Chicago Sports

I’m guessing that every now and then, you Bears fans wonder why your higher power hasn’t visited upon Green Bay what it has visited upon Chicago. The humiliation. The pain and desolation. You wonder why the football desert in which the Bears have lived in for so long hasn’t moved north to where the Packers reside.

What would life feel like with a consistent winning football organization in Chicago? What would life feel like if the Packers fell into 30 years of despair?

The hell if you know.

The Packers beat the Bears 27-10 Sunday night in Green Bay, giving them 47 victories in the past 62 meetings between the two teams. Their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, is 24-5 against the Bears. Come now. Really?

Yes, really. And here’s why: It’s a game of inches, and the Packers own the measuring stick, too. On fourth and a sliver at the goal line, with the Bears trailing 24-10 late in the game, the Bears ran quarterback Justin Fields out of the shotgun. Why they did that is almost beyond understanding. They had been hammering the ball down the Packers’ throats the entire drive. Why not line up the QB under center, and let him or rugged David Montgomery plow ahead? Perhaps former head coach Matt Nagy, constantly criticized for his play-calling during his stay in Chicago, interrupted the communication between new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and Fields. The result was the Packers stuffing Fields short of the goal line — even if replay showed he might have crossed it.

“It was the best play we had there at the time,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said.

“We’ll never know if I got in or not,” Fields said.

The bigger result was the usual result — another Packers victory over the Bears.

You thought what? That Sunday was going to be different? No, you didn’t.

The Packers’ dominance over the Bears is one of those things that just is, like air. It’s not that you don’t want more out of life. It’s that for many of you this is the only life you’ve known. It’s simple math. One and one equals two. The square root of four is two. And Rodgers owns the Bears. The Packers quarterback roared that sentiment to Bears fans at Soldier Field last season, and no one in Chicago could come up with a response other than the schoolyard retort of, “Do not!”

So everyone — team, fans and media — went into Sunday’s game looking for a flicker of something, anything that might suggest the beginning of a three-decade fire the other way. These Bears might be in rebuilding mold, but it doesn’t have to mean doom and gloom. And the flicker was there in the first half Sunday, if you did an extremely quick squint. The defense held the Packers to a field goal on a 13-play drive to open the game. The Bears’ offense answered with a 71-yard touchdown drive, led by Fields, who had a 30-yard completion and a 3-yard scoring run.

So, yes, an actual Bears lead over Green Bay.

And then — oh, no — three second-quarter touchdowns by the Pack, a 24-7 halftime lead and a dark reminder of the natural order of things. Green Bay ran all over the Bears’ defense. The Bears’ offense appeared to be first down-averse.

Then that chance in the fourth quarter and another reminder, the usual one: The Packers do indeed own the Bears. The hard running of Montgomery had Green Bay on its heels. The smart thing, the only thing, really, was to let him bash it into the end zone on fourth-and-inches. The Bears could cut the lead to 24-17, and after that, who knows?

But, no. Death by shotgun.

So the Bears figured out a new way to lose to the Packers. Who knew there was such a variety of choices?

Bears-Packers is a lot of things, but a competitive rivalry isn’t one of them.

If you were looking for progress from Fields the passer on Sunday night, you were disappointed. He threw the ball just 11 times and ended up with an interception and a passer rating of 43.8.

Replacing one franchise quarterback, Brett Favre, with another, Rodgers, as the Packers have done, is a matter of shrewdness and acuity. For the Bears, the main culprit is ineptness on the part of ownership. But still … this much losing to one team? It’s either a curse or it’s entirely possible that the McCaskeys are allergic to excellence. The great hope in Chicago is that Fields is the antidote. But that’s all it is now. A hope.

The Bears came into Sunday’s game on a real high after upsetting the 49ers in Week 1. The question in Week 2 was whether they would come down to earth. They hit the metaphorical frozen tundra.

Will things ever change for the Bears? Ask that of your higher power – if it exists. The lack of success against the Packers raises serious theological doubts.

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It’s Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season, and we had two epic fourth-quarter comebacks.

Tua Tagovailoa had six passing touchdowns and led the Miami Dolphins back from three scores down against the Baltimore Ravens — in a game in which they trailed from the very first play after a 103-yard touchdown return. In the late window, the Arizona Cardinals overcame a 23-7 fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime with a 2-point conversion with no time remaining, then defeated the Las Vegas Raiders in overtime on a walk-off scoop-and-score.

The rivalry between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints got heated. After both teams found little offensive success over three quarters, a scuffle resulted in Marshon Lattimore and Mike Evans getting ejected. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers’ defense came alive in the fourth quarter to lead Tampa to victory.

The Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars had offensive breakouts, while the New England Patriots and New York Jets got key road wins after Week 1 losses. And the New York Giants are 2-0 — a rare sight in recent years. On the other side of the coin, the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals are now 0-2, losing to the Dallas Cowboys on a walk-off field goal in the late afternoon window.

Also in the late window, San Francisco 49ers second-year quarterback Trey Lance suffered a serious ankle injury that will reportedly keep him out for the season. Jimmy Garoppolo filled in admirably in Sunday’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Our NFL Nation reporters react with the biggest takeaways and lingering questions coming out of this week’s matchups and look ahead to what’s next. Let’s get to it.

Jump to a matchup:LAC-KC MIA-BALATL-LAR

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The Bears’ trick play on their first possession Sunday was a liar. What felt like the start of a memorable game against their dominant rival, instead, served as a prelude to a forgettable offensive performance by quarterback Justin Fields.

An offense that was stuck in the Soldier Field mud last week played like that on the much-drier Lambeau Field turf during Sunday night’s 27-10 loss to the rival Packers. The well-scripted first drive of the game turned into an ugly reality show in which what was planned quickly devolved into something ugly. When it did, it reminded the Bears what they must have known entering the season — if they’re going to win games, they can’t do it by hoping Fields can race Aaron Rodgers to 30 points. Or even 20.

The Bears need to run the ball efficiently and put their second-year quarterback in position to not only make amazing plays, but easy, on-time ones. Through two games — the Week 1 victory in standing water was hardly predictive — it’s unclear if he can.

At least the first drive was smooth.The Bears had leaned on running back David Montgomery for 16 yards on two carries when, after Fields muffed a snap and recovered it, the Bears lined up in the shotgun. Fields handed off to Montgomery, who was on his left, only for the running back to turn and flip the ball back to the quarterback.

Fields looked left and found former Packers receiver Equanimeous St. Brown on a curl route. By the time he was tackled, the Bears had gained 30 yards. Three plays later, Fields dove across the front right pylon for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead.

The drive answered some of the Bears’ biggest questions from the week before. The 71-yard scoring drive was three yards longer than the 68 yards the Bears totaled in the first half of Week 1. Montgomery, in three runs, eclipsed his 26 rushing yards from the week before. And Fields’ 30-yard completion to St. Brown was one more completion to a wide receiver than the team could claim in the first half last week.

The answers, though, were fleeting. For the rest of the half, the Bears looked just as inept as they had in the first half of Week 1– only without the driving rain to blame.

The Bears gained three yards the rest of the half — the exact length of the screen pass thrown to Khalil Herbert when the Bears wanted the clock to expire in the first half. The team’s three other possessions ended with three-and-out punts. Those nine plays produced zero yards; the Bears’ third-down distances were 19 yards, 10 yards and 15 yards.

The second drive of the game was ugly. Fields was sacked on first down and Darnell Mooney was taken down on a screen pass to force third-and-19. The Bears dumped a give-up screen to Montgomery, and punted.

The third possession was embarrassing. On third down, Fields scrambled and threw a completion to St. Brown — only the quarterback was three yards past the line of scrimmage. The flag turned into a loss of downs, a five-yard penalty and a punt.

Trailing by 10 on their next drive, the Bears’ drive went like this: a dropped pass by tight end Cole Kmet, a loss of five yards on a Montgomery run and a Fields slant pass to St. Brown that fell six yards short of the sticks.

Fields had 30 passing yards on the first drive — all on the flea-flicker — and 15 the rest of the half. It’s not exactly the first half in a rainstorm — the Bears’ first five drives of the 49ers game totaled 36 yards over 20 plays –but it wasn’t the leap the Bears so desperately needed. They entered Sunday’s game curious if they could operate an offense in good conditions. They still don’t have an answer.

The Bears wouldn’t gain another first down until the second drive of the second half — and by then they were down 17. A Cairo Santos field goal in the third quarter cut the lead to 14.

The Bears’ best drive of the night had little to do with their passing game. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Bears had the ball at their own 10. They didn’t complete a single pass as they drove 89 yards, leaning on Montgomery, who had six carries for 61 yards on that possession alone, and Herbert, who had two for 33.

Fields ran twice for 10 yards — but needed 11. On third-and-goal from the 6, Fields ran right and dove for the front right pylon with the ball in his hand. He was ruled down at the 1, though, setting up fourth-and-goal. With 8:13 to play and down by 14, Fields took a shotgun snap and plunged forward — only to be stuffed.

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Bears have changed everything, but nothing has actually changed.

With a new defensive-minded head coach and a renewed emphasis on locking down every part of the field, they still can’t stop Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers — not for an entire game, at least, and that’s the only way to win.

Instead, it was another almost-success Sunday at Lambeau Field as they fell 27-10 to the Packers for the eighth consecutive time. It wasn’t all that different from their last trip here, when Matt Nagy said in his halftime interview he was “having so much fun” with a three-point lead only to be down 10 by the end of the third quarter and on his way to another humiliation.

Just another route to the same destination. For three decades.

This time it was Matt Eberflus enjoying some tenuous, yet ultimately meaningless early success. The Bears actually had Rodgers reasonably under control for the first quarter and a half — not nearly enough to constitute a step forward — but were getting battered in the ground game.

Rodgers began just 5 of 11 for 70 yards, but closed the half with eight consecutive completions to rack up 94 yards and two touchdowns, including a classic sidearm throw over the middle to Lazard, beating rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon again to go up 24-7 right before halftime.

And, as the Bears know better than any team in the NFL, once Rodgers gets going, he doesn’t stop. He was well on his way to one of his traditionaldismissalsof the Bears.

Keep in mind that this version of Rodgers is nearly 39 years old and playing with apatchwork crew of wide receivers that was so exasperating to him in training camp that he publicly ripped them for dropped passes and running the wrong routes. He’s also playing behind a makeshift offensive line that will improve when two-time all-pro David Bakhtiari returns.

Rodgers is the football equivalent of spell check. Every defensive error is identified instantly and embarrassingly, surely making Eberflus wonder how he could’ve possibly missed them. Eberflus said he was unafraid to play rookies like second-rounders Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker, and Rodgers was more than happy to test their readiness.

He went at Gordon on his first pass of the game, getting 14 yards on a throw to Sammy Watkins. He beat Gordon again on the same drive with an eight-yard pass to Allen Lazard on third-and-seven. Gordon answered by breaking up a would-be touchdown pass to Lazard down the right sideline.

Eberflus and coordinator Alan Williams spent months designing a defense they believed would be good enough to make the Bears competitive this season and worked all week scheming to stop Rodgers — with the help of Rodgers’ former position coach and current Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s insight.

Turns out, having the Packers’ playbook doesn’t matter against Rodgers if the Bears don’t have players who can keep up with him. And the Bears only made things harder on themselves with lapses in their run defense and penalties at backbreaking moments.

Running back Aaron Jones broke 100 yards rushing just four minutes into the second half, and at the end of the third quarter the Packers were around six yards per carry.

Everything is about progress this season. And nothing about this performance indicated that they’re any closer to containing Rodgers.

Their next shot is Week 13 at Soldier Field, and a lot could change by then. Perhaps the rookies are on top of it by then and Eberflus has the airtight defense he desires. But Rodgers’ early checkup on the rebuilding defense showed plenty of concerns.

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Angelo Blackson Chicago Bears

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Angelo Blackson Chicago Bears

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Marcus Stroman has eight years of experience and 195 major league starts.

Kyle Hendricks pitched Game 7 of the 2016 World Series and is expected to make a full recovery from a small tear in his right shoulder capsule.

But the rest of the projected 2023 Cubs’ rotation remains a mystery, with potential free-agent signings, contract, health and experience considerations.

In recent weeks, the Cubs have juggled their rotation, partly to preserve tender arms like left-handed veteran Wade Miley. The more recent trend involves looking at young, in-house candidates such as Hayden Wesneski and Javier Assad.

Assad walked four and needed 62 pitches to get through the first two innings of a 4-3 loss to the Rockies on Sunday.

“When you don’t have command, it’s tough to just get into the flow,” manager David Ross said.

But Assad gave the Cubs another chance to evaluate him and earn experience.

Much of the free-agent speculation has centered on a prized shortstop, but signing a frontline starter (especially if Justin Verlander or left-hander Carlos Rodon opt out of their current contracts) would upgrade the rotation, take stress off Stroman and Hendricks (whom are both under contract for 2023), and lower the reliance on Keegan Thompson, Wesneski, Caleb Kilian and left-hander Justin Steele.

Of those four pitchers, Steele has thrown the most innings (119), and he’s currently on the 15-day injured list because of a low back strain.

Ross quipped that the phrase “small sample police” used in staff meetings is accompanied quickly by a makeshift siren noise.

That’s why Ross was cautious in assessing the potential of Wesneski, one day after threw seven innings of three-hit ball and has walked only two while striking out 18 and limiting opponents to a .158 batting average in 152/3 innings since being promoted from Triple-A Iowa on Sept. 6.

“I think it will kind of entail like what the offseason acquisitions are,” Ross said. “What roles we need to fill if we go out and get three frontline starters. Maybe he goes to the bullpen, or maybe he’s Triple-A depth. I think there are a lot of guys you can throw in his category.

“He’s definitely proven he’s a big league-caliber pitcher and works that way. His routine is that way, he talks that way, he’s performed that way. I think everything would point to him having a chance to be on the team. I think defining the roles at this point would be silly of me.”

Adrian Sampson, 30, has 40 starts (68 appearances) over parts of five seasons, has a 3.48 ERA this season and the respect of many youngsters for his willingness to help.

Left-hander Drew Smyly and the Cubs have a mutual $10 million option (with a $1 million buyout) for 2023, but Smyly doesn’t mind having his next start moved to Wednesday. Smyly said he’s projected to make three more starts, which would increase his incentives to $1.25 million in addition to his $4.25 million base salary for 2022.

“I don’t mind the extra day of rest at all,” Smyly said. “It’s nice to feel a little more fresh, and it’s fun watching these other guys get some action. It doesn’t bother me at all.”

o Yan Gomes provided the offense for the Cubs Sunday with a two-run single and homer.

ON DECK

CUBS AT MARLINS

Monday: LHP Wade Miley (1-0, 2.89) vs. RHP Edward Cabrera (5-3, 2.70), 5:40 p.m., Marquee Network, WSCR-AM 670

Tuesday: RHP Adrian Sampson (2-5, 3.48) vs. RHP Pablo Lopez (9-10, 3.99), 5:40 p.m., Marquee Network, WSCR-AM 670

Wednesday: LHP Drew Smyly (7-8, 3.48) vs. TBD, 5:40 p.m., Marquee Network, WSCR-AM 670

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who practiced twice this week as part of his return from a knee injury, will not play Sunday night against the Bears.

He tore his ACL on Dec. 31, 2020 and played 27 snaps in last season’s regular season finale — but not in the playoffs or this season’s Week 1 game.

He was one of four notable Packers listed as questionable for Sunday night’s rivalry game, along with receiver Allen Lazard (ankle), tackle Elgton Jenkins (knee) and guard Jon Runyan (concussion).

Lazard– who had 40 catches for the Packers last year but missed the season opener — will play, as will Jenkins and Runyan.

Rookie Bears receiver Velus Jones, who was called doubtful because of a hamstring injury, will not play. He was the only Bears player in doubt this week. Healthy scratches include safety Elijah Hicks, guard Michael Schofield, cornerback Lamar Jackson, guard Ja’Tyre Carter and tight end Jake Tonges.

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