It is fair to say that the teams playing the Pack last year were almost always trailing by the second half, so the opposing clubs were forced to throw the ball and match the Packers offense output. Due to the proficiency of the green and gold offense, opposing teams had to expand their offense in order to not get to far behind, and that made life much more difficult for the Packers defense.
However, with their lethal offense, the Packers defense just had to be in the middle of the road amongst NFL teams, but their defensive unit really struggled to find its form last year.
Although the Packers defensive numbers were a little inflated because teams racked up yards when they were well down in the second half, the green and gold were still dead last in the NFL in defensive yards per game (411.6) and passing yards per game (299.8).
Not only did the Pack have major trouble in the secondary, but they also had real problems getting to the quarterback. Only the Tennessee Titans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had less sacks than the Packers last year, which sorely missed defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, who went to the Eagles in free agency. Jenkins's absence on the d-line had a direct affect on B.J. Raji as well as Clay Matthews, as they both faced more and more attention and double teams. After combining for 30 sacks in 2010, Matthews and Raji didn't even reach double figures in their combined sack total last year.
While many people, including myself, thought that the Packers were going to be significantly better on defense in 2012, they showed little improvement in their 30-22 week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field.
Although Clay Matthews came back to life with 2.5 sacks and Charles Woodson certainly didn't look like he was in his 15th year in the league, the team's defense still showed major signs of concerns. Picking on cornerbacks Jarret Bush and either M.D. Jennings or Jerron McMillian (whichever one was in the game), Alex Smith completed 20 of 26 passes and had 211 yards and 2 touchdowns. Frank Gore also averaged 7 yards per carry and the 49ers racked up 186 yards on the ground.
Going into their week 2 game against the Bears with a 0-1 record, the Packers, and specifically their defense, was facing tremendous pressure to put up a big performance, and they did just that against their long time division rival from the Windy City.
In their 23-10 Thursday night victory at Lambeau, the Packers made a loud statement to the league that they could win games behind their defense and without a huge night from their MVP Aaron Rodgers. Although Cedric Benson had a nice game on the ground with 81 yards and Donald Driver reached the end zone in his 14th straight year in the league, the night was all about how good the Packers defense looked against a quality Bears offense.
Chicago, who were coming off of an impressive 41 point performance against the Colts, where their new offense acquisitions, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, and Michael Bush, had a combined 4 touchdowns, were shutdown by the Packers.
Although the Pack definitely benefited from the Bears o-line struggles, specifically at left tackle with J'Marcus Webb, they proved that they have a very dynamic pass rush. Jay Cutler, who will likely see Clay Matthews in his nightmares for the next week, had no time in the pocket to survey the field for his receiving threats, and was constantly getting pressured and hit. Green Bay sacked Cutler 7 times, their most sacks in a game in 7 years, and Clay Matthews was all over the field and was credited with 3.5 sacks on Cutler, the most by a Packer since Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila had that many in 2005.
The Packers relentless pressure on Cutler forced the Bears QB to make several poor decisions, which led to 4 interceptions and allowed the Packers secondary to have their best performance in more than a year. Cutler never looked comfortable in the pocket, which really helped the Packers defense. Tramon Williams, who had 2 interceptions, held Brandon Marshall to 24 yards on 2 catches, which is just the third time in the last four and a half years that Marshall has not had at least 3 catches in a game. The Packers also limited the Bears to 4.1 yards per carry, as the Bears longest run of the game was a 12 yard QB scramble by Jay Cutler.
The Pack showed their ability to be one of the top defenses in the league and they will have a chance to follow up their terrific performance with another one next week when they take on the Seattle Seahawks and rookie quarterback Russell Wilson on Monday Night Football.
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