Thoughts on Thursday Night's Game

And again, I fail at my Thursday Night pick.

- If you had told me before the game that Green Bay's offense would score one touchdown all night, I would have loved my pick of Chicago +4.5. Even if you had told me Green Bay would put up 23 points, I still would have loved my pick. After all, Green Bay scored 22 points at home in week 1. In that game, they lost by 8. To San Francisco and their offense.

- I assumed that with Mike Martz gone, Chicago would design their scheme to protect Jay Cutler more. I didn't see a whole lot of that in last night's game. Lots of deep drops, and lots of slow-developing routes. If this is what Chicago's offense is going to look like, I'm not nearly as bullish on their chances to go deep into the playoffs. Their offensive line remains a mess, and if the scheme isn't going to feature more quick passes, Cutler is going to struggle to make it through the season yet again.

- I was impressed with Green Bay's defense. I know Chicago's offensive line is atrocious, but last year's Green Bay team had 3 sacks in 2 games against the Bears (including a big fat 0 in their game against Josh McCown). Last night they had 7 sacks of Jay Cutler. And good pressure makes the secondary's job easier, and Green Bay's secondary had great coverage last night. Even the times Cutler was able to move around to buy time, he still usually ended up having to throw into tight coverage.

- Finally, I (as it turns out, foolishly) went against my gut, which told me Green Bay needed this game more, and they were at home. And Green Bay was the more desperate team (witness their first touchdown, a fake field goal play), and they played like it. Chicago may have been overconfident, or they simply may not have been ready to rise up to the level of a very good, very desperate team. Either way, the Bears are now the team with numerous questions surrounding them. We saw how Green Bay handled the storm, now it's Chicago's turn.