Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my trusted colleague
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field West. It's our midweek show, our Wednesday show,
Speaker 1: and that means we look ahead at the Packers next opponent.
Speaker 1: We've already been talking a little bit about the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears this week. You look at the Bears two thousand
Speaker 1: nineteen season and there's really only one way to describe it,
Speaker 1: and that's streaky. They they won three straight games after
Speaker 1: the Packers beat them in Week one, then they lost
Speaker 1: five in row, and then since the five game losing streak,
Speaker 1: they've now won four out of five, including three straight.
Speaker 1: As they come to lambeau Field in week fifteen for
Speaker 1: a noon Central Time kickoff on Sunday, and as we
Speaker 1: talked about yesterday, their seasons on the line. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: if you go by that streak, I mean they're ready
Speaker 1: for a supposed to back the other way. This roller
Speaker 1: closter is supposed to go. Yeah, yeah, No, I mean
Speaker 1: the one thing I've said before, I said it earlier
Speaker 1: this week, Chicago is so much better than their record indicates. Uh,
Speaker 1: they have a lot of talent on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball. They they are able to hurt you in
Speaker 1: different ways. They can beat you in a multiple of
Speaker 1: other ways, and they can win low scoring ball games
Speaker 1: to it the way that their defense plays. The key
Speaker 1: to all of this has been Mitchell Trubisky and when
Speaker 1: he's healthy and when he's right, they play pretty good football. Um,
Speaker 1: when he's either not healthy or not right, more often
Speaker 1: than not, they've lost. They've built this thing around him.
Speaker 1: We knew that going into this season. The moves that
Speaker 1: they've made both on offense and defense have been centered
Speaker 1: around their young quarterback and feeling like this is the
Speaker 1: guy that's going to lead them back to the championship land.
Speaker 1: So the tough part of it is when you're trying
Speaker 1: to assess them, is what you're going to get in
Speaker 1: any given week. They did what I think if they
Speaker 1: could make an actual claim down the stretch here of
Speaker 1: being a playoff team, they had to do what they
Speaker 1: did in Dallas. They needed to dictate that game. They
Speaker 1: need to pose their will upon the Cowboys, and they
Speaker 1: did all that. Dallas put up some points at the end,
Speaker 1: but for the most part. It was a pretty clean
Speaker 1: game there for the Bears. Yeah, when you look at
Speaker 1: the fact that Dallas took the opening kickoff Mark Rush
Speaker 1: right down the field and scored and went up seven
Speaker 1: to nothing, and then I believe the score was thirty
Speaker 1: one to seventeen before Dallas scored again. So in through
Speaker 1: the center stretch of the game, the Bears outscored the
Speaker 1: Cowboys thirty one to ten. It was a pretty dominating performance,
Speaker 1: it really was. And now they put themselves in a
Speaker 1: position much like the Packers. Packers talked about one and
Speaker 1: o each week, they talked about winning the game that's
Speaker 1: in front of them, green to be at this point
Speaker 1: at ten and three, they've put themselves in this position.
Speaker 1: And the Bears have made themselves alive again. And what
Speaker 1: would have appeared to be relatively obscure, you know, obscure
Speaker 1: chance of making a playoff run here at the beginning
Speaker 1: of December. Yeah, I mean I actually made the comment
Speaker 1: an insider inbox that if anybody had anticipated this surge
Speaker 1: by the Bears, I don't think this game would have
Speaker 1: stayed at noon, as I think it would have been
Speaker 1: flexed into a different time slot. And interestingly, a reader had, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the last time the Packers and the Bears played a
Speaker 1: noon kickoff at lambeau Field was in two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: Aaron rodgers first season as the starting quarterback. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize that. But you go back through every year and
Speaker 1: it's like the vast majority have been primetime games and
Speaker 1: then there have been there one, one or two others
Speaker 1: that were kickoffs. So just a strange scheduling anomaly when
Speaker 1: I think back to my youth that when the pack
Speaker 1: has played the Bears, it was always at noon. That's
Speaker 1: just that's just the way the way it was. Hear
Speaker 1: about this stuff. Yeah, Well, and the other thing I'll
Speaker 1: say too, And I think I mentioned this on the
Speaker 1: show like a week or two ago. The margins, as
Speaker 1: we talk about, are so slim in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: you look at the fact that, you know, the one
Speaker 1: game that hangs out there for the Bears that could
Speaker 1: have potentially changed everything and changed the look of this
Speaker 1: game and their month of December was the Chargers game
Speaker 1: when Eddie Pinero missed the kick on the last play
Speaker 1: of the game that would have won the game. If
Speaker 1: the Bears are sitting here at eight and five instead
Speaker 1: of seven and six with three games to go, we're
Speaker 1: having a completely different conversation about where they stand. I
Speaker 1: don't think motivationally things would be any different because because
Speaker 1: everything is is still on the line, but certainly their
Speaker 1: chances um would look a lot different. And I think
Speaker 1: the biggest reason their defense has been pretty solid all
Speaker 1: year long. I think the biggest reason the Bears have
Speaker 1: gotten themselves in this position is because they've cut Mitz
Speaker 1: Trubisky loose a little bit with with his legs, with
Speaker 1: running his scrambling out of the pocket, running read option
Speaker 1: UM and UH and some designed runs in that sense
Speaker 1: for the quarterback. Now, he did play some games earlier
Speaker 1: in the season when he wasn't a percent healthy, and
Speaker 1: maybe the game plan, the play calling, all of that
Speaker 1: they had to protect him a little bit. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I don't know if that's the case. But
Speaker 1: what I've seen the last few games as Chicago started
Speaker 1: to get on a roll, here is the Trubisky that
Speaker 1: was running a lot with the ball, both both read
Speaker 1: option and scrambling out of the pocket on pass plays.
Speaker 1: That really helped this Bears offense. When the NFC North
Speaker 1: last year. Yeah, I mean you go back and look
Speaker 1: at it last year like rushes for four and twenty
Speaker 1: one yards and three touchdowns this year in too fewer
Speaker 1: games to this point, only thirty six for one. You
Speaker 1: gotta let your young quarterback be who he is and
Speaker 1: allow him to be the type of player that has
Speaker 1: made him as exciting is you know, filled him with
Speaker 1: as much potential as this fan base feels. He has.
Speaker 1: Well almost half of that one forty three that he
Speaker 1: has rushing yards this year was against the Cowboys last weekend.
Speaker 1: He had sixty some yards some yards to be able
Speaker 1: to get him out again. I just you look at him.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be a scout to understand that
Speaker 1: that's where that guy is at his most comfortable. Comfortable now,
Speaker 1: he's had some challenges. Losing Trey Burton was a big challenge.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think a lot of people going into
Speaker 1: the season they thought that was going to be again
Speaker 1: his number one target. He hasn't had that Allen Robinson
Speaker 1: took a step forward in this offense. Anthony Miller is
Speaker 1: a guy I loved going back to the draft. Uh
Speaker 1: slot receiver out of Memphis, very talented young man. Bears
Speaker 1: did too, because they traded up to select him, didn't they? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And he's emerged more as a playmaker in this offense.
Speaker 1: The thing that I think has hurt them the most
Speaker 1: is they don't have Jordan Howard and Terek Cohen is
Speaker 1: more of a gadget type back, and David Montgomery I
Speaker 1: think has potential in this league. But the thing that
Speaker 1: works so well with the Jordan Howard thing with them,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just with Rubisky, it goes before him.
Speaker 1: He just he was that north and South, put your
Speaker 1: head down, just kind of a grindstone type player. They
Speaker 1: ended up signing Mike Davis. That didn't work out. They
Speaker 1: ended up cutting Mike Davis to enable themselves to get
Speaker 1: the cop pick back that would have cost him, I
Speaker 1: believe a fourth rounder if they would have held onto him.
Speaker 1: So trying to find a run game to complement Rubinsky
Speaker 1: has been it's been stress so far this season, and
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things that has kind
Speaker 1: of factored into this and maybe gotten them out of
Speaker 1: their offensive rhythm a little bit. But you're seeing it
Speaker 1: in the last few weeks where they could potentially be
Speaker 1: a threat and why they can, you know, go out
Speaker 1: there and dictate tempo in a T and T stadium
Speaker 1: against Dallas. It's because they found that was actually sorry, Yeah,
Speaker 1: why they were able to dictate tempo in a game
Speaker 1: like that, because you have those type of things working
Speaker 1: in your favor then and again, it's gonna be interesting
Speaker 1: to watch exactly which Rubisky we see. I think the
Speaker 1: Packers have seen both of them. They've seen the guy
Speaker 1: that can throw and they've seen the guy that sometimes
Speaker 1: looks lost in the pockets. So being able to get
Speaker 1: precedent as a Darius going again like they did in
Speaker 1: Week one, when both those guys really emerged and said, Okay,
Speaker 1: these are playmakers, these are guys are gonna affect football games.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be big. Along with Kenny Clark one and
Speaker 1: a half sacks last week, had a really big performance
Speaker 1: against Chicago and week one, they need that pressure again
Speaker 1: from the inside. Yeah, I think the Packers do need
Speaker 1: to get the pressure, but I think they have to
Speaker 1: be careful because of true Whisky's ability to scramble here
Speaker 1: and the Packers did rack up a bunch of sacks
Speaker 1: back in Week one at Soldier Field. In this matchup,
Speaker 1: but I think you're gonna have to rush this quarterback
Speaker 1: in a little bit more discipline fashion maybe then the
Speaker 1: Packers did the first time, because if you know, on
Speaker 1: third and six or third and seven, if he just
Speaker 1: starts breaking the pocket, you know, if if the rush
Speaker 1: lanes break down and there's no integrity there to kind
Speaker 1: of hem him in, you know, he can get out
Speaker 1: and pick up those six seven yards and move the
Speaker 1: chains pretty easily. And I just from from my perspective,
Speaker 1: I would much rather make Mitchell Trubisky beat me with
Speaker 1: his arm um when he is struggling to develop somewhere
Speaker 1: poor with tight ends. And yes, he's getting some things
Speaker 1: going with Allan Robinson, he's had him all year, Anthony
Speaker 1: Miller definitely coming on as of late. And uh, and
Speaker 1: we know the Packers have had some struggles against tight ends,
Speaker 1: but the you know, the Bears haven't had that key
Speaker 1: guy all season long. But but you just you can't
Speaker 1: let this guy get out of the pocket play after
Speaker 1: play after play. You've got to keep him in there
Speaker 1: and make him beat you throwing the ball. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: that's why I really like Clark in week one, because
Speaker 1: when you get that pressure inside and you can collapse
Speaker 1: in the pocket that way, that's what allows your edge
Speaker 1: rushers to hold their integrity a little bit more on
Speaker 1: the ends, and yeah, you brought that up to I
Speaker 1: want to point that out. Tight end has been a
Speaker 1: tough position for them. They found something with Trey Burton,
Speaker 1: but then he's out and on injured reserve. Adam Shaheen
Speaker 1: just really hasn't worked out for them at to this point.
Speaker 1: Now they spent his second round pick. Yeah, he was
Speaker 1: the big kid out of Ashland a couple of years ago. Um,
Speaker 1: and right now they have five tight ends on their roster,
Speaker 1: but nobody that has over sixty receiving ours. I think
Speaker 1: to this point, maybe when when? But maybe is it
Speaker 1: whims as whims of it I'm trying to think, but
Speaker 1: be that as it may well whims as a receiver.
Speaker 1: So they're struggling he is, I mean, he's too twenty,
Speaker 1: but um, they haven't been able to find that guy.
Speaker 1: And in this absence of Burton, I mean, you saw
Speaker 1: what he brought last year and exactly, especially for a
Speaker 1: young quarterback, how important those kinds of players can be.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be something to watch. In addition to the
Speaker 1: fact that they've had to do some moving around with
Speaker 1: their offensive line too. I mean, Charles Leno is a
Speaker 1: pro bowler now, but they lost Kyle Long early in
Speaker 1: the season. It's it's it's been a grind and trying
Speaker 1: to see exactly which offense we're going to see what
Speaker 1: the Bears because if you go statistically right now, Michael,
Speaker 1: I think they're what passing and passing twenty nine and
Speaker 1: toty yards twenty nine and running points. It has been
Speaker 1: a you know, not the cleanest year for Mattnegie's offense. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: we will switch gears to the defensive side of the
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Speaker 1: all the changes that the Bears have made on offense,
Speaker 1: with what they're doing with Rubisky, with Montgomery being the
Speaker 1: lead back now as opposed to Mike Davis. In week
Speaker 1: one when the Packers met them the first time, defensively,
Speaker 1: a lot of things look the same. They didn't. They
Speaker 1: got a new coordinator, this year in Chuck Bagana, but
Speaker 1: they didn't exactly reinvent the wheel. UM. They're playing Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears defense. We're waiting to see if potentially they activate
Speaker 1: a Keem Hicks off of injured reserve. He's UM. He
Speaker 1: has sat out the requisite eight weeks of games that
Speaker 1: are required UM for a player who goes on i R.
Speaker 1: So that could be a big change in terms of
Speaker 1: how they look up front. But ro Kuwan Smith is
Speaker 1: out for the rest of the season. There young prized
Speaker 1: inside linebacker. He's being replaced by he believes a fourth
Speaker 1: or a fifth year veteran. UM. Well, they've got Kevin
Speaker 1: Pierre Lewis, that's the one I'm thinking. You know, Nick
Speaker 1: Kwaikowski is also a guy that they have there behind
Speaker 1: Danny Trevathan. So they are pretty deep actually an inside linebacker.
Speaker 1: But as you just said, Mike, you can't replace that guy.
Speaker 1: He's just so fast, he's so quick. He's great for
Speaker 1: that position. Yeah, top ten pick in the draft a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. So losing him, that's a big
Speaker 1: that that really hurts. Now he was already injured. I
Speaker 1: think it was mostly just trying to figure out Okay
Speaker 1: is it like the Or and Burkes thing. Is he
Speaker 1: gonna need surgery, can you play through the torn pectoral
Speaker 1: or where is this going to put him? He does
Speaker 1: need the surgery, so he'll put his best foot forward
Speaker 1: now for next season. But again, had another hundred tackle season.
Speaker 1: Looks like he's gonna be a real nightmare a Kiem
Speaker 1: Hicks is the real interesting one in this equation because
Speaker 1: we don't know exactly where he's at or what the
Speaker 1: timeline was for that injury. But we said this going
Speaker 1: back to in the day that he was placed an
Speaker 1: injured reserve. I think you and I were already counting
Speaker 1: up the weeks. Yeah, I looked. I looked at it
Speaker 1: right away and I was like, oh, well, he if
Speaker 1: if he's healthy enough, he'll be eligible to come back
Speaker 1: to play Green Bay and uh and sure enough, here
Speaker 1: we are. Yeah, and and this is how it works out.
Speaker 1: So we'll have to see where the week goes with that.
Speaker 1: But dude, Mike, you look at it. There are so
Speaker 1: many talented guys on this team, you know. And Eddie
Speaker 1: Goldman has been a nose tackle I've been high on
Speaker 1: for years. Nick Williams is backup at that position, has
Speaker 1: six sacks is here. Khalil Mack only has seven and
Speaker 1: a half sacks, but he has five force fumbles. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think ha Ha Clinton Dix has been a really
Speaker 1: nice addition for them, And I know so many times
Speaker 1: people want to make it about Ha Ha versus Adrian Amos.
Speaker 1: I actually think it's kind of funny when you shuffle
Speaker 1: the deck up. I think both of those safeties ended
Speaker 1: up probably in a defense that fits them better. I
Speaker 1: agree what their role and what they're being asked to do.
Speaker 1: I agree completely. Clinton Dix already had that rapport with
Speaker 1: with Eddie Jackson. We talked about that at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season. Those guys go back to Bama together,
Speaker 1: and and then certainly Kyle Fuller is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite cornerbacks in this so there are a ton of
Speaker 1: guys that can hurt you. Thirty sacks on the year
Speaker 1: for that defense, I think they're right around the top
Speaker 1: ten still again this year. There maybe not as dominant
Speaker 1: as they were last year the Vic Fangio, but they're
Speaker 1: still very good with what Chuck Pagano has them doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know you're gonna have to deal with
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd coming off the edges um
Speaker 1: cornerback wise, though, have you heard anything? Are they getting
Speaker 1: Prince of Mukamara back because he's been injured, hasn't he? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I don't know where that's been. See, this is the
Speaker 1: tough thing when we do the show this time the
Speaker 1: week because nobody actually wants what they're doing. Yeah, we're not.
Speaker 1: We're not up to speed on where things are injury wise.
Speaker 1: But I had heard some rumors that it was it
Speaker 1: was possible that he could be back this week to
Speaker 1: play against the Packers, but nobody was saying anything for sure.
Speaker 1: So the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Mukamara and Kiem
Speaker 1: Hicks both hope to return for the Bears. But the
Speaker 1: problem is with Themar's injury though, is it's a hamstring,
Speaker 1: and I think there were some questions about how much
Speaker 1: time he's going to need it. We've talked about it
Speaker 1: over the years, those soft tissue injuries. It's just not
Speaker 1: a three to six week window. It's it's a hey,
Speaker 1: is this guy gonna be able to go? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: cold weather doesn't exactly help with those types of He's
Speaker 1: been a revelation for this defense over the last three
Speaker 1: four years. I actually thought when he first got to Chicago,
Speaker 1: I really had some questions about if his better days
Speaker 1: were behind him. Oh. Absolutely, he already bounced around. Felt
Speaker 1: I felt the same way. I think he'd already been
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville right since he'd been in with the Giants
Speaker 1: with the Giants for a long time. And for him
Speaker 1: to go in there and hold that spot down and
Speaker 1: be able to do what he's done, I think he's
Speaker 1: been the perfect compliment to Fuller. On the other side,
Speaker 1: they've had those two guys that's been there one too
Speaker 1: now for three or four years and it works for them.
Speaker 1: And have Eddie Jackson then over the top of it,
Speaker 1: one of the young emerging safeties in this league. It's
Speaker 1: a good, formidable group and it's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why the Bears are seven and six at this point
Speaker 1: of the season. Yeah. Well, certainly in the secondary they
Speaker 1: look a lot different if they have that pair as
Speaker 1: in Kyle Fuller and a Mukamara as the top two
Speaker 1: cornerbacks and then the rest of the depth fills in
Speaker 1: behind them. We all know how it goes with any
Speaker 1: team when you lose one of your top two cornerbacks
Speaker 1: and then you know, there's that domino effect where everybody
Speaker 1: has to shuffle around and and take on new roles.
Speaker 1: So well, we talked about the Bears on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. Um compared to Week one against the Packers,
Speaker 1: the offense looks very, very different. The defense is still
Speaker 1: as Chicago Bears defense are giving up. I believe it's
Speaker 1: only about seventeen points per game, which which ranks I
Speaker 1: believe in the top five in the NFL. Right now, quickly,
Speaker 1: what do you what do you think is the biggest
Speaker 1: difference in the Green Bay Packers on either side of
Speaker 1: the ball compared to Week one when these teams met
Speaker 1: the first time. What sticks out to you? I will
Speaker 1: answer that question because I have many thoughts. The Bears
Speaker 1: you were saying with was it points per game? I
Speaker 1: believe it's seventeen seventeen point eight. They are sevent four
Speaker 1: right now. That's behind New England Buffalo in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Packers are much different than a number of ways. I think. One,
Speaker 1: for all the ups and downs they've had offensively, I
Speaker 1: think you've seen more of a blend towards what this
Speaker 1: offense is going to be. It's one thing to have
Speaker 1: a blueprint and a vision. But Mike, you know this,
Speaker 1: with anything that you do in life, you can't just
Speaker 1: walk into something and be like, Okay, this is how
Speaker 1: it's going to be done. When you have eleven offensive
Speaker 1: players on the field at the same time, when you're
Speaker 1: dealing with guys on a fifty three man roster with
Speaker 1: an entire coaching staff and injuries that can change things
Speaker 1: in a weekly basis. And I think Matt Lafleur has
Speaker 1: done a really nice job of rolling with the punches
Speaker 1: and for as much as the outside narrative to this
Speaker 1: point has been about identities and you know, are they
Speaker 1: doing the way they running the offense the way they
Speaker 1: want to run the offense under it's you also got
Speaker 1: to find things that you're good at, right And you
Speaker 1: and I were discussing at the end of yesterday's show,
Speaker 1: whether it's some of the passing schemes that they put
Speaker 1: together with the running backs, uh, some of the games
Speaker 1: that you know, you look at Davante Adams and Alan
Speaker 1: Lazar that they've had in overall, just the general principles
Speaker 1: that the Packers have installed, this offense still has a
Speaker 1: lot of potential. Now this is a big test They're
Speaker 1: gonna probably need to put up more than ten points
Speaker 1: like they did that Soldier field, And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's going to take more than that because I think
Speaker 1: Matt Nage, with you know how influential he is and
Speaker 1: with this offense and in his ability to evolve and adapt,
Speaker 1: They're not gonna let that happen again. They're gonna challenge
Speaker 1: Mike Patton's group in ways they probably weren't challenged in
Speaker 1: Week one. So that's what always makes these matchups really intriguing.
Speaker 1: This is the first time Matt Lafleur will see an
Speaker 1: opponent for a second time in his time as the
Speaker 1: head coach, not counting preseason of course, So all all
Speaker 1: these things on the table, I just think where the
Speaker 1: Packers stand right now. What we know that we didn't
Speaker 1: know in Week one is that Aaron Jones can be
Speaker 1: a viable number one option for an entire offense, not
Speaker 1: just a backfield. You can run an offense through him.
Speaker 1: He has that capability. Jamal Williams can turn it up
Speaker 1: at any time you need him to. In the Packers,
Speaker 1: for all that's been made and maybe not having that
Speaker 1: number two receiver Davante Adams, they've had so many different
Speaker 1: guys step up at clutch moments of this season. It
Speaker 1: hasn't been that they've been just trying to throw guys
Speaker 1: in there to find somebody. They've rotated guys through and
Speaker 1: they found guys and put them in positions that make
Speaker 1: them success based on their skill set. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: we certainly saw in week one, you know, the debut
Speaker 1: in the regular season of Matt Lafleur's offense with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: We saw the Packers trying to establish that outside zone
Speaker 1: running game. It wasn't really working against the Bears at all.
Speaker 1: About a month into the season, really the Dallas game,
Speaker 1: the switch was kind of flipped to where the Packers
Speaker 1: went to more of the inside zone running game, and uh,
Speaker 1: those runs up the middle, and that's really become the
Speaker 1: staple of the running game. And the runs that go outside,
Speaker 1: more often than not, are ones that bounce outside. They're
Speaker 1: not necessarily designed to go that way. But that's where
Speaker 1: you take, right, Yeah, you just take you take advantage
Speaker 1: of that, that vision of a player like Jones. But
Speaker 1: even the forty two yard run that he broke off
Speaker 1: um last week against Washington, that was an inside run
Speaker 1: and you know it it hit inside and then when
Speaker 1: he got to the second level, you know, Jones took
Speaker 1: it from there. So I think that's one significant difference
Speaker 1: that we that that we see here. And also the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to go into this game presumably barring
Speaker 1: you know, any setbacks, but with four active tight ends
Speaker 1: on the forty six man roster, which we saw last week,
Speaker 1: led to a lot of three tight end packages which
Speaker 1: the Packers both ran the ball and threw the ball
Speaker 1: out of. And that's something I don't I don't think
Speaker 1: the Packers lined up with three tight ends against the
Speaker 1: Bears in Week one very much, if at all, um
Speaker 1: in that game. So those are the kinds of things
Speaker 1: that you know, the coaches see those on film, and
Speaker 1: those get worked into into practice to preparing for, you know,
Speaker 1: an opponent that you know. But then the coaches are
Speaker 1: in the meeting room pointing things out, saying, Okay, these
Speaker 1: are the things that we didn't see before. This is
Speaker 1: what we have to be ready for. Yeah, there was
Speaker 1: a time in the month of September. I don't even
Speaker 1: know if Jimmy Graham and Mercedes Lewis were on the
Speaker 1: field together at the same time. It was either that
Speaker 1: they would run Graham and eleven person Noel, or they
Speaker 1: would go at Lewis and Tani and in there, you
Speaker 1: know there are other packages. I really liked what you saw.
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate the Packers weren't able to sustain that for
Speaker 1: four quarters, but that first quarter was There's a lot
Speaker 1: of potential there because you know, Jimmy Graham had a
Speaker 1: nice catch, but Ja Sternberger was opened on that play too.
Speaker 1: On the backside, you've seen Robert Tonyan what he can
Speaker 1: contribute now that he's put that hip injury behind him.
Speaker 1: In Mercedes Lewis, we talked so much about Jake Cumro
Speaker 1: made a phenomenal block on that play that sprung Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones after Jones took it to the outside hip of
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins. So did Mercedes Lewis to wedge that off
Speaker 1: and to give him just enough space to get up
Speaker 1: field and be able to stretch that thing for forty two.
Speaker 1: I really hope people don't get too fixated on the
Speaker 1: inside versus outside zone stuff because I feel like Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur did what was best for the offense in general,
Speaker 1: and yeah, absolutely, no, no question. I just think it's
Speaker 1: I think the Packers have presented since the Dallas game.
Speaker 1: They presented a very different look with their running games
Speaker 1: and what they were trying to do in September. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and what I like is that it's just understanding, Okay,
Speaker 1: what what did Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones both too well?
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, because they have different skill sets, they
Speaker 1: both fit the inside zone a lot better. And maybe
Speaker 1: it's just because of Elton Jenkins jumping in there making
Speaker 1: some nice blocks. Maybe it's just because that athleticism that
Speaker 1: they that's probably the most athletic they've been at that interior,
Speaker 1: uh offensive line position in years. So there's so many
Speaker 1: different things that go off of it. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: it'll be a conversation again this offseason which direction the
Speaker 1: Packers want to be their foundation moving forward. But as
Speaker 1: it relates to this year, if Aaron Jones is your
Speaker 1: top playmaker, you feed that guy. You play to his
Speaker 1: strengths in the Packers have allowed him to do that
Speaker 1: to this point. Yeah, one last thing I want to
Speaker 1: ask you about the Bears before we go, because I
Speaker 1: made this comment in the Insider in No, it's not
Speaker 1: about Eddie Panniero it's about Matt Nagy. And what I
Speaker 1: want to ask you is that, okay, where the Bears
Speaker 1: are there seven and six, they're looking at you know,
Speaker 1: trying to keep this rolling to get themselves into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We saw Matt Naggi be extremely creative offensively last season
Speaker 1: in his first year as the head coach, and I'm
Speaker 1: wondering with what the stakes are going up against a
Speaker 1: familiar opponent's second matchup with the Packers this year and everything.
Speaker 1: It's Matt Nagy inn be digging into his bag of
Speaker 1: tricks at Lambau Field. Potentially if we were going if
Speaker 1: this was at Soldier Field, I would say, yes, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you corrected me earlier because one of the things
Speaker 1: that the Bears have been able to do on this
Speaker 1: run is they've been back to back with these home games.
Speaker 1: I believe I remember correctly, So, I mean they've been
Speaker 1: able to kind of rEFInd themselves at home, similar to
Speaker 1: what the Packers have. Yeah, they did they beat They
Speaker 1: beat the Lions well. In this stretch of winning four
Speaker 1: out of five, they beatn the Lions twice, once in
Speaker 1: each stadium. And then they also have the home win
Speaker 1: over Dallas on Thursday night, now coming into Lambeau with
Speaker 1: a little extra did they did they beat the Giants
Speaker 1: in New York then too? I'm trying to remember, No,
Speaker 1: that was in Chicago. That was in Chicago as well,
Speaker 1: So I mean they've been able to kind of find
Speaker 1: themselves back at home. So I'm curious, and there's probably
Speaker 1: one of those get loud Lambau kind of days. But
Speaker 1: this is the line, right, because you have Trubisky in
Speaker 1: a good spot, how creative do you want to be
Speaker 1: and potentially forcing him out of his comfort zone as
Speaker 1: opposed to doing maybe some of the stuff that you
Speaker 1: put on film the last couple of weeks but have
Speaker 1: obviously worked for him. That's mattnegg question this week. It
Speaker 1: would not surprise me, though, to see some of that creativity.
Speaker 1: Certainly the motion stuff is very popular with him. I
Speaker 1: would imagine we're going to see some downfield shots because
Speaker 1: that's the best way to take a road crowd out
Speaker 1: of it. Um. So I think that I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say, I think the Packers have to be have
Speaker 1: to be ready for some tricks because if Mike Patton's
Speaker 1: defense at all starts, the game does what it was
Speaker 1: doing against the Bears back in Week one, and with
Speaker 1: where the Bears are in their season right now, I
Speaker 1: think it becomes pull out all the stops and and
Speaker 1: Matt Naggi had. Matt Naggie's got a whole list on
Speaker 1: that on that call sheet of stuff that he can
Speaker 1: go to. I just I think the Packers have to
Speaker 1: be prepared for anything. Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well with that,
Speaker 1: we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com. You can subscribe to us
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Speaker 1: out the Packers YouTube channel for all kinds of great
Speaker 1: video content for West I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. Hmm.