Three Chicago Bears players who laid duds in Week 2 vs. Packers

Player two: Chicago Bears run defense as a whole

There is no single player to blame for the way the Packers were able to run the ball on the Bears’ defense today. It was a poor effort getting off of blocks and then making the tackle when it counted.

As well as Aaron Rodgers played today, he did not beat the Bears. The combination of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon on the ground was the knife in the back of the defense, and neither really could be stopped, especially Jones. The Packers were able to play complimentary football off of their run game, and it showed how well the team ran play-action all game.

The defensive line, especially the middle part, did not take advantage of a weak Packers offensive line, and the holes were wide open all night. Once the play got to the second level, the linebackers did not do enough to stop the play and secure the tackle. Roquan Smith especially did not look like his normal self today. While he still plays an elite game going sideline to sideline, he was not the same force that he usually is in the middle of the defense.

The Bears secondary is not talented enough to sustain this type of success on the ground by the opposing offense. With rookies playing a huge role in the secondary, they are too susceptible to play action after a team successfully establishes their ground game. It showed a lot today and the Packers were able to take advantage of the youthful Bears secondary.

The Bears will have to address this for next week’s matchup against the Texans if they hope to find success. A team cannot run all over you like that, and if they do it will mean long defensive drives which only makes things worse. We did not see the HITS style of play today and it led the Bears to a rough loss to their unfortunately superior rivals.