Packers at a Loss to Explain Team-Record 18 Penalties Against Bears

CHICAGO -- In the battle to remain the lone undefeated team in the NFC, it wasn't so much that the Chicago Bears won 20-17 Monday night, it was more how the Green Bay Packers essentially handed their opponents the victory in a nicely wrapped package.

Green Bay unintentionally picked a national Monday Night Football stage to set a rather dubious team record that gave the Bears a win, with the Packers committing an unconscionable 18 penalties for 152 yards, breaking the former team mark of 17 penalties set way back in 1945 against the Boston Yanks (the who?).

"Eighteen penalties, that doesn't cut it. You can't play football like that," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said after the game. "We talked about (penalties) at halftime. I addressed it with the football team -- and we came out and had three (more penalties) on the first offensive series (of the third quarter)."

Can you blame McCarthy for being so dejected, frustrated, bitter – or select your own adjective to best describe the way he couldn't get over the way his team played – particularly when going into the game, the Packers had a grand total of eight penalties for 64 yards?

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Combined over two games, that is, an average of four penalties and 32 lost yards in each of their first two wins against Philadelphia and Buffalo.

But Monday night was a whole different story. And while McCarthy couldn't put his finger on exactly why his team made so many mental errors, there's certainly a lot of fingers that could be pointed at a number of guilty parties.

Maybe it was the 180th renewal of the bitter rivalry between the two NFC North teams (Chicago now leads the series 92-82-6).

"Eighteen penalties, that doesn't cut it. You can't play football like that."
- Mike McCarthy Maybe the Packers took the Bears too lightly, particularly after Chicago's winless preseason and underwhelming performances in their first two wins against hapless Detroit and slow-starting Dallas.

Or maybe it was just the domino effect, where Green Bay became more flustered with each subsequent yellow penalty flag thrown. Rather than rattling the Bears, who remained calm, cool and collected, the Packers seemed to grow increasingly desperate with each call whistled against them.

Take your pick. There were more than enough penalties committed in so many different fashions: everything from face masks to defensive pass interference, from false starts to offensive holding, from illegal blocks above the waist to illegal formations and delays of game.

"Obviously, it factored in the game from our perspective," McCarthy said. "It held us back from point-generation and it definitely helped them, particularly on the last drive (Packers safety Morgan Burnett was whistled for defensive pass interference, which set up Robbie Gould's game-winning 19-yard field goal with eight seconds left) and drives to get points. It was a huge factor in the outcome of the game."

Sure, there were offensive miscues and missteps, including a touchdown that was called back because of -- what else, a penalty -- but for the most part, the Packers dominated Chicago, compiling 379 total net yards (316 passing and 63 rushing) to 276 net yards by the Bears (199 passing, 77 rushing).

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was definitely on his game, particularly when it came to short drop passes of 10 yards or less. He continually found a way to pick apart the middle of the Bears' defense, racking up yard after yard and first down after first down (16 through the air and just four on the ground).

Scoring-wise, Rodgers found Greg Jennings with a 7-yard pass late in the first quarter, and then bootlegged a three-yard run for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Without question, Rodgers (34 of 45 for 316 yards) outplayed Chicago counterpart Jay Cutler (16 of 27 for 221 yards). Plus, the Bears defense never reached Rodgers for a sack, yet Cutler went down three times to the Packers' swarming defensive line.

Still, while his individual numbers were great, the end result was anything but, Rodgers said.

"Yeah, it's disappointing. It was an uncharacteristic game for us. There were way too many penalties," Rodgers said afterward. "We got into a rhythm there in the second quarter and in the second half and moved the ball well, spread them out and did some good things, but field position and penalties hurt us tonight.

"That's not the way we play. We're not that kind of a team. We took points off the board and we took big plays off the board as well. I mean, it was 10-7 and I had Jermichael (Finley) for a touchdown and they called it back for holding, and then we got our field goal blocked. That's a big change there. When you lose by three points, you've got to point to plays like that. Unfortunately, that's what hurt us tonight."

The loss can do one of two things for the Packers heading into their next game, Sunday at Lambeau Field against the visiting and winless Detroit Lions (0-3): it'll either get the Packers fired up to bounce back and absolutely humiliate Detroit, or the vulnerability they showed against Chicago could become something the Lions are able to take advantage of.

After all, it's embarrassing enough to lose the way they did against the Bears, but can you imagine how low the Packers would feel if they somehow become Detroit's first victim of the 2010 season?

"We're going to look at film, we have a short week, Detroit's coming to our place and we need to get a win," Rodgers said. "I'm not worried about the resolve of this team. I'm disappointed that we didn't play as well as we're capable of playing, especially in the penalty department."

While the Bears didn't sympathize with the Packers' loss, at least some could empathize with the penalty-laden performance.

"I'd rather have an ugly win than an ugly loss," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "Yeah, they had a lot of yards, but yards don't mean crap. Points do."