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The last time the beat the twice in the regular season was during the 2007 season. Brian Griese was the quarterback for one of the wins, three months later, Kyle Orton pulled it off; both times Brett Favre was still gunslingin' in Green Bay (and was in Year 3 of learning by watching). The Bears finished 7-9 that year while the Packers went 13-3. And in the nine-plus seasons since, Chicago is 4-15 against its NFC North rival and has had three winning seasons and a lone playoff appearance. Green Bay has had just one losing campaign to go along with eight straight playoff appearances and a Lombardi Trophy in February 2011. For the Packers, who finally turned to Rodgers in '08, three years after they drafted him in the first round, things got worse before they got better. The team limped to a 6-10 record in his first season After Favre (he retired in the offseason only to un-retire and play for the ). But that was the lone bump in the road; Rodgers immediately became one of the league's best quarterbacks, helping Marco Estrada Jersey the Packers to double-digit win totals in seven of the next eight seasons. In that span he was a two-time NFL MVP, six-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl MVP, holds the NFL record for pa ser rating in a season (122.5 in 2011) and led the league with 40 touchdown pa ses in 2016. Exactly how good has Rodgers been? Here is where he has ranked in QB efficiency since he succeeded Favre: 2009: 9th2010: 4th2011: 2nd2012: 4th2013: 10th2014: 2nd2015: 17th2016: 6th2017: 15thWe mention all this because the Bears used the second-overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to take quarterback as the next face of the franchise after phasing out veteran , . And like the Packers a dozen years ago, the Bears aren't in any hurry to get Trubisky on the field, even though the alternatives include and . This development doesn't sit well with a lot of people -- both tormented Bears fans and critics who are of the opinion that the best way for a young quarterback to learn is by playing. Rodgers, who didn't start a game in his first three seasons and threw just 35 completions in that time, is firmly of the opinion that sitting on the bench can be a good thing. "There's a lot of growth that can happen sitting on the bench," he said this week. "You can really gain in confidence every single day of practice. You can come along at your own Paul Molitor Jersey speed. You're obviously not dealing with the pre sure every week of having to perform, which is a real thing. You come along and learn the league, learn how to be a profe sional and learn how to take care of your body. "You're taking some chances on the (scout team). Knowing how to fit balls in spots or use your eyes for some major eye-control stuff and some look-off plays. Just working on things every single day." There's also no pre sure to win games -- and wins have been damn-near impo sible to come by in Chicago -- and instead improvements can take place at a pace unaffected by artificial, unreasonable and public expectations. "Work on my fundamentals," Rodgers continued, explaining that his focus was on throwing completions in practice. "Work on my footwork; try and get my timing down. Try and put some of the plays that we were running of the other team's into our language, so you start to work on timing up drops with the receiver routes. And just going through your progre sions. Putting together some of the fronts with the shell and the coverage and the pre sures. Just trying to treat those like really important reps every day." Even after the Bears were outscored 52-24 in their first two games -- both lo ses -- and with Glennon attempting just 22 pa ses in Sunday's overtime win over the , their are no plans to rush Trubisky onto the field. Coach John Fox and didn't change his mind in the days leading up to Thursday's showdown Dalton Pompey Jersey with the Packers. "I think that would probably be a fairly proper a se sment," he told reporters on the prospects that Glennon remains the starter. So for now, Glennon maintains his tenuous hold on the job. Not so much because he's earned it, but because there's no reason to throw Trubisky out there before he's ready. Barring a miracle, the Bears aren't a playoff team and Glennon, while not the long-term answer, can do the job for 13 more games. Put another way: It was good enough for Rodgers. The plan appears to be workingThere was never a question about the Packers' offense; as long as Rodgers is on the field, relatively speaking, everything will be fine. The same couldn't be said for the defense. Before looking ahead let's look back nine months. When the Packers' season came to its inglorious end on the Georgia Troy Tulowitzki Jersey Dome turf in the NFC Championship Game, and had played virtually every snap at cornerback. Randall, the team's 2015 first-round pick, and Gunter, a 2015 undrafted free agent, had been forced into extensive duties because of injuries. And while the hope is that their trial-by-fire experiences will serve them well going forward, both were routinely exposed down the stretch last season. Among all NFL cornerbacks, Gunter ranked 97th and Randall ranked 108th, according to Pro Football Focus. Against the , the Packers allowed to throw for 392 yards and four touchdowns, and didn't register a sack. So it wasn't surprising that Green Bay targeted physical defensive backs and with its two second-round picks. King is currently the Packers' highest-rated cornerback (79th among all CBs, according to PFF) and Jones is the No. 11 ranked safety in the NFL, two spots ahead of teammate . There's still work to be done; through three games, the unit (20th against the pa s, 22nd against the run) which is a slight improvement on how they ended 2016 (20th overall, 23rd against the pa s and 14th against the run). But we've seen glimpses that King and Jones can be special. Last Sunday, Jones had two sacks and 12 tackles (two for lo s), including this huge takedown in overtime. With the facing a 3rd and 6, Jones' held to one yard with this open-field tackle. Jones starts in the middle, picks up Kroft out of backfield, falls back in perfect coverage & Toronto Blue Jays Custom Jersey makes a nice tackle. Dusty All 22 (@All22Talk) One drive later, the Packers kicked the game-winning field goal. King, meanwhile, was tasked with trying to cover A.J. Green. In the matchup Green was targeted seven times and caught four pa ses for 59 yard. For the day, Green had 10 catches for 111 yards though he didn't find the end zone. "I think I did well. I think I did well," King said of covering Green. "Like every game we just want to improve. It's a quick turnaround on Thursday. Good plays, bad plays, you've got to move on to the next." There will be considerably le s for the Packers' pa s defense to do against the Bears, an outfit that features a 28th-ranked pa sing offense. Bears have set the pa sing game back 100 yearsAnd that may be by design. During his five-year career that spans 24 appearances, Glennon has completed just 60.5 percent of his th |
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发表于 2023-6-7 13:05:54