The bears won the game at home by 7 points, and here are some relevant facts regarding the game and season:
1. As Olin Kreutz said on the postgame show, the bears were relatively healthy and the Packers came in with 8 or 9 starters on IR. These are the starters the Packers were missing:
Offense
Receiver–Geronimo Allison
Running Back–Aaron Jones, who I believe leads the league in yards/rush, got hurt in the first quarter and didn’t return.
Tight End–Jimmy Graham played, but played with a broken thumb.
Offensive Line–Missing Bulaga and another starter, and Taylor just returned from an injury.
Quarterback–Aaron Rodgers injured his groin toward the end of the first half.
Defense
Defensive Line–Missing Daniels, Clark, and Wilkerson, all excellent linemen.
Linebackers–Missing Perry and Ryan. I believe Ryan was their leading tackler last year, and has missed the entire season.
Defensive Backs–King and House
So, a decimated team missing many starters played the bears in Chicago and lost by 7.
2. Joe Philbin played a big part in giving the bears 10 points with terrible coaching decisions.
3. I understand that this is just luck and the Packers might have benefited from this in the past, but for this year:
The Packers and Vikings played the Seahawks in Seattle, where they are very tough, and the bears played them in Chicago.
The Packers and Vikings played the Patriots and Rams on the road, and the bears played both at home. The bears played the Rams in Chicago in December, and the Rams can’t play in cold weather. They played poorly in their other game in cold weather.
4. Here is an excerpt from an article a friend sent me after today’s game:
“The difference is most of what Trubisky does results from beautiful play design, giving him simple reads and open receivers. Trubisky will make a handful of plays every game on his own, backbreaking because of how hard Nagy’s offense can be on its own. Rodgers still makes those plays; it’s the rest of the time that has been like pulling teeth. If the only way the offense can succeed is Rodgers making plays, that’s not sustainable over 16 games in 2018, not the way offenses exploded this season.
As has been the case all season, the Packers’ urgency ramped up in the second half as they fought their way back.”
5. Despite all of the above, the Packers and bears came into the game tied with 8-5 records and the Packers holding the tiebreaker.