Not to be cruel, but how ’bout those Packers?
Our permafrost-ed friends to the north are getting ready to play in the NFC Championship Game. Very few people saw that coming before the season, and there weren’t multitudes that saw it coming when the sun came up Sunday. Then Green Bay beat the Seahawks at Lambeau Field.
“Let’s be honest,’’ Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said afterward. “I don’t know that even our fans felt supremely confident in us — which I know not a lot of the media did as well — but to be able to walk off that field again, victorious, there’s no feeling like it.’’
Heading into the season, Green Bay had a new coach, a new offense and a battered quarterback who would turn 36 in a few months. Belief and skepticism were locked in an almighty battle. In Chicago, meanwhile, belief was off on a bender. Lots of people were absolutely sure the Bears would make it to the Super Bowl.
And now here the Packers are, a victory away from the big game. There’s a lesson in this for the 8-8 Bears, if they’re willing to acknowledge it and embrace it. New Packers coach Matt LaFleur put a big emphasis on the running game. (Note to Bears fans: “A running game’’ describes a strategy in which the quarterback hands the football to the running back, who calls upon the quadriceps muscles in his legs to propel him forward. The ball is never aloft on runs plays.) That, and an improved defense, is how Green Bay bounced back from a 6-9-1 record in 2018.
Here’s the part that Bears coach Matt Nagy needs to know: Everybody associated with the Packers was better for it. Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, didn’t turn to dust because of the added emphasis on the run game. LaFleur didn’t lose the fans or Rodgers, which would have been easy to do.
And I might have mentioned this already: Green Bay is in the NFC Championship Game.
In 2018, the Packers finished last in the league in rushing attempts. This season, they finished 13th.
It’s not just the running that matters. The threat of running can make all the difference. Rodgers is still very good, but he’s no longer the Aaron Rodgers who can turn something into nothing seemingly whenever he wants. But now that opponents have to be wary of running back Aaron Jones, who tied for the league lead with 16 regular-season touchdowns, Rodgers has the time and room to make plays through the air.
So, yes, the Packers weren’t afraid to boost the running game with a future Hall of Fame quarterback still running the show. And, yes, for reasons that still seem to defy explanation, the Bears were a pass-happy team this season with a quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, who wasn’t adept at throwing the ball. Maybe they were afraid Trubisky would be sad if they took passes away from him. The Bears’ official slogan in 2019 was, Don’t Make Mitch Sad.
I don’t know how good running back David Montgomery can be. But I do know that he’s closer to being Jones than Trubisky is to being Rodgers. Montgomery, a Bears’ third-round pick in 2019, finished with 889 yards and an average of 3.7 yards per carry. Jones, whom the Packers chose in the fifth round in 2017, had 448 yards and a 5.5 average his rookie season. The difference between the two backs as rookies? It might have something to do with the Bears’ lousy line play in 2019.
I wouldn’t dare suggest that they can return to the playoffs simply by fixing their running attack. There are too many issues with Trubisky that have to be resolved, and Nagy needs to experience some play-calling revelations in a Nepalese hut this offseason. But the Bears already have a playoff-worthy group of defensive players. Adding an effective running attack at least would push the team in the right direction. That requires the arrival of some offensive linemen who can block and a miracle cure for a coach who appears to have a deadly run-game allergy.
But, hey, it’s a blueprint. If it happens to be offered by the Bears’ archenemies, too bad. The Packers play the 49ers for the NFC title on Sunday, and that’s all the justification Nagy should need for introducing more balance to his offense. If a new coach with a veteran quarterback can do it Green Bay, it shouldn’t be an issue in Chicago.
Rodgers said after the victory over Seattle that he was looking forward to having “a nice glass of scotch.’’ Beer used to be everything in Wisconsin. See? Things can change.
