CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- After Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers scored on a six-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter of a 24-14 victory over the Bears on Sunday, he looked into the Soldier Field crowd in the southwest corner and spotted the South Loop welcoming committee.
"I looked up at the stands and saw a woman giving me the double bird," Rodgers said postgame with a smile. "I'm not sure exactly what came out of my mouth next."
What came out of Rodgers' potty mouth amused lipreaders as much as it annoyed Bears fans.
"I've owned you all my (expletive) life!" Rodgers shouted in celebration. "I own you, I still own you!"
You don't need a real estate attorney to confirm Rodgers had reason to stake that claim along the lakefront. You also don't need to read the fine print to understand the big headlines: "RODGERS OWNS BEARS, AGAIN". In 27 career starts in this rivalry, Rodgers has owned the Bears enough to have been handed a Cook County tax bill by the time he boarded the team bus. He's practically an honorary McCaskey, except bolder.
"I love it, that's A-Rod,'' Packers teammate Aaron Jones said. "What can you say? He's right."
Indeed, Rodgers was as accurate in his assessment as he is with his right arm. But if this was Rodgers' final appearance as a Packer in Chicago – a Grabowski can dream – then he didn't necessarily save his best for last. Honestly, we all have seen Rodgers play better than he did in his 22nd career victory over the Bears, yet this was good enough.
This was a more solid than spectacular performance by Rodgers, methodical proficiency that often bordered on monotonous, excellence easy to appreciate but unlikely to be included on his Hall of Fame induction video. This was what passes as a pedestrian stat line for one of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks ever: 17-of-23 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and a 128.0 passer rating.
Not surprisingly, Rodgers did the most damage when the Packers needed it – after the Bears had cut the lead to 17-14 with 8:44 left. The Packers responded with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that provided, to borrow a term from Packers broadcaster Wayne Larrivee, "the dagger." Before Rodgers scrambled to score the clinching touchdown, he found Allen Lazard on a quick slant for 13 yards and Davante Adams for 41. Rodgers' wistful explanation of a sideline adjustment with Adams before the clutch completion reminded Chicagoans why they hope this really was goodbye to No. 12 – and good riddance.
"It was just a conversation. I told (Adams) that the thing I will miss 20 years down the line is moments where you make a subtle adjustment (like that one) and you look over at the guy," Rodgers said, pausing to demonstrate the nod he made to Adams. "My whole body started tingling. I knew it was going to be one of those special plays."
It was the most remarkable play in an otherwise unremarkable game, with Adams bouncing off Bears safety Eddie Jackson's tackle attempt but barely stepping out of bounds. Two plays later, Rodgers celebrated his touchdown that made the censors cover their ears and the Bears hang their heads. They played the Packers more competitively, but the margin for error against Rodgers is thinner than the quarterback's patience level can be with teammates. The reasons the Bears dropped to 3-3 also went deeper than just the quarterback who improved his record against them to 22-5, so it would be a mistake to oversimplify it.
Sure, credit goes to Rodgers for making those key plays when the Packers needed, especially that fourth-quarter response. But the game began tilting in the Packers' favor much earlier, after the Bears started allowing more yards on the ground. The football adage says defenses that can't stop the run lose the right to rush the passer. That's what happened against the Packers and why the Bears surrendering 154 rushing yards hurt as much as Rodgers completing every big pass.
The Bears sacked Rodgers twice on the first two drives, but the Packers never panicked when down 7-0 and, eventually, adjusted enough to get into a rhythm built around their running game. Packers coach Matt LaFleur introduced more "gap schemes" against the Bears instead of zone schemes aimed to hit the holes quicker, according to Rodgers. Mixing in short passes and screens also slowed down the Bears' pass rush. It also didn't help that Bears safeties struggled tackling again, such as when Tashaun Gipson was the ant to Packers running back A.J. Dillon's shoe on a 36-yard gain. Gipson also missed what would've been a tackle for loss on Jones' 12-yard touchdown reception that increased the Packers' lead to 17-7 with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson turned in a respectable outing shadowing Adams, limiting him to four catches for 89 yards. Sacks came from Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn and Akiem Hicks, who played through a groin injury, and Roquan Smith continued flying around to make 12 tackles. But give Rodgers an inch and he will take a mile, especially against a unit he knows as well as the Bears defense.
"It's really small," Bears coach Matt Nagy answered when asked about the margin for error when playing Rodgers. "He's won a lot of games. He dictates how things go … We know that."
Perhaps one day they will be saying similar things about Bears quarterback Justin Fields – Rodgers' counterpart for the first time. But that day wasn't going to be Sunday due to an uneven performance that, as much as anything from the Bears' perspective, underscored Fields' inexperience.
Such is life in the NFL with a rookie starting quarterback.
The highs were exhilarating. Fields started hot by completing his first three passes and later opened the fourth quarter by going 5-for-5 on an 80-yard scoring drive that pulled the Bears within 17-14. But the lows included taking sacks at inopportune times, like at the end of the first half that took the Bears out of field-goal range and on a desperate fourth-quarter drive.
Fields' most-discussed play came on third-and-7 from the Packers' 47 with 1:23 left in the first quarter. The Packers appeared to jump offside and Fields, taking a page out of his counterpart Rodgers' book, tried taking advantage of what he considered a free play by looking deep.
"I think everybody in the stadium thought that was a free play," Fields said postgame.
It wasn't. In fact, it proved to be perhaps the costliest of the game for the Bears. Fields heaved a Hail Mary into the end zone, but receiver Allen Robinson stopped his route and Packers safety Darnell Savage intercepted the pass – the equivalent of a punt. Nagy called it a gray area that served as a "learning experience" for Fields. Interestingly, Rodgers afterward explained his thought process in similar situations and mentioned he always waits to see a flag in his periphery before he considers it a free play. Twelve plays and 80 yards after Fields' gamble, the Packers made the Bears pay with their first touchdown.
Later in the half, Fields asked for a timeout with three seconds left on the play clock, but officials never granted it before calling delay of game – a costly penalty that contributed to knocking the Bears out of field-goal range. A week after masterfully managing the game in a win against the Raiders, Fields showed his age. The mechanics of the offense were balky. Some receivers were missed, none worse than a wide-open Robinson whom Fields ignored "because the play wasn't supposed to go to him." In his first exposure to the rivalry, nobody in Green Bay is worried yet about Fields owning the Packers as a de facto shareholder. He completed 16 of 27 for 174 yards, one touchdown and one interception for a 75.2 passer rating.
"I didn't play as well as I wanted," Fields said. "I think I should have played better.''
Except Khalil Herbert, every member of the Bears offense could say the same thing. Herbert impressed again, gaining 97 yards on 19 carries. But the offense only scored 14 points, and not many NFL teams can win that way. This isn't a new problem for the Bears, just the latest version, so please refrain from blaming the officials. Several calls didn't go the Bears' way and, objectively, the officiating crew showed questionable judgment, with a phantom hold called on Sam Mustipher nullifying Herbert's 16-yard touchdown run being the worst.
Bad teams blame officiating, and good ones overcome it. The Bears still are determining which they are, sitting at 3-3 after six games with Tom Brady following Rodgers next Sunday and the teeth of the schedule looming. The Bears can't rationalize this latest defeat to the Packers by letting a more competitive effort lessen the sting of the outcome. They can't offer explanations that sound more like excuses, can't overstate the officials' inconsistency, overlook Fields' inexperience or understate how poor their run defense was. They must admit they lost a winnable game, discover the whys and acknowledge internally how far they still have to go before closing the gap with Green Bay.
In other words, own it.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.
