Green Bay Packers Offense Finds Its Stride in Win over Bears

After a week of hearing how the Packers offense had stalled, was overrated, and might not be what it used to be, Aaron Rodgers told fans and the media to "R-E-L-A-X."

With a 38-17 win over the Chicago Bears, he backed up his words with his actions. The tone of doubters has surely changed with a 22-for-28, 302-yard and four-touchdown performance in Soldier Field against a Bears squad that entered the game coming off back-to-back prime-time road victories against the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets.

The production should have been expected, though, as Rodgers has a history of bounce-back performances in the games following a game in which he threw fewer than 200 passing yards.

With Jarrett Boykin, who had rotated with rookie receiver Davante Adams as the third receiver for the Packers, out, however, the prognosis of the passing game hitting full force wasn't great. Activated on game day as Boykin's replacement in the receiving unit was Jeff Janis, a seventh-round rookie out of Saginaw Valley State.

Janis failed to record a single reception or target but did flirt with the offense in the red zone before a timeout was called on the play. Instead, Rodgers looked to the usual suspects, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, and a pair of different rookies, Richard Rodgers and Adams, to shoulder the load in the passing game.

In a hostile environment that had Packers hearing boos both when arriving on the field and when former Chicago Bear Julius Peppers made his first play against the Windy City club, it was a tough task.

On the first drive, the Packers came out swinging. Down seven and with half of the first quarter off the clock by the time Rodgers first touched the ball, the Packers completed four straight passes to get it on the 2-yard line to start their drive. From there, Eddie Lacy, the recently struggling tailback, punched it in for the score.

The first pass was a short throw to Richard Rodgers, leading to his first catch in the NFL. While the allure of the first reception may stay on the mind of rookies, Rodgers didn't have much time to dwell on a previous play. On the second play of the drive, the Rodgers-to-Rodgers connection was again made, this time on a deep ball resulting in a 28-yard gain.

From there, Rodgers found Nelson twice on short passes that netted them 27 yards in total. The quicker, fast-paced offense was different from the previous weeks'. The performance of the first drive set the tone for the rest of the game, as Green Bay scored on six of their seven drives offensively. The one missed opportunity came on a blocked field goal in the fourth quarter.

Executing productively, Rodgers was able to set a pair of milestones for himself. Hitting the 25,000-yard mark through the air, he became the first quarterback to do so in as many or fewer passes as his career total, 11 fewer than Kurt Warner, who previously had the record.

When measured by how many games it took to complete the milestone, the signal-caller ranks fourth all time. Ahead of him are only Dan Marino, Warner, and Peyton Manning, all of who will be in Canton someday.

Looking back at the game, it became apparent that Chicago recognized that it needed to win the game in a shootout early, attempting a surprise onside kick. Trying to steal a drive or two was how they were going to go about the pursuit of a win. Unfortunately for the Bears, the opposite happened. Down the stretch, Jay Cutler threw two passes that resulted in interceptions returned for over 100 yards.

Why was Green Bay able to do this now? There might have been some credence in the offense's early-season failure due to simple, consistent formations. Against the Bears, the Packers were less predictable, coming out in two-tight end sets as well as four-receiver looks.

Either way, the offense flat-out looked much better as a unit. Randall Cobb ended the first half with a score and started the second half with a score, coming 13 yards short of matching his yardage totals from the first three games combined in one match.

Filed under "Aaron Rodgers doing Aaron Rodgers things" was a nullified touchdown to Davante Adams, the recent addition to the offense, when the quarterback danced around pressure in the pocket to find his target in the end zone.

The causation could have been a number of factors. Aaron Rodgers, Nelson, Cobb, Richard Rodgers, and Adams all performed at a heightened level. The offensive line, with Bryan Bulaga back in the lineup at right tackle, was jelling, only allowing one sack for the game. The diversity in formations was much more apparent than previously in 2014.

At the end of the day, it's not why something happened that made it great; it's that it did happen. Simply, the performance on Sunday was exactly what the Packers needed starting the week with a 1-2 record, knowing that they were going to face another division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, on a short week in the coming days.

With the instilled confidence to score, look for the McCarthy-led unit to return home looking like the previous Packer squads of the past. As Rodgers said, it was just three weeks. People needed to R-E-L-A-X.