Green Bay Packers Prove Again To Be Their Own Worst Enemy

The stage was different, the game was different, the opponent was different.

But the script and ending? Exactly the same.

For the Green Bay Packers and their legions of fans, that script and ending is getting to be pretty darn old.

In another maddening display of football, the Packers tallied a team record 18 penalties, had countless special teams blunders, and in the end, let a less-talented football team come away with a win.

There's no doubt in my mind the Packers were the better team Monday night, and in my opinion, they still have more than enough talent to go to the Super Bowl this year.

But if there is one team that can keep the Packers from playing in Dallas in February, it might be the Green Bay Packers themselves.

The problems the Packers had last night—penalties, special teams, closing games—are all the same problems the Packers were plagued with last season.

Green Bay was last in the NFL in penalties last season with 118, but through two games, the Packers had only committed eight infractions. Yet just like that, the Packers' problem reared its ugly head in the prime time lights of Monday Night Football.

And forget Monday Night Football. Eighteen penalties in any game is completely and utterly unacceptable. Any football fan could tell you that.

But these weren't just five-yard false start penalties either (even thought we had a number of those as well). Personal fouls, pass interference, holding and roughing the passer were all called against Green Bay last night.

In all, the Packers gave the Bears first downs via penalties five times. Another unacceptable stat.

It gets better though. At least two Jay Cutler interceptions were nullified because of Packers' penalties, and the Green Bay defense was seemingly giving the Bears points with dumb penalty after another.

The last penalty—defensive pass interference on Morgan Burnett—gave the Bears their winning field goal, a fitting end to a game littered with miscues for the away team.

And in my opinion, if you took away even half of the defensive penalties Monday night, I'd say the Bears have a hard time cracking ten points. That's how key seemingly all of the defensive penalties were.

It wasn't just the defense, however. Numerous times the Packers were driving in Chicago's territory only to have a holding call put Green Bay in first-and-20 and second-and-20 situations. On one holding call, a Jermichael Finley touchdown catch was taken off the board.

After taking the touchdown off the board, another Packers' repeated failure ensured no points would come of that drive. The Bears' Julius Peppers broke through the Packers' line almost unabated, and blocked Mason Crosby's 37-yard field goal attempt. 

The Packers' horrid special teams' play wasn't over, however. Even after kicking a line drive to the Bears' Devin Hester the punt before, Green Bay continued to kick easily returnable punts to the one-time feared returner.

And just like he has so many times before, Hester took the next punt 62 yards to the house to give the Bears a 14-10 lead.

It was a mind-blowing decision to kick to Hester instead of directionally punting him to the sideline, the latter being a tactic that has kept the Bears speedster out of the endzone for 31 straight games.

Among the other blunders the special teams were responsible for: kickoff out of bounds, a 44-yard kick return for the Bears, a seven-yard net punt (the punt mentioned above; 35 yards with a 28-return) and two penalties that wiped out solid run-backs on Packer returns.

It was a nightmare game for a unit that had looked on the rebound the first two games of the season.

Overall, two demons I thought the Packers had exorcised showed up again Monday night in a big way. With all those mistakes, there is no way you can win a football game against even a mediocre team.  

And even looking at the stats, the Packers still should have won the football game.

Green Bay held the ball for almost 35 minutes, ran twelve more plays and outgained the Bears by over 100 yards, held Chicago to one-for-four in redzone trips, and late in the first half held a 10-0 lead.

Yet here we are today, talking about a Packers loss. Like I said, it's the same script with the same ending.

If the Packers have any reservations about playing in February, they better stop consistently beating themselves first.