Thoughts on the game...
First off Mack is really good and it sucks we had a shot at him and he ended up with the Bears. Definitely changed the game plan for the team. It should have changed quicker. Early on was typical McCarthy with longer developing plays, rely on Rodgers ability to move around to let plays develop. Even with the rush getting to him and disrupting it all, they stuck with it rather than quick passes and Rodgers ends up hurt. I will credit McCarthy for how he called for Kizer and then making the right adjustments in the 2nd half. Also, for all the crap he gets, MM again made a nice challenge that saved GB a timeout and some field position for the Bears.
Kizer...all people will remember is the strip fumble by Mack and the Pick 6 by Mack. And thats fair as they were huge plays. But looking further into things...he came in when the offense had not been moving the ball. McCarthy had him with the quicker reads and they moved down the field very well and he made some nice throws. 3rd down though in FG range he has got to secure the ball. On the INT...good play call with all that rush, but maybe not on 3rd and 19 when you could hear them calling out screen immediately. Part of that is because Linsley completely let his guy go without even a small chip and that screwed everything up.
RB...there wasn't much to the run game last night to speak of. Biggest play was probably Williams picking up the blitz. As I posted in the game thread with the link...that is why he will be on the field likely more than Jones.
https://twitter.com/bleacherreport/status/1038982872349200386?s=21
WR...the demise of Geronimo and Cobb was greatly exaggerated. Allison seemed involved from early on and made some very nice catches and ability to run after the catch. Good to see him do that...definitely holding the rookies off for longer than I thought. Cobb...well, as DW just said, Cobb against the Bears has been wonderful. As soon as they went quicker, Rodgers looked to him a lot and he was a huge part of the 2nd half game plan. And Davante...well, he is pretty good. Ty made some nice plays in the pass game too.
OL...there were bad parts of course...the Linsley whiff on the screen and Bulaga had his hands full...but they settled down in the 2nd half and whether its to credit the coaching or to the fault of them...it wasn't max protect stuff. They were letting Bulaga mostly go one on one all night long.
Defense...was happy to see coaching not sit back soft on those last drives. I think there was one long play where they rushed 3...but after that they seemed to be a bit more aggressive than Capers attempts to close out games.
DL...Collinsworth kept talking about the front...I thought they played well, not a lot of pressure, but they did not allow Chicago to do much up the middle. Everything was to the outside to sort of neutralize them. I expect more teams to do so and especially next week with Cook. Put pressure on the DBs and LBs to tackle and take advantage of a point Im about to make.
Clay Matthews...still overaggressive and still missing tackles on the edge. Teams should and will run to the outside on us as long as he is playing like that...bites on every fake. And then the boneheaded penalty. I get it was close (Clark's roughing call too). But he sort of jumped and him him high where if he just bumps him lower on the body without jumping a bit, he is probably fine.
Gilbert and Perry played pretty well. There wasn't a ton of pressure...but Perry made the sack when it really mattered, and Gilbert had a nice play covering Cohen late in that game too.
DBs...nice to see those young DBs playing pretty good coverage. I can't really complain much about them. Also nice to see HaHa make that tackle on the TE short of the first down to force a punt late in the game. He also took a bad angle on one of Howard's runs late and got sucked inside...he and clay both.
Lastly...just when you think Rodgers can not amaze you more...the guy goes out on one leg and does that. Made throws very very few people ever can make and did it without planting the left leg at all. Calm, cool, confident...just flat out awesome. Hoping for some good tests the next few days.