Chicago Bears: Top plays from 23-16 loss to Green Bay Packers

Thought the Chicago Bears were going to play well against a bad Green Bay Packers team? Think again.

We should’ve seen this coming from the Chicago Bears.

The Bears opened as five-point favorites in the betting lines. They were at home against a bad Green Bay Packers team with no Aaron Rodgers. Speaking of which, Brett Hundley was really, really bad in his first few starts. No way he could play well enough to beat the Bears at home, right?

Coming off a bye week, the Bears were going diversify their offense and give Mitch Trubisky something to work with, right?

At this point, why should anyone expect things to happen according to conventional wisdom?

The Chicago Bears came to Soldier Field unprepared and seemingly unmotivated out of the bye week, and it showed in their 23-16 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

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Their offensive gameplan started off as predictably as it always has, and the offensive line looked even more incapable of executing it than usual with Hroniss Grasu at center.

Mitch Trubisky started off strong but swiftly started succumbing to the constant pressure from the Packers’ defense. While not every sack he took was on him, he showed the first signs of hesitance and poor play that he has yet in his young career.

And the defense showed that it can’t put the team on its back every single game.

Bottom line: forget a post-bye playoff run. The Chicago Bears are what their record says they are under John Fox: a bad football team.

That’s the only way you lose to the Hundley-led Packers at home.

So, without further ado, let’s look at three of the biggest plays from today’s slopfest.

Ty Montgomery gashes Bears again

Boy, do the Chicago Bears miss Danny Trevathan right now. No one came close to touching Montgomery on this play.

If the Bears had been able to keep the Packers to field goals all game, they might’ve been able to squeeze out just enough offense to win this game.

But the defense didn’t have its absolute A-game today. In addition to getting gashed on this play, they allowed Hundley and the running game do just enough to keep them at bay.

Also, Montgomery continues annihilating the Bears at Soldier Field, adding this run to his 160-yard performance here last year.

Mitch Trubisky’s TD pass to Josh Bellamy

When the Bears started their first drive of the fourth quarter, I had very little hope that they’d accomplish anything of consequence when they started with multiple ineffective runs.

Then, Trubisky hit on an intermediate throw to Dontrelle Inman for a first down. One play later, he did this.

It’s hard to drop it in the bucket much better than that.

The Bears needed a huge play from their quarterback with the game arguably on the line. He struggled at times in this game, but he delivered here.

Benny Cunningham

This blunder could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for John Fox.

First of all, it spoiled an excellent play call by Dowell Loggains, who dialed up an amazingly timely screen to Benny Cunningham.

It worked like a dream, and the Bears ended up at the 1-yard line as Cunningham’s end zone dive came up just short.

Wanting the touchdown, Fox challenged. Seemed like a logical move, right?

Sure…except for the part where you didn’t see on the replay that Cunningham started losing the football in midair.

We can make the argument that his foot hit the ground before he fumbled, which it may have. But it ultimately doesn’t change the fact that this call cost the Bears at least three points. If he doesn’t challenge the play, they may very well have scored the next play.

The greed and lack of attention to detail killed him on this one. Then again, what else is new?

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Maybe when I go watch next week’s game at Soldier Field, the Chicago Bears will have a new coach. I won’t hold my breath, but at least it’d make things somewhat interesting.