Bears vs. Packers: 9 Things We Learned from Chicago's 35-21 Loss

Despite improved quarterback play, the end results were the same, as the Bears lost to the Packers 35-21, sending Chicago to its fifth straight loss and ending any slim hopes of reaching the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdown passes and the Bears defense wasn't up to the task. Despite a strong running game, the offense moved the ball, but failed to put points on the board.

This Bears team certainly didn't play with the sense of urgency you need when you are in a must-win situation. They played the type of offense designed to make the stats look good, yet did not take the chances necessary to score points.

I will touch on all this, plus a few other points, even though we've seen this movie before and can only learn so much from losing.

Merry Christmas to my readers, and stay strong Bears fans.

Could Kahlil Bell Be a Featured Back?

What a long way this young man has come. Barely a whisper on the roster when the season started, the kid worked hard, kept himself ready and now it's paying off.

Stuck behind Matt Forte, who was having a Pro Bowl caliber season, and Marion Barber, who was performing decently as Forte's change-of-pace backup, it seemed that Bell wouldn't be much of a contributor.

But injuries happen, and Bell has stepped up to the plate. Bell had 121 yards on 23 carries, a 5.3 yards per carry average and also caught four passes.

The question is, can Bell be a No. 1 running back on a good football team? I mean, he isn't very fast, but then again there have been other backs that lacked great speed who still had terrific careers.

Bell has that burst. Maybe it's due to fresher legs, but for what it's worth, he looks good.

Will his emergence (especially if he comes up with another solid performance against the Vikings next week) affect the Bears decision to franchise Forte?

Probably not, but if he's capable of this type of running, and can sustain it, there could be a decision to make.

Questionable Defensive Schemes vs. Rodgers

Sure, blame Zachary Bowman if you want. After all, he's the corner that Aaron Rodgers burned the most on Sunday night. But I say the defensive scheme was bad.

Putting Bowman in man coverage against Rodgers is just inviting trouble. Bowman was beat by Rodgers on plays where he was on his man, but had no help.

Early on, the Bears put Nick Roach one-on-one against the wideout and Rodgers took advantage. They later corrected that mistake, but after all this time, why can't a so-called smart defensive coach like Rod Marinelli  figure out that leaving a linebacker or even a corner in man coverage is a bad idea?

Tim Jennings Is in the Doghouse

As Chris Harris found out, once you are in Lovie Smith's doghouse, you are a forgotten man. He'll give you one chance to get out, but in the case of Harris, he followed up one bad performance with another so he was gone.

In the curious case of "Where in the World is Tim Jennings," we found out that he was apparently made the scapegoat for a lousy defensive performance last week against Seattle.

Now it is true that Jennings had a terrible third quarter last week, as I wrote in the previous edition of the "Lessons Learned" slideshow series I do every week, but it was only one bad game.

After all, Jennings had been playing solid football all season up to that point, so to refuse to play him because of one bad quarter strikes me as silly.

Like Harris, he will get another chance, but if he blows it, look for him to be gone next season. That's apparently the way it works in Lovie's world.

Now, it would be different if the Bears had better players. But there is no way on God's green earth that Bowman is better than Jennings.

That Aaron Rodgers Is Pretty Good

That is obviously a tongue-in-cheek headline, as we all know that Rodgers is an outstanding QB. But did you know just how good he is?

Not that you want me to tell you this after a loss to the Packers, but Rodgers is currently more than twice as good as his nearest competitor in TD to interception ratio at 7.5 touchdowns to one interception. The next closest competitor? Drew Brees, with a ratio of 3.26 touchdowns to one interception.

Meanwhile, Rodgers broke the Packers' single-season record for passing yards in the second quarter. Can you guess whose mark he broke? Nope, not Brett Favre, much to my surprise.

Rodgers broke Lynn Dickey’s 1983 mark of 4,453 yards.

He also surpassed Brett Favre’s single-season touchdown record of 39. 

This was also Rodgers’ 13th game this season with a quarterback rating over 100, breaking the mark of 12 set by Steve Young (1994) and Tom Brady (2010). 

Yeah, I would say this kid is pretty damn good. Unfortunately, the Bears will have to face him for another 10-plus seasons.

Bears Might Have Made Playoffs If They Had Replaced Hanie Sooner

While he was no world beater, Josh McCown was clearly better than Caleb Hanie. He had two interceptions, but one of them occurred because of a missed block and another one went off the hands of a receiver.

All in all, McCown played a fair game. Maybe if he had started last week, things would be different.

Unlike Hanie, who would panic if his first look wasn't open, McCown was calm and used his legs effectively. He felt the pressure and stepped up very well.

McCown finished with 242 passing yards and a touchdown. Not bad for a guy who was coaching high school football and hadn't started an NFL game since 2007.

With one or two other starts by McCown, and perhaps if they had signed McNabb, as I had previously suggested, the Bears might have been looking at a possible playoff berth regardless of how this game turned out.

Could We Be Seeing the Start of a Decline for Brian Urlacher?

As much as it pains me to write this, we just might be witnessing the start of a performance decline for the Bears' future Hall of Fame middle linebacker Brian Urlacher.

He looks a step slower out there, and hasn't made a big play in quite some time. As a mike backer in a Cover-2 defense, he is expected to step back in coverage. I wonder if he will be up to the task in 2012.

On Sunday, he missed tackles and over-pursued at times. Of course, the embarrassing play where Rodgers juked him and Lance Briggs was one of the highlight reels in Green Bay.

They say he hurt his knee on the play, and it did appear that Briggs' helmet caught him on the knee, but I say he went to the sidelines to hide his face in shame.

I'm not suggesting he is no longer effective, just that it is time to draft his replacement.

Time of Possession Loses to Quick Strike Capability

Usually, the team that wins the time of possession wins the game. But when the Bears are facing a team like Green Bay, with its quick strike ability, you can throw that logic out the window.

On Sunday, the Bears dominated the time of possession, 35:48 to 24:12. Yet the Packers won handily.

That's because the Bears needed to run the ball and play turnover-free football. Not only did they fail to do both, they also couldn't convert in the red zone. The Packers on the other hand, threw the deep pass and got points back in a hurry.

In fact, if you look at the stat sheet, the Bears dominated in many categories other than the one that matters: the final score.

The Bears had more first downs (24 to 19), more total plays (70 to 51), more total yards (441 to 363) and more than twice as many rushing yards (199 to 81).

Yet they lost the game. The Packers were 4-for-4 in the red zone and forced two turnovers.

Amazingly, No Packers Penalties!

I don't know what the record is for most plays and/or games without a penalty, but I'm pretty sure the Packers tied a record today with zero penalties.

Now, I'm not trying to start a conspiracy theory, with the Packers at home. I'm just saying that it's quite unusual for a team not to make even one mistake.

This did not win the game for the Packers—let me make that clear. But the Bears were flagged six times for 28 yards.

Two of those penalties came on one series and it led to 10 yards. Those 10 yards made the difference between three points and zero points.

Robbie Gould missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt. That in itself is strange, but the point is, if those penalties had not occurred, it would have been a 39-yard attempt and Robbie would have nailed it, as his kick went wide late.

I know they didn't lose by three points, which is why I wrote that this was not the difference in the game. Still, it is odd that a team could go an entire game without a penalty.

Timing Was Bad

All that running, while effective, seemed to indicate that the Bears offense was playing not to lose, rather than playing to win the game.

The objective seemed to be to control the clock, limit the QB and allow the defense and special teams to win the game.

But the defense forced no turnovers, and we all know the Bears record is dismal when they don't take the ball away in the Smith regime.

And Devin Hester once again did not produce. It has to be that he is favoring his ankle injury, because he hasn't been very effective lately.

It's as if they wouldn't allow McCown to make mistakes, yet there were two interceptions. As good as Rodgers is,  you need to beat him the way Kansas City did last week.

Yet despite the press coverage and nearly identical game plan, perhaps the problem was that the Packers lost last week and so they did not take the Bears lightly.

Maybe if they had won, they would be satisfied with what they did against the Chiefs. But no, after last week's loss, they came out with a chip on their shoulder, trying to prove that the loss was a fluke.

Or maybe the difference was execution.

No matter what, they lost to a better team and that is the bottom line, isn't it?