Bears vs. Packers: Notes and Numbers

Thursday, December 29, 2005 | Dave

(Here are the random notes and numbers that I found interesting about last week’s game while poring over any and all press coverage.)

OFFENSE:

The Bears are the first team since the ’90 Bills to bench a QB with 10 wins in a season and only the second since the merger.

Grossman: 11 for 23, 166 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (would’ve been more TDs if Moose remembered how to catch). Those stats include a 54-yard pass to Berrian. Whatever the stats say, it’s a different offense with Rex out there.

TJ: 25 carries for 105 yards, 1 TD, an average of 4.2 yards per carry bringing his totals to 1,273 yards and 9 TDs, both career highs. In fact it is his first 1,000-yard season. He accounts for 36.8% of the Bears total offense. That percentage is second only to Tiki Barber. The two finished in that same order last year as well. He is 27 yards short of being the only Bear besides Walter Payton to run for 1,300 yards in a season. This was his 5th game over 100 yards, only the 7th Bear to accomplish that. He ran for over 100 yards in a span of 4 out of 5 games earlier this year. All that after missing 1 complete game and half of 2 others with injuries.

TJ’s 25-yard draw was the 11th time he gained 20+ yards. That is the most since Payton had 10 in ’84.

Berrian: 3 catches for 93 yards. He has been stepping up big. This season he has averaged 19.9 yards on his 12 catches. He also had 3 punt returns for a total of 30 yards with 0 fumbles and 0 muffs.

Moose: 5 catches for 58 yards, 1 TD and at least 3 drops, including one that would’ve been a TD.

The Bears offense: 28th in yardage, 31st in passing and 24th in scoring. They are 10th in turnovers with 28. They also rank 31st in 3rd-down conversions with 28.1%. Since Grossman came back they are at 44.4% but missed a couple 3rd and short this week.

They are 5-14 on 3rd and 1s and have not converted one since playing the 49ers failing their last 5 attempts.

DEFENSE:

Through 15 games the defense has: allowed 15 TDs, an average of 1 per game, held 6 opponents to 0 TDs, held 4 opponents to only 1 TD, had 27 INTs, scoring 4 TDs of their own off those interceptions, recovered 27 fumbles, and sacked opposing QBs 41 times, allowed no run longer than 42 yards, no pass longer than 56 yards, only 1 punt/kick return for a TD, only 12 TD scoring drives of over 50 yards, and rank in the top 8 in the 11 main defensive categories on their way to yielding a league leading low of 11.2 points per game (last year they yielded 20.7). They have allowed 66 points less than the Colts who are second in that category. Oddly enough given these numbers they have not shut anyone out.

Favre has thrown 109 passes for 0 TDs and 6 INTs in their two meetings this year.

Green Bay scored 10 points in the 4th quarter, ending the 43-quarter streak of allowing 7 points or less. (It also ended my chances of winning in fantasy football.) That streak is second behind this week’s opponent. The ’69 Vikings made it 52.

The Bears cannot set a new NFL record for fewest points in a season but can set the franchise record if they allow 18 points or less.

Harris: 5 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 PD. He played hard out there, that second INT sealed the game and our division title. Only mistake was the costly pass interference in the end zone with the Packers facing 3rd and long.

Briggs: 5 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PD and 1 TD off a 10 yard INT return. One of only 10 players to have 2 INTs returned for TDs over the last 2 seasons. Oddly enough, his last was in week 16 of last season. (Darren Sharper is the only one with more having returned 4 over that span.)

Tillman: 7 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD.

McGowan: 8 tackles, 1 PD. This kid is playing hard. Led the team in tackles.

Alex Brown: 3 tackles, 1 crucial sack for an 8 yard loss

Tank: 2 tackles, 1 crucial sack for an 9-yard loss

Tommie Harris: offsides twice? You lineup on top of the ball how the hell do you not know when you are offsides?

Vasher: Held interceptionless this week but he can tie Deltha O’Neal for most INTs over the last two seasons (14) with an INT this week.

Only 5 teams have had completion rates of 60% or above against the Bears. That includes three of the four teams that beat the Bears (Washington being the odd man out) and in the other two games went down to or past the wire (Saints and Lions).

All these stats are pretty amazing, and I am certainly not complaining but the tackling, especially in the first half worried me heavily.They allowed the Packers 365 total yards, only 65 of those yards came on the ground. Most came from short passes and lots after bad tackles. Green Bay was continually getting first downs they didn’t deserve after breaking tackles for an extra 3-4 yards. Briggs had some egregious examples of this before getting in synch in the second. That is 2 games in 3 weeks where our tackling has looked awful. It didn’t cost us this week but we’ve seen what playoff teams can do to us if we play like that. There were also a number of plays, including 1 potential TD pass to Driver where we escaped only because Favre threw poor passes. Yeah the pressure we were bringing helped but we didn’t really get to him till the last 3 plays of the game. Don’t mistake me, I am not down on our D at all, but everything has room for improvement.

BEARS MENTIONING:

This was the first sweep of the Packers since before Brett in ’91.

If the Bears win this week it will be their first division sweep since 1987.

It will also put Lovie at .500 on the road. In Jauron’s last two seasons they were 2-14.

The Bears have already set a record for most wins (11) by a second year coach with 1 game remaining.

I have mentioned this in previous Notes and Numbers but once again we were hammered on time of possession: 26:57 to 33:03.

A quick playoff note: while overall, teams with a first round bye are 62-18 in divisional games in the last 20 years, the Bears currently have a record of 2-3.