Chicago Sports Liveblog

Play-by-play of the Bears’ attempt to avoid a Packers sweep for the first time since 2003 from a guy who’s playing hurt

Current drive

Jammed right ring finger, sore right shoulder, yet still glad to be back playing water polo. But no concussion, despite a shot or two to the face. So the NFL is letting me play hurt.

The Bears face the Packers, who were 2-2 with a hopeless offensive line heading into the teams’ shared bye week. They have gone 6-2 since then, including figuring out how to beat the hapless 49ers, while the Bears have gone 2-6 since then, including figuring out how to lose to the hapless 49ers.

As David Haugh points out in the Tribune, part of that is because Aaron Rodgers has figured out how to play behind a bad offensive line. He has one fewer passing attempt than Jay Cutler, but 14 more complete passes, eight more touchdowns and 13 fewer interceptions. So add that to the pile of depression that is this Jordan-forsaken season. Oh, and 585 more yards.

Yet somehow, I think the Bears will win this one. Why? Because I’m a freaking homer. That’s why. Vaughn McClure at the Tribune joins Adam Schefter at ESPN and Pete Prisco at Sportsline and, of course, my shining expertise in saying the Bears will take it. McClure says turnovers and penalties will be the Packers’ demise, which meshes with Prisco’s analysis that the Packers are coming off a short week against a tough team.

It’s 35 degrees and cloudy according to my weather widget (I can see the cloudy out my window but I’m not stepping outside because I don’t have to. Not that 35 is really all that cold. The two Bears players listed as questionable will be out this week: Devin Hester and Orlando Pace. Granted, it was the Rams, but Chris Williams looked okay at left tackle last week. And since that’s the position for which the Bears drafted him, it makes sense to play him there the rest of the season, since next year is about all for which the Bears can play.

Football soon.

FIRST QUARTER

Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick in the booth for this one. I wonder if Brennaman is just sad to be announcing a football game that doesn’t feature Tim Tebow. Or if he’s looking up his old Cubs broadcasting partner Ron Santo. (Remember that? Back when Santo could analyze a baseball game rather than just moan for nine innings?) Okay, my Fox HD went out. To the regular def. Per former colleague Amanda Kaschube, the kick was returned to the 20 followed by an eight-yard pass to Devin Aromashodu. Now I’m watching and Cutler throws incomplete on an out route left and then Matt Forte loses four yards on 3rd and 2. Punt goes to the 25, Jordy Nelson runs it backward from the middle of the field to the right sideline and gets around three Bears and gets 13 to the 38.

Ryan Grant bursts off left tackle, gets into the secondary and he’s gone for a 62-yard touchdown. PAT good.

Packers 7, Bears 0, 13:12 left in the 1st quarter

Danieal Manning returns it to the 25, from where Forte follows a blocker on a stretch play right, shoots through a hole and gets the first down plus about three one. From the 36, Chris Williams Frank Omiyale starts falsely and then Forte is stood up at the line of scrimmage, 2nd and 15. Swing left to Forte and he can’t make cornerback Jarrett Bush miss, tripped up after a gain of four. Cutler has nothing, sprints forward and has the first down plus a chunk, and slides down inside the Packers’ 45. Josh Beekman Omiyale held, so it doesn’t matter. 3rd and 21. Cutler screens to Forte and it gets to the 30, which is six yards behind where Forte got his first down. Boos rain down. Maynard’s punt is fielded on the run at the 35 and Nelson is stopped three yards into that run.

Play action and the Bears completely bite on it, Rodgers rolls right and has a guy wide open rolling with him just on the Bears’ side of midfield, 1st down. Grant goes off right tackle and isn’t even touched by Hunter Hillenmeyer until he has four, and then drags Hillenmeyer for three more. Timeout at 8:34 while the chains get repaired. Slant right to Greg Jennings gets the first down, after which Brian Billick marvels that a good fantasy season generally means you’re having a good season. Rodgers goes deep to the end zone for Jennings, who has a step on Charles Tillman and the refs rule it incomplete. The Bears lined up offside (that has happened WAY too much this season), and after watching a replay, Mike McCarthy is challenging that Jennings caught it, had two feet down and then Tillman punched it out. He will win this and the Packers will be up two touchdowns. The call is upheld, and Brian Billick is not happy about it. I disagree as well, but hey, the Bears can take it. Brandon Jackson in for Grant and he gets four up the middle, 2nd and 1 (because of the offside call). Delay handoff to Grant gets the first down up the middle to the 23. Grant tries to go off left tackle and finally gets stuffed, loss of one. Bears call a timeout with 5:41 left in the first. Flags fly as Rodgers overthrows Jennings on the right side of the end zone. Packers lined up illegally, 2nd and 16. Okay, I missed a five-yard gain somewhere because I’m not smart, so that was 3rd and 11, not 2nd and 16, and then Rodgers hits Jermichael Finley on a slant left for a first down to teh 13. Grant cuts up the middle for three. Aaron Rodgers has 14 touchdowns and no picks in the red zone this year. He’s better than Jay Cutler at playing quarterback. I thought the Bears had the best quarterback in the division entering this season. They have the worst. Alex Brown bats a play-action pass at the line. The Bears then get pressure on Rodgers and Lance Briggs sacks him just shy of the 20. Mason Crosby hits the field goal.

Packers 10, Bears 0, 3:35 left in the 1st quarter

Rashied Davis takes it across the 25 to the 28, then Jay Cutler horrendously underthrows a fade to the right sideline and Charles Woodson picks it and returns it to the Bears’ 40.

Grant gets six to the right sideline and then Ahman Green (he’s back!) gets a yard up the middle. Rodgers overthrows a wide-open Finley. They Packers line up for the superlong field goal, then check out of it with the backup quarterback slash holder lining up in the shotgun and the Bears call timeout with 2:05 left in the quarter. Packers for real go for it, no tricks, except for the one where the Bears defend the pass and then forget about the fact that Rodgers has two legs and uses them to beat Hillenmeyer to the sideline for the first down to the 23. Grant gets three to the 20 and I really am out of descriptors for how much watching the Bears sucks. Green in again, goes off left tackle and carries a few dudes with him to a yard shy of the sticks. Green easily gets the first up the middle and that’s the quarter.

Packers 10, Bears 0

SECOND QUARTER

From the 10½, Grant sweeps left for four. Packers erase that by starting falsely. This game has gotten very boring very quickly. Empty backfield, Alex Brown isn’t fooled by a screen to tight end Donald Lee on the left side and Brown drags him down from behind for a gain of two. Rodgers fires over the middle to Donald Driver but too low and the Packers will attempt the chip shot. It’s good.

Packers 13, Bears 0, 13:03 left in the half

Danieal Manning takes it from the 4 on the left side across the 25 up the middle to the 27. Kahlil Bell in and he gets two or three up the middle. Thom Brennaman pimps Fox’s coverage of the Sugar Bowl with the 11-0 Cincinnati Bearcats against “the great Tim Tebow.” Took him until 12:20 of the second quarter. Cutler rolls right and throws it away. Cutler attempts to force it into Bennett on the right side at the sticks but he’s triple covered and it’s batted down. Punt return is stopped immediately, yard line after commercials.

It’s the 39, from where a screen left to Jackson gets nine. Grant gets the first down powering left. The Packers just blew the Bears off the line and Grant just walked across the first-down line before getting brought down at the Bears’ 48. Grant again, this time he gets three and holds on to the ball despite many ripping attempts. Green up the middle and he gets a yard or two shy of the marker. Jackson gets stuffed so the Packers are actually punting. It’s a touchback. Something good for the Bears: Defense makes a stop. Something bad: The offense has the ball.

Ah yes, the Bears can’t start a drive without backing themselves up five yards on a false start by Chris Williams. Pass to the right side to Bennett for five yards and he can’t quite break a tackle, dives forward for three, gain of eight total. Cutler to Bennett again, coming from left to right just shy of the sticks. Forte runs into the line, spins to the left and the Bears get a Bronx cheer from the crowd for converting on a run on 3rd and short. Cutler hits Aromashodu on the left side for a measurable number of yards. The measurement says a first down. Bears start falsely again, this time it’s Olsen, 1st and 15 from the 38. Play fake screen to Forte and Olin Kreutz completely whiffs on his block of Nick Barnett, loss of three. Kreutz is declining in ability on top of still being a bad person. Cutler overthrows Olsen on the left side, 3rd and 18. Packers rush three, Cutler has plenty of time, buys more time with his feet and finally finds Johnny Knox at the Packers’ 37 for a first down. Cutler then underthrows a deep pass to the end zone for Aromashodu and Charles Woodson drops the diving interception. Forte then bounces out right but one hand of Woodson trips him up for a gain of only one. Cutler has time again and hits Aromashodu on a deep square-in from the left side for another first down to the 17. Protection breaks down and Clay Matthews sacks Cutler for a loss of one and that’s the warning. Cutler goes over the middle to a leaping Bennett in the back of the end zone but Bennett doesn’t get his second foot down before his thigh hits out of bounds. Still a pretty good catch, but not a catch. The review confirms the incomplete call. On 3rd and 12, Cutler makes a very good throw up the right sideline to Knox, who makes a very good catch over two defenders for the touchdown. PAT is good. Fade right that Cutler put where only Knox could get it and Knox made the hands-only catch. Scuffle after the play and unnecessary roughness call on Patrick Mannelly. Replay shows that he was on his back getting stepped on most of the time. Not sure what the call was. Oh well.

Packers 13, Bears 7, 1:48 left in the half

Kick goes just inside the 20 and returned just shy of the 35, the Packers have 1:42 and two timeouts to go about 40 yards to get into Crosby’s range. Rodgers hits Driver in the left flat and he’s brought down in bounds for a gain of only five or so, then Tommie Harris breaks free to sack Rodgers after Adewale Ogunleye flushed him back toward Harris. Dumpoff to Brandon Jackson and he gets the first down under deep coverage and the Packers call timeout with :21 left with the ball at the Packers’ 45 or so. Pass over the middle to Finley, he gets across the red line indicating Crosby’s field goal range, but the ball gets knocked loose and Danieal Manning recovers it at the Bears’ 30.

Cutler takes a knee to a chorus of boos, then the Packers immediately call a timeout, stopping the clock at :08. Cutler takes another knee and the Bears will kick off to the Packers down six when we come back from the half.

Halftime: Packers 13, Bears 7

Halftime thoughts: After the way the first quarter went, it’s rather impressive that the Bears are actually in this. Of course, it took a drive where Jay Cutler had more passing yards than the Bears had net yards. But that’s Bears football. Discipline. Also, to the discussion on the board, I think the Bears are still in it if they lose today, win out, and everyone above them loses out. Stupid NFL.

THIRD QUARTER

Robbie Gould decides he doesn’t want to be left out of the whole suck parade and kicks off out of bounds. Grant gets stuffed for no gain, then appears to be corralled for no gain on a checkdown, but jukes two (2) defenders and gets seven. Rodgers rolls right out of a blitz and hits Jennings 1-on-1 with Danieal Manning at the Bears’ 30. Make it the 29, from where Rodgers rolls out of pressure, does the throw it but it goes straight up in the air, gets hit and does it again and Anthony Adams comes down with the interception at the 44.

Forte gets four up the middle, then carries two or three guys up the middle for a measurable number of yards, and they give him the first down at the Packers’ 46. Cutler hits Aromashodu on the right side for six, he turns around for three or four and they’re calling it three, 2nd and 1 from the 37. Forte gets the first up the middle. Cutler goes up the right sideline to Knox, step-for-step with Woodson, Knox stops and comes back for the short pass and makes the catch. Looked like a designed back-shoulder throw, as analyzed by Billick, and then they go back shoulder to Aromashodu to the front left corner of the end zone for the touchdown. That was Woodson again. Pick on Charles Woodson, score a touchdown. That’s a winning formula. Or something. PAT is good.

Bears 14, Packers 13, 9:35 left in the 3rd quarter

Despite being given a pronunciation guide before each game, Thom Brennaman has had a hell of a day with Aromashodu. “Aroma-SHAW-doo” was most of the game until he went with “Aroshamadoo” after the touchdown. “Tebow Tickler” is how you pronounce “Brennaman,” right? Kick returned to the 25, from where the Packers start falsely. Did the teams switch jerseys at the half? Grant gets those five yards back sweeping right, then Rodgers avoids getting sacked by Hillenmeyer by shoveling to Grant, who gets dropped for no gain by Kevin Payne. No, they haven’t switched jerseys, as Rodgers has plenty of time and fires to a wide-open receiver right of the hash marks for a first down to the Bears’ 49. Grant gets a yard on first down, then a pass to Driver in the left flat gets five or six. The Bears blitz and Rodgers overthrows James Jones, who had a step behind Al Afalava. Punt is a touchback.

Desmond Clark gets his first reception since his neck injury, this in the right flat for six or seven, then Bell converts the first up the middle to the 31. Bell slips after taking the handoff out of a singleback set and gets only a pair. Packers lineman Johnny Jolly, who was questionable coming into the game, hobbles off the field. Brennaman back to “Aroma-SHAW-doo” as he gets one squaring out in the right flat and gets shoved out of bounds a yard shy of the sticks. It’s a long yard, and Cutler hits Aromashodu (Brennaman got it right!) for five or so and another first down. Bell gets four to midfield. Cutler hits Rashied Davis a long yard shy of the sticks and then Bell is painfully stuffed by Nick Barnett on 3rd and 1. Bears punt to boos, Maynard drops the snap, gets the punt off and Davis has it tracked, but has to avoid the return man so it skips into the end zone. Due to the delay of the punt, the Bears have an ineligible man downfield so the Packers will have it at the 25.

Bears blitz, Packers pick it up easily and Rodgers hits Finley on a slant off of left end for eight. Briggs rushes a throw from Rodgers coming untouched off the left end and it falls incomplete. Rodgers goes over the middle, it gets batted by Payne and falls incomplete, Packers go 3-and-out for (I think) the first time this game. Bennett fields the punt and has nowhere to go.

That was fielded at the 30, returned to the 27, then Williams gets flagged for illegal hands to the face, the Bears will have 1st and 20 when we come back for the fourth quarter.

Bears 14, Packers 13

FOURTH QUARTER

From the 17, Forte gets up the middle, cuts out of a couple of different tackles and gets 13 total to bring up 2nd and 7. Cutler hits Olsen in the left flat for three and it’s dropped right there by Atari Bigby. Cutler lets it go in the face of a blitz and underthrows it to Knox, it’s picked off (similar to the first pick) and Nick Collins returns it just shy of the Bears’ 10.

Run gets five, then pass interference on Zack Bowman gives the Packers 1st and goal from the 1. Grant gets the touchdown. Packers go for two, Rodgers hits Jennings squaring out from the left and the Packers take the touchdown lead.

Packers 21, Bears 14, 12:39 left in the game

Davis fields the short kick at the 13 and returns it just shy of the 30. Make it the 30, from where Forte gets three up the middle. Cutler steps up in the pocket, gets dragged down by Johnny Jolly but Jolly grabbed some face mask, so the Bears get a first down. Cutler was indicating face mask to the ref as he went down. Nice. Cutler goes over the middle, it bounces off Aromashodu’s chest and is almost the third pick of the game. From the 44, Cutler hits Olsen squaring out right just past the sticks. Cutler checks down to Jason McKie in the left flat for no gain, then overthrows Olsen up the left sideline, 3rd and 10 from the Packers’ 44. Miscommunication between Knox and Cutler, former squares out left, Cutler throws in and the Bears have to punt. It goes out of bounds at the 11. Brad Maynard is good.

Unfortunately, so is Ryan Grant. He beats Charles Tillman around the left corner and gets the first down plus about five, then Al Afalava hits him out of bounds so it’s 15 more yards. Replay shows that it was way too close to warrant a flag. Grant gets five up the middle to midfield. Rodgers then finds a wide-open Finley over the middle and Tillman finally drags him down at the Bears’ 25. Grant gets stuffed for a yard. Ditto, 3rd and 8. Pass to the right flat is incomplete, then Crosby shanks the 42-yarder to cheers from the Soldier faithful.

Forte gets three yards and then gets a first down on a screen but Chris Williams yanks Clay Matthews down by his face mask, so the Bears have 2nd and 22 from the 20. Cutler hits a leaping Olsen over the middle, who appears to hold on impressively under a solid hit, but then loses it when he lands on the ground. Bears call timeout with 4:51 left. Now Lovie Smith challenges the play. If he loses this challenge, as Brennaman points out, he will lose two timeouts when the clock was stopped anyway. Please just fire him already. Cutler has no one to throw to, dumps off to Forte, who tries to make people miss seven yards shy of the markers and can’t. Maynard’s punt is downed at the Packers’ 27.

Make it the 28, from where Grant gets a yard and the clock will be under 3:20 at next snap. Grant again, the line powers right and Grant cuts back and gets eight, a yard shy of the sticks and the Bears call their final timeout. With 3:06 left, Green gets stuffed and the Bears will get the ball back right around the warning. Packers start falsely with 2:19 left, Bennett fields the punt at the 20, dodges through some tackles to the 29 but there’s a flag. Holding.

From the 9, Cutler hits Knox on the left side for six and that’s the warning. Cutler gets sacked back at the 8, then hits Knox at the 15 again, so two plays later the Bears have gone nowhere. Flags fly with 1:13 left, false start on Olin Kreutz. Woodson bats Cutler’s downfield pass away and that’s the ballgame.

Knees. I wish the Packers would kick a field goal here just to be assholes.

Final: Packers 21, Bears 14

Final thoughts: The Bears may not be mathematically done for the season, but I see no reason not to play Caleb Hanie, if for no other reason than to give him experience if he is indeed going to be your backup.