The Green Bay Packers used 28 second-half points — including two scores from Aaron Jones and a defensive touchdown from Quay Walker — to race past the Chicago Bears and win a ninth straight game in the rivalry on Sunday at Soldier Field.
The Packers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, held a 10-6 lead at half time, scored twice to extend the lead to 24-6 in the third quarter and then clinched the win with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the dagger from Walker on an interception of Justin Fields.
Buy Packers TicketsHighlighting the stars, studs and duds from the Packers’ season-opening win
Stars
RB Aaron Jones: He dropped a screen pass in traffic on the first drive, but the rest of his performance — 11 touches, 127 yards and two touchdowns — was nearly flawless. Six of Jones’ nine carries were successful, and his two biggest plays — a 51-yard catch and 35-yard touchdown — created back-to-back scoring drives to open the second half. He is the definition of explosive.
OLB Rashan Gary: The Packers had Gary on a pitch count and limited his snaps to mostly obvious passing situation, but he still managed to wreck the game. Gary’s 10 pass-rushing snaps netted five pressures, including one in which he hit Justin Fields’ arm and forced an incompletion. He also had a sack that was negated by penalty. Rookie Darnell Wright had issues keeping him out of the backfield.
OTs David Bakhtiari/Zach Tom: The offensive tackle pair pitched a shutout in pass protection over 30 pass-blocking snaps, and both were effective both at the point of attack and on the move in the run game. Jordan Love was under pressure on just six dropbacks in large part because Bakhtiari and Tom took the Bears edge rushers out of the contest.
Studs
DL Devonte Wyatt: He led the team with six pressures, including two takedowns of Justin Fields. On the first, he came unblocked, immediately closed the gap on Fields and took him down. On the second, Wyatt and Kenny Clark chased down Fields as he was attempting to escape the pocket and stripped him on the way down. Earlier in the contest, Wyatt beat a block and had a free run at Fields but missed the tackle on the sack. Disruptive as a pass-rusher, Wyatt was also solid at the point of attack against the run.
S Darnell Savage: No. 26 looked like a different player. Savage played fast, physical and under control while tallying a team-high 10 tackles. He knifed past Robert Tonyan and dropped D’Onta Foreman for a big loss in the first half. Later, he flew downhill and cut down Khalil Herbert in the open field after a short gain.
QB Jordan Love: The performance was far from perfect, especially in terms of ball placement and accuracy, but Love came up big in big spots. He was excellent on third down, fourth down and in the red zone. On what could have been a game-changing fumble, Love calmly collected the ball and found Luke Musgrave for a huge play. A play earlier, he hit Jayden Reed for a momentum-swinging conversion on third down. Even without Christian Watson, Love created four passing plays over 30 yards. He took just one sack and had no turnovers.
WR Romeo Doubs: He played through an injured hamstring and caught two of Jordan Love’s three touchdown passes. While the timing was a little off on his first touchdown, Doubs did cross the defender and gave Love an easy throwing window for the score. The fourth-quarter score was perfect execution on the back-shoulder. Doubs made an all-hands catch over his head and held on through contact.
LB Quay Walker: His speed sideline to sideline was instrumental to mudding passing lanes in the middle of the field and spying Justin Fields. While the interception of a poor Fields decision was mostly routine, his run after the turnover was special. Walker bounced off a tackler and raced to the end zone to put away the contest.
CB Rasul Douglas: The veteran corner made a pair of tackles on third down forcing punts, and he broke up a pass in the end zone to force a field goal attempt. Douglas also recovered a fumble, delivered a perfect tackle on Khalil Herbert for no gain and allowed only two catches against his coverage.
K Anders Carlson: Can’t forget the kicker. The rookie made all five extra points, and his 52-yarder before the half was straight down the middle and likely would have been good from 60 or more.
Duds
RB A.J. Dillon: His 13 rushes netted only 19 yards, and he dropped a pass in the flat. Of his 13 carries, 10 gained three or fewer yards, and three lost yards. The Packers want him running lower and dishing out punishment, but he might lack the juice necessary for hitting rapidly shrinking holes at the NFL level consistently.
C Josh Myers: He lost a reach block resulting in a negative run and missed a block on Tremaine Edmunds resulting in another negative run, and that was all on the first series. While a strong pass-blocker, his down-to-down inconsistency in the run game can be maddening. Myers struggled to keep Andrew Billings blocked. The Packers also had two more botched snaps, although it’s unclear who — Myers or the quarterback — was to blame. Snap issues have been recurrent dating back to training camp.
S Rudy Ford: He missed two tackles on DJ Moore, leading to a Bears field goal drive, and his 15-yard penalty came two plays before the Bears’ first touchdown of the second half.
