful lot and he needed to make a couple plays, but we didn’t get enough pressure up front,” Smith said.
Bowman, Bell, McCown and some others gave the Bears some valuable tape to evaluate.
That, and maybe a cheese wheel or two, is about all they got out of their trip up north.
Twitter@danpompei
