An inability to get stops was a big reason for the disparity in snaps between the Packers and Bears on Sunday.
The Green Bay Packers’ defense was on the field for a long time in Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears, and that was very much a result of their own performance. Specifically, Jeff Hafley’s unit struggled mightily to get off the field on third downs, allowing the Bears to convert 9 of 16 opportunities while also letting them move the chains on all three of their fourth-down chances.
That inability to get a stop led to the Bears having a 13-minute time of possession advantage in this game, and they ran 26 more plays on offense than the Packers did. Many of the defensive issues came about as a result of the Bears’ game plan with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, as he was much quicker to pull the ball and run under new play caller Thomas Brown than he had been under recently-fired Shane Waldron. Brown also dialed up more quick passing concepts, which took advantage of a key injury in the Packers’ secondary.
Still, the Packers did manage to get a stop in the fourth quarter while trailing by five points, giving the offense the ball back with plenty of time to go down and score a go-ahead touchdown. But the defense nearly gave it all back, needing a field goal block by defensive tackle Karl Brooks on the game’s final play to eke out a win over the Packers’ oldest rivals.
Here are the numbers for the Packers’ defense in their 72 total snaps.
CORNERBACKS
- Keisean Nixon 71
- Carrington Valentine 64
- Jaire Alexander 10
- Eric Stokes 4
- Corey Ballentine 1
Green Bay fans were excited to see Jaire Alexander active for this game, but that excitement was short-lived. He played only a handful of snaps early on before being replaced by Valentine for the remainder of the game. Valentine struggled with the route-running of Keenan Allen at times, but was still probably a better choice in that matchup than Stokes, who only got in for a brief few snaps when the Packers went into dime personnel.
Nixon also had a bit of trouble in this game, particularly with rookie Rome Odunze, who hauled in a big 4th-down conversion late to help the Bears get into field goal range.
SAFETIES
- Xavier McKinney 72
- Evan Williams 71
- Javon Bullard 52
Williams’ return allowed the Packers to go back to their preferred alignment with Bullard in the slot, and that helped alleviate any further challenges that would have come up with Alexander unavailable. The three safeties each had at least 6 total tackles in this game, though Williams was on the unfortunate end of a huge block from left tackle Braxton Jones on D’Andre Swift’s long touchdown run in the third quarter.
LINEBACKERS
- Quay Walker 72
- Edgerrin Cooper 51
- Isaiah McDuffie 21
- Eric Wilson 13
This was a rough game for the linebacker unit all around. Walker missed a bevy of tackles and when he did bring a player down, it was after they picked up extra yards after contact. His one bright spot came in pass coverage, when he carried Keenan Allen up the seam and managed to break up a deep pass intended for the veteran receiver.
Cooper’s workload continues to expand, as he set a new career-high in snaps and snap percentage. However, he took a few poor angles in pursuit of Caleb Williams, who is more than athletic enough to make you pay if you let him get to the edge.
DEFENSIVE ENDS
- Rashan Gary 46
- Kingsley Enagbare 41
- Lukas Van Ness 25
- Brenton Cox, Jr. 22
- Arron Mosby 10
The first quarter was the Brenton Cox show, as the former UDFA made a few plays in his season debut. Cox took down Williams for a sack after coming unblocked off the edge, then he later made a TFL in the run game in a similar situation.
After that, Gary started to pick up the pace, as he was credited with five pressures in the game. He was largely responsible for a pair of sacks on the Bears’ final drive, first forcing Caleb Williams to step up in the pocket and get sacked by a teammate and then bullrushing Braxton Jones into Williams’ lap one play later.
Still, this team struggles to get pressure with four players on a down-to-down basis, and with the trade deadline now in the past, it’s tough to see how that changes unless these players simply start playing better.
DEFENSIVE TACKLES
- Kenny Clark 48
- Devonte Wyatt 35
- T.J. Slaton 34
- Karl Brooks 29
Brooks of course made the play of the day on special teams, caving in the left side of the Bears’ line with Slaton and getting up to get a finger on Cairo Santos’ would-be game-winning field goal. It was the second highlight of the day for Brooks, who also made a big tackle for no gain against the run.
Meanwhile, Slaton had the one sack from the interior group in this game, cleaning up on a Gary pressure on first down of the Bears’ final drive. Meanwhile, neither Wyatt nor Clark appeared on the stat sheet from Sunday’s game with even an assisted tackle.