Week 17 Game Recap: Green Bay Packers 26, Chicago Bears 7

What you need to know

Green Bay Packers

With their playoff hopes in the rearview mirror by the start of the game the only thing left to motivate the Packers was the pride of beating an arch rival, the Chicago Bears, and winning what could be Brett Favre’s final game of his Hall of Fame career. Both offense and defense elevated their game and dominated the Bears from start to finish and close out their season with four straight victories.

If this was in fact Favre’s final game, the 37 year-old went out in style, slipping and sliding around in the pocket, buying time while throwing for 285 yards and a touchdown in a convincing win against Chicago. He put plenty of zip on his passes and still appears to have the passion to play during the game but it remains a question has the mental preparation for each game taking its toll. He is expected to have surgery on his left ankle on New Years Day; something many speculate might be a sign he intends to return. Favre posed for pictures after the game with his offensive line, gave plenty of hugs and handshakes and provide a tearful post-game interview which had some saying he will retire.

Young wide receivers Carlyle Holiday and Ruvell Martin had the best games of their career as both stepped up in the absence of Greg Jennings. Holiday finished with five receptions for 87 yards including a 35 yard catch on the Packers first drive. Martin had 100 yards at the break and finished the game leading the Green Bay receivers with seven catches for 118 yards. Ahman Green rushed for 71 yards in the game and surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for the sixth time in his career. Green ran with intensity and fought for additional yardage after contact.

The Packers’ defense was outstanding, forcing errant pass attempts and misreads by both Chicago quarterbacks. Although they had just two sacks in the game, the front four put enough pressure on Grossman and Griese to disrupt their timing and by getting their arms up created several deflections at the line of scrimmage. Nick Collins led the defense with two interceptions including a 55 yard pick returned for a touchdown. Patrick Dendy also returned an interception for a touchdown. Charles Woodson and rookie A.J. Hawk each had an interception.

Chicago Bears

With nothing to play for, the Bears came out flat and uninspired and were outplayed for four quarters by the visiting Packers. Head coach Lovie Smith elected to play his starters this year unlike a year ago at this time and with their performance creates plenty of questions as they prepare for the playoffs

With Rex Grossman and Brian Griese’s performance against Green Bay, Bears’ fans are left in tailspin over the quarterback situation. The up-and-down Grossman limps into the playoffs with a horrible performance in just a half of play. Grossman threw for just 33 yards and had three interceptions, two returned for touchdown, not to mention a fumble all before the intermission. Griese’s performance was equaling dismal with two interceptions of his own and numerous poorly thrown passes. However, Griese did avoid the shutout by throwing a nice, tight spiral to a wide open Mark Bradley for a 75 yard touchdown.

The lone bright spot for the Bears in the first half and the game was the play of Cedric Benson, who had a season high 75 yards rushing after his first eight carries at the break. He finished with 109 yards on 13 carries and notched his first career 100 yard rushing game. Benson showed good vision finding the opening in the line and pretty good speed hitting the holes. He also proved difficult to tackle for Green Bay, shrugging off defenders and lower his shoulder for extra yardage.

What you ought to know

QB Brett Favre, Pass: 21 - 42 - 285 - 1 TD / 1 INT

Favre went practically untouched and under little pressure throughout most of the game and at times looked like the Favre of old rolling out, eluding the pass rush and making the completions look easy. He threw for 209 yards in the first half, passing for 13 first downs in his first 18 completions and finishing the game 21 for 42 for 285 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Favre looked as if he owned Soldier Field on the first possession of the night, leading the Packers on an 11 play, 75 yard drive in which he had four passing first downs and converted three of three third downs before zipping a nine yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver for the early lead. Although the stats will show his passer rating at 70.0 for the game, Favre still showed he still has something left in the tank in his convincing win against Chicago. He was carried off the field by teammate Donald Driver with just over a minute left and replaced by Ingle Martin for the last few snaps of the game. He also posed for pictures with his offensive linemen on the field after the contest and provided a tearful post game interview which could mean he has played his last game.

RB Ahman Green, Rush: 22 - 71 - 0, Rec: 4 - 39 - 0 (4 targets)

Green played well and repeatedly fought for extra yardage by keeping his legs moving and shedding defenders. He ran the ball with authority and determination on his way to eclipsing the 1,000 yard mark for the sixth time in his career. Green carried the ball 21 times for 71 yards and provided an additional 39 yards receiving on four receptions. He finished the season with 1,059 yards and five touchdowns.

RB Vernand Morency, Rush: 9 - 37 - 0

Morency was used sparingly to give Green a breather. He ran the ball well and accumulated most of his yards on the Packers last drive of the game. Morency had a nice 15 yard run to the Chicago ten yard line with less than two minutes remaining in the game. He fumbled on the play but the ball went out of bounds. Morency had nine carries for 37 yards.

RB William Henderson, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets)

Henderson had one catch for three yards. He had another reception for four yards negated by a penalty.

RB Brandon Miree (1 targets)

Miree had his only target of the game thrown behind him for an incomplete pass.

WR Ruvell Martin, Rec: 7 - 118 - 0 (13 targets)

Martin got an unexpected start with the absence of Greg Jennings. The rookie receiver had the best game of his career leading the Packers with seven receptions for 118 yards. Martin hauled in a 33 yard pass from Favre on a third and two play, coming back for the slightly under thrown ball and out jumping the defenders. He also had 34 yard catch, finding a seam in the zone and snagging the ball, again thrown slightly behind him which put Green Bay in field goal range. Martin did show a sign of inexperience on a slant route when he appeared to stop and Favre expected him to continue and the pass was intercepted.

WR Carlyle Holiday, Rec: 5 - 87 - 0 (8 targets)

Holiday had the best game of his young carry with five catches for 87 yards. He had three receptions for 63 yards at the half. On Green Bay’s first possession, Holiday sparked the scoring driving with a 35 yard catch, coming all the way across the field as Favre rolled out to his right and was wide open on the play. Holiday proved a challenge for the slightly smaller Bears’ defensive backs throughout the game.

WR Donald Driver, Rush: 1 - -6 - 0, Rec: 3 - 23 - 1 (10 targets)

If this was Brett Favre’s last game, Driver will be the proud recipient of the final touchdown pass of his career. Although Driver had just three catches in the game, Favre looked for his veteran receiver inside the red zone on the Packers’ first drive. On his first target, in the end zone, the ball sailed out of bounds well out of reach for Driver. Two plays later Driver lined up in the slot, left of Favre, ran a quick slant towards the goal post as the defender played too deep and Favre rifled a bullet to Driver for a nine yard score. Driver had another end zone target go over his head in the second quarter. He finished with just 23 yards on those three receptions with a touchdown.

WR Greg Jennings

Jennings did not play in the game. He returned to Green Bay due to his wife giving birth to their child.

TE Donald Lee, Rec: 1 - 15 - 0 (4 targets)

Lee caught one pass for 15 yards which helped put Green Bay within field goal range. Rayner kicked his 46 yards field goal four plays later.

TE Bubba Franks (1 targets)

Franks was non-existent for the Packers this week after a dreadful game last week against the Vikings. His lone target was an end zone target but the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and nearly intercepted by the Bears’ Brian Urlacher.

PK Dave Rayner 2 - 3 FG, 2 - 3 XP, 8 points

Rayner continued his late season struggles by missing an extra point attempt which hit the left upright. In addition, he missed a 32 yard that was a line drive kick that hooked wide left and was not even close. On the positive side for Rayner, he did make his other two extra point attempts and made field goal attempts from 25 and 46 yards away.

GB Rush Defense

The Packers’ front four linemen won the battle in the trenches against the Bears’ and with the exception of a couple of nice runs by Cedric Benson clearly shut down the Chicago ground game. Although they allowed 135 yards in the game they held Chicago out of the end zone, largely due to the turnovers in the passing game.

Nick Collins and Aaron Kampman led the Packers with six combined tackles a piece.

Nose tackle, Ryan Pickett had a fumble recovery.

GB Pass Defense

The Green Bay pass defense was stellar, recording five interceptions and one fumble recovery. They held Bears’ quarterbacks to a combined total of 157 yards and seven of 27 completion attempts.

Nick Collins was the defensive leader for Green Bay with two interceptions including a pick returned 55 yards for a touchdown. Charles Woodson and A.J. Hawk each had an interception as well. Backup cornerback Patrick Dendy returned an interception 30 yards for the first touchdown of his career.

QB Brian Griese, Pass: 5 - 15 - 124 - 1 TD / 2 INT

Griese was expected to play in the game but was not sure exactly when that time would come. With a dismal performance from Grossman in the first half, head coach Lovie Smith was forced to put Griese in earlier then expected. Griese started the second half for the Bears and was equally unimpressive. Griese started the half just three for 11 for 27 yards with an interception until connecting with Mark Bradley on a 75 yard touchdown with 34 seconds to play in the third quarter. Griese threw two inexcusable interceptions deep in Green Bay territory on third down plays, eliminating any chances the Bears had for a comeback. Griese ended his half of play and the game going five of 15 for 124 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Griese did nothing spectacular to fuel any quarterback controversy but leaves head coach Lovie Smith with serious doubts at the quarterback position.

QB Rex Grossman, Pass: 2 - 12 - 33 - 0 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 2 - -1 - 0

Grossman fell back to his mid-season miscues and lackluster performance and played a horrible first half committing four turnovers and leaving the game trailing 23-0. On four of five possessions before the half Grossman registered three interceptions and one fumble lost taking the snap from center. Grossman had not thrown an interception in his previous three games but his bad defensive reads and poor judgment proved costly for Chicago. On his first interception, Grossman held the pass a bit too long and safety, Nick Collins read it perfectly stepping in front of the receiver and taking it the distance the other way for a Green Bay touchdown. On another poor read, Grossman threw to his intended receiver, Rashied Davis but did not see cornerback, Charles Woodson in front of Davis resulting in another turnover. His final miscue of the half was another interception returned for a touchdown with just 43 seconds left in the half. In fairness to Grossman the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage however, he threw the pass while under pressure and falling backwards and would have been better off just taking the sack. Grossman ended his half of play two of 12 for 33 yards and three interceptions. He appears to remain the starting quarterback for Chicago going into the playoffs which is something of concern for head coach Lovie Smith and Bears’ fans.

RB Cedric Benson, Rush: 13 - 109 - 0, Rec: 1 - 22 - 0 (1 targets)

Benson was clearly the bright spot for the Bears on both sides of the ball. In the first half he had tallied a season high 75 yards rushing on just eight carries. On his first carry from scrimmage, he rumbled to a 30 yard gain before bringing brought down in Packers’ territory. He showed power and excellent speed as he started out to his left, cut back to his right breaking a tackle on the way downfield for his longest gain of the season. Benson produced 109 yards on the ground on just 13 carries, an average of 8.4 yards per carry. He also showed decent hands, grabbing a Griese pass and taking it 22 yards into Green Bay territory. Benson improved running game down the stretch, along with Thomas Jones, should give the Bears a nice combination in the backfield for the playoffs.

RB Thomas Jones, Rush: 9 - 27 - 0, Rec: 1 - -3 - 0 (2 targets)

Jones rushed for just 19 yards on five carries in the first quarter of play and had no carries in the second quarter. In the second half, it was much of the same for Jones with just four carries for eight yards. Jones appeared to have the same lethargic look that most of the Bears’ offense had all game. He was clearly out performed by Benson in this game and hopefully will show some spark in the playoffs. Jones finished with nine carries for 27 yards. He had a catch, on a screen pass that went for negative yardage.

RB Adrian Peterson, Rec: 1 - 37 - 0 (1 targets)

Peterson caught his only target on a pass from punter, Brad Maynard on a fake punt in the third quarter. He was left wide open down the middle of the field by the Packers’ special teams unit and rumbled 37 yards into Green Bay territory. Peterson fumbled on the play but recovered his own miscue.

WR Rashied Davis, Rec: 2 - 19 - 0 (8 targets)

Davis was targeted often but had little results to show for efforts. Although he dropped his first target of the game, he saw other targets thrown over this head or was clearly not open when the pass was thrown. Davis, sadly to say, led the team with two receptions in the game. He gained just 19 yards on those two receptions and was targeted for two of Grossman’s interceptions.

WR Bernard Berrian, Rec: 1 - 17 - 0 (3 targets)

Berrian did nothing in the first half and had just one target on a play in which he fell to the turf. He had a nice 17 yard grab down the left sideline when the Bears were pinned deep in their own territory. Berrian had a deep target thrown his way on the Bears’ next possession but the pass was well over thrown and out of bounds by Griese. He finished the game with just that one catch for 17 yards.

WR Muhsin Muhammad, Rec: 1 - 27 - 0 (6 targets)

Muhammad had a deep target thrown his way early but the defender jarred the ball loose with a solid hit. His only reception of the game, a 27 yard grab, was early in the second quarter on a short pass underneath from Grossman that Muhammad eluded a tackler and produced nice yardage after the catch. Muhammad was the intended receiver on one of Griese’s interceptions.

WR Mark Bradley, Rec: 1 - 75 - 1 (1 targets)

Bradley made the most of his one and only target with a 75 yard touchdown catch from Brian Griese. He split the double coverage when the safety, Marquand Manuel stepped up in coverage with no help behind him or cornerback, Patrick Dendy and quickly sped past both defenders. Griese lofted a beautiful spiral, hitting Bradley in stride, for the 75 yard strike. The touchdown was the longest play from scrimmage for the Bears’ offense this season.

TE Desmond Clark (4 targets)

Clark did not catch a pass in the game. Two of his intended targets were picked off for an interception including one returned for a TD by Green Bay safety, Nick Collins.

TE John Gilmore (1 targets)

Gilmore saw his only target in the fourth quarter but was unable to come up with the grab as the pass fell incomplete.

PK Robbie Gould 0 - 0 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points

Gould made his only extra point attempt in the third quarter. He did not have any field goal attempts in the game.

CHI Rush Defense

The Bears run defense played a decent game, keeping Ahman Green to just 71 yards on the ground and out of the end zone. Combined, the Packers rushed for 97 yards with no touchdowns. Safety, Cameron Worrell had a forced fumble on a Vernand Morency run, late in the fourth quarter but the ball went out of bounds.

Linebacker, Brian Urlacher led the Bears with eight combined tackles.

CHI Pass Defense

Chicago showed a weak pass rush against the Packers and was clearly dominated at the line of scrimmage by Green Bay’s offensive line. Brett Favre had plenty of time in the pocket to find his receivers downfield and when under pressure was able to avoid the pass rush and still complete the pass. Favre dissected the Bears for 285 yards and one touchdown.

Cornerback, Nathan Vasher had an interception, the only takeaway for the Bears. Vasher left the game with a slight calf strain. Charles Tillman missed his second straight game with back spasms.

Cameron Worrell and Alex Brown each had a sack for Chicago.