Bears vs. Packers: Full Report Card Grades for Chicago
The Chicago Bears entered Lambeau Field for Thursday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers cautiously optimistic about a budding offense and getting some key defensive names back.
Chicago was saddled with a 26-10 loss, battered after a short week, the offense derailed by more critical injuries and the defense once again gassed by the midway point of the third quarter.
Though the team held tough for the first half and looked capable of pulling off an upset, the walls eventually came down. That said, an incredible performance from rookie linebacker Leonard Floyd stands as one of the highlights of the season thus far.
Before the Bears have to somehow pick up the pieces against the steamrolling Minnesota Vikings in Week 8, here's a look at the grades for Thursday's loss.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Brian Hoyer entered Lambeau Field Thursday looking to record his fifth consecutive game with more than 300 yards passing and zero interceptions, but couldn't make it to halftime due to an injury.
Hoyer didn't have the hottest start before Matt Barkley took over, and the inexperienced quarterback didn't do much better. It makes sense, though, because Hoyer ate up most of the practice snaps for weeks.
Barkley got going on rollouts to give himself more time than usual, but wound up throwing a couple of interceptions in garbage time.
Rest assured the coaching staff will hope Jay Cutler can make it back or add a veteran in the 11 days between games.
Grade: D
Running Back
2 of 10
For the second straight game, the Jordan Howard show came to a screeching halt Thursday.
Howard couldn't find room to operate early in the game and wound up finishing with seven carries for 22 yards on a 3.1 per-carry average.
Once again, it was Ka'Deem Carey picking up the slack. The big-play threat took 10 carries for 48 yards. Yes, 24 of those yards came on one rush, but Carey lived up to what he promised coming out of college.
Given the way the Packers controlled the game, both Howard and Jordan didn't have many chances to prove themselves. The committee approach, perhaps also labeled as a competition, will continue in the coming weeks.
Grade: C
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Given the injury news at quarterback, it wasn't a surprise to see Chicago wideouts and tight ends have a rough day.
Alshon Jeffery went ignored as per the usual this season until Barkley entered the game. Even then, he only reeled in three of his 11 targets and sat behind Joshua Bellamy (two catches on four targets for 32 yards) in receiving. Tight end Zach Miller didn't have a single target through most of the third quarter.
Funnily enough, Miller wound up leading the team in receiving with two grabs for 40 yards on five targets.
Like the running backs, it was quite difficult for receivers to make an impact at all when the Packers controlled the clock for a silly 39:36.
Grade: C
Offensive Line
4 of 10
Over the span of the last three weeks or so, the Chicago offensive line morphed into a strength after the players all got on the same page.
Thursday seemed a continuation of this trend, even if the line partially helped give up the hits on Hoyer that got him injured.
Speaking of injuries, elite guard Kyle Long left the game on the same play as Hoyer and came out of the tunnel to start the second half in a ball cap. He'd been nursing injuries entering the game, so his exiting wasn't the biggest surprise.
The makeshift line didn't look nearly as good with Long missing. It couldn't help the team average even four yards per carry on the ground and gave up consistent pressure when the offense actually had the ball.
If the Bears are lucky, which they haven't been for most of the year, Long won't miss too much time.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Chicago defensive line had some problems with Green Bay's unorthodox look Thursday night.
Meaning, really, the fact the Packers put two wideouts (Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb) at running back due to injuries.
It seemed the line winning at the point of attack was akin to a coin flip. On one hand, it held up well enough to let rushers get free and pressure. On another, it let the weird Packers rushing attack tally 103 yards on a 4.5 per-carry average.
Part of the problem for the line in passing situations was the fact Green Bay employed a quick-hitting attack for most of the night. There's really no excuse, though, for being unable to stop a couple of wideouts playing running back.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
The Floyd show was in full effect Thursday.
After weeks of angst over his role, how quickly he adapted to the pros, nagging injuries and on and on, Floyd recorded a monster sack in the first half, falling to the ground and getting back up to plant Aaron Rodgers.
And that was just the beginning.
Floyd then did this in the second half. He broke through, sacked Rodgers again and scored a touchdown.
Not bad, rookie.
Elsewhere, Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan once again had strong games on the inside. Willie Young, as always, it seems, applied consistent pressure.
Though a strong performance, as usual, the linebackers couldn't do it alone.
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 10
The Chicago secondary performed better than expected through the first half and slightly into the second.
Granted, Green Bay had receivers dropping scoring passes from Rodgers, but the Bears will take it. Bryce Callahan played mostly well, De'Vante Bausby popped off the stat sheet with eight tackles and Cre'von LeBlanc seemed to redeem himself with strong coverage for most of the night.
It all fell apart in the third quarter. Jacoby Glenn couldn't hold up in coverage whatsoever and Tracy Porter was involved in a crossed-signals issue that allowed a touchdown to Davante Adams, moving the score to 20-10.
The secondary wasn't just gassed in the second half, it almost looked like it was going through the motions. While the team was forced to play a road game on a short week, it's still no excuse for a complete collapse.
Grade: D
Special Teams
8 of 10
The Bears blocked a field goal Thursday, so that was nice.
Kidding aside, the special-teams unit blocked a Mason Crosby attempt late with the game which was already decided.
Special teams wasn't doing much otherwise, with Connor Barth hitting his one attempt from 39 yards out and Pat O'Donnell pegging three of his five punts inside the 20-yard line.
Call it a decent day for both guys, but both should prepare to have a much heavier workload in the coming weeks if the Bears can't figure out what to do at quarterback.
Grade: C
Coaching
9 of 10
At some point, one almost has to start feeling sorry for Chicago head coach John Fox.
Fox entered Thursday on a short week tasked with going to Lambeau Field of all places, but at least he had a quarterback who could move the ball and a strong offensive line.
He lost Hoyer, who needed to push the ball farther downfield, but otherwise looked good. He also lost Long in the process while flirting with the idea of an upset for two and a half frames.
Fox did what he could with the offense. A nice draw play on a third-and-long comes to mind. But he also lost a challenge and his guys produced 10 flags on the day.
The blame indeed does need to rise to the top no matter the excuses. Fox and his coaches were outcoached in Green Bay, even if injuries played a part.
Grade: D
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Position Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | D |
| RB | C |
| WR/TE | C |
| OL | C |
| DL | D |
| LB | B |
| Secondary | D |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | D |
| Cumulative Grade | D |
At least Chicago fans have the Cubs, right?
Look, realists understood the Bears weren't going to Lambeau Field with a great shot at winning, so a little bit of solid play paired with ineptitude on the Packers' part produced one half of close, entertaining football.
That's about as good as it's going to get for the Bears right now, especially with yet another quarterback suffering an injury and one of the roster's top overall players exiting early with an issue.
Thursday was a good personification of the rest of Chicago's season. Enjoy the budding players at wideout and the backfield, and get crazy over the major plays by Floyd, who was a rather polarizing draft pick. More than anything, start plugging in rookies and free agents into the roster at quarterback and other problem areas.
Maybe it gets even worse next week against a team like Minnesota. But Thursday showed the team will fight, which is all fans can ask for a this point. That and fading away from the spotlight of national games.
Stats courtesy of NFL.com. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.
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