Wk 2 Nuts & Bolts: Bears at Packers
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Week
2 Nuts & Bolts: Bears at Packers
September, 12, 2012
5:11PM CT
By Michael C. Wright
ESPNChicago.com
When: 7:20 p.m., Thursday | TV: NFL Network; WPWR
| RADIO: 780 AM, WBBM & 105.9 FM
Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesLovie Smith listed beating
Green Bay as his No. 1 priority, and Jay Cutler gives him a solid chance.
CHICAGO BEARS (1-0)
Coach: Lovie Smith Record including playoffs: 72-57
Career head-to-head record (including playoffs) vs. Mike McCarthy: 5-8
| Career record vs. Packers: 8-9
Last week: Defeated Indianapolis
Colts 41-21
Key stat: Jay Cutler has
thrown 2 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions on throws of at least 15 yards
down the field against the Green Bay
Packers since joining the Bears, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The 9 INTs are 5 more picks than the next highest opponent.
Offense rank in 2011: 5th (428 ypg) | Defense rank: 15th (356
ypg)
Offensive leader: WR Brandon
Marshall made a smashing debut with the Bears, catching 9 passes for 119
yards and a TD against the Colts. Having produced 20 100-yard receiving games
over his career, Marshall’s Week 1 performance went down as the most production
from a player making his debut with the franchise since Harlon Hill gained 140
yards against Detroit back in Sept. of 1954.
Defensive leader: CB Tim Jennings
recorded the first multiple-interception game of his career in Week 1 against
the Colts by picking off two Andrew Luck
passes. Jennings became the first Bear since Sept. 19, 2010 (D.J. Moore) to
intercept two passes in a game, and has already tied his single-season high for
INTs, having picked off two in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
Streaks
" A win gives the Bears their sixth 2-0 start
under the current playoff format. The previous five times the Bears started 2-0,
they made the playoffs on four occasions.
" The Bears have lost each of
their last four games -- including the playoffs -- against the Packers, and
haven’t won at Lambeau Field since 2007.
" In the seven games the Bears
lined up with Chris Conte and
Major Wright
as the starting safeties, the club has nabbed 11 interceptions while allowing
five touchdown passes and a passer rating of 66.4.
GREEN BAY PACKERS (0-1)
http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/gnb.gif
Coach Mike McCarthy: Record including playoffs 102-66
Career record vs. Smith: 8-5 | Career record vs. Bears: 8-5
Last week: Lost to San Francisco
49ers 30-22.
Key stat: During Green
Bay’s 19-game winning streak from 2010-11, QB Aaron Rodgers
completed 55.5 percent of his throws travelling 15 yards or more downfield,
according to ESPN Stats & Info. In his last four games, Rodgers has
completed 25.8 percent of those throws.
Offense rank in 2011: 18th (324 ypg) | Defense rank: 18th (377
ypg)
Offensive leader: Aaron Rodgers
passed for 17,037 yards from 2008-11, which ranks as the most yardage in NFL
history for a QB in his first four seasons as a starter. Rodgers has thrown a
touchdown pass in 30 consecutive regular-season games at Lambeau Field, which is
a franchise record. In 63 regular-season starts, he’s finished 35 contests
without an interception.
Defensive leader: LB Clay Matthews
is the only player in Packers history to score a touchdown on defense in each of
his first three seasons in the NFL, and his 17 sacks over his first 20 games
ranked as the most by a player to start his career. Matthews is the first player
in the NFL since 1982 to rack up double-digit sacks and a defensive touchdown in
each of his first two years seasons in the league.
Streaks
" The Packers have generated 300 yards of
total offense or more in a franchise-record 17 consecutive regular-season games,
which serves as the longest current streak in the league.
" The Packers
are one of two teams (New Orleans is the other) to finish in the top 10 in total
offense in each of the last six seasons.
" Green Bay has won seven of 10
games played in Sept. since 2009, which ties Chicago, New Orleans and New
England as the third-best record in the NFL in that month over the last four
years.
