Suburban Life • mysuburbanlife.com • Wednesday, October 30, 2013 • SD
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Bears best chance vs. Packers is a shootout Hub Arkush
The first thing you need to realize about the Bears trip to Lambeau Field this Monday night is these are not your father’s Green Bay Packers and these aren’t your granddaddy’s Bears. When was the last time the Bears were one of the NFL’s worst defenses, but one of the game’s most explosive offenses? Not in my lifetime. But there it is as the Bears prepare for the Packers. The Bears are ranked 27th in the NFL in total defense, 31st in average gain per play allowed, 31st in sacking the quarterback, and 29th in points allowed. Offensively, it’s a different story. The Bears are fourth in the league in average gain per offensive play and second in points scored. Somewhere, there are cows jumping over the moon. Not everything is different in Green
Bay. The Packers still are No. 2 in total offense, first in average gain per play, third in third down efficiency, seventh in time of possession and third in points scored. But when was the last time the Packers were fourth in the NFL running the football? If you look on the other side of the ball, you’ll find a Packers’ defense that was near the bottom of the league last year but is now 11th overall, fourth vs. the run, fifth sacking the quarterback, and 10th in third down efficiency. The only statistic that actually favors the Bears in this game is one you’d expect, with the Bears at plus seven turnover/takeaway ratio and the Packers at minus two. Even that is misleading, however. The Bears have actually turned the ball over 11 times to just nine for the Packers, but the Bears defense has 18 takeaways while the Packers have only seven. The turnover/takeaway ratio is a battle the Bears will have to win to have a chance to pull the upset. The new fearsome Packers’ ground game is keyed by rookie Eddie Lacy,
who’s piled up 446 yards on 112 carries for a 4.0 average, and supplemented by the rejuvenated James Starks, who has 244 yards on 41 carries for a gaudy 6.0 average. Another rookie, Johnathan Franklin, has 19 carries for 107 yards and a 5.6 average. What is so troublesome about the Packers rushing attack is it’s the main reason they are seventh in the NFL in time of possession while the Bears are 21st. The key to helping the Bears defense is to keep it off the field, but that will be difficult if they can’t handle the Packers running game. Then, of course, there’s Aaron Rodgers. In spite of playing the entire season without his left tackle, Bryan Bulaga, and now significant time without James Jones, Randall Cobb and Jermichael Finley, at 108.0 he is still the NFL’s fourth-rated quarterback behind only Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Drew Brees. The idea of Rodgers dissecting a Bears defense with its third string three-technique tackle, backup defensive ends, two rookie linebackers and
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a pair of safeties who’ve spent almost every week after a game this season in the severe burns unit has the potential for a real nightmare. Improvements on the Packers’ defense have come from a better team approach but significant individual improvements from defensive end Johnny Jolly, who is back after three years away from the game due to off-the-field issues, the move of Brad Jones to inside linebacker, a shift from defensive end to outside linebacker for Mike Neal, Nick Perry’s return to health, and big bounce-back seasons from A.J. Hawk and Sam Shields. One matchup to watch will be the occasions when massive nose tackle Ryan Pickett lines up on Bears’ rookie Kyle Long, and whether or not the Bears’ blockers and Josh McCown can handle the Packers’ pass rush. Will the moment be too big for McCown and all those Bears’ rookies getting their first taste of the NFL’s oldest and best rivalry, or can the Bears force the Packers into a shootout and find a way to have the ball last?
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