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Green Bay vs. Chicago
12/03/00 - Packers Win 28-6
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| Tyrone Williams iced the game with an interception return for a TD in the 4th quarter. |
The Packers traveled to Soldier Field on Sunday evening with a must-win
attitude and left Chicago with perhaps their most impressive win of the
season, a 28-6 thrashing of the Bears in front of 66,944 mostly unsatisfied
fans.
In the 160th match-up between the NFC Central rivals, the Packers dominated
every facet of play, attacking consistently on offense, aggressively on
defense and error-free on special teams.
"I was pleased with our offense, defense and special teams," said Head Coach
Mike Sherman. "I thought that all three phases of our game came out tonight."
Brett Favre was 19-of-31 for 225 yards and a touchdown en route to Green Bay's seventh-consecutive win in Chicago.
In the process, he added another record to his impressive rÈsumÈ with a
little help from his supporting cast.
Ahead 7-3 in the second quarter, a 33-yard pass to Bill Schroeder put Favre
over the 3,000-yard mark for the ninth-consecutive season, which ties the
league mark set by Dan Marino.
"I wasn't real aware of it until (ESPN analyst) Joe Theismann brought it up
yesterday," said Favre. "I think the most impressive thing is that I've
been able to play that whole time. By playing and being in the lineup every
week, all of those individual records or honors, whatever you want to call
them, will come. But if you don't play, you don't get anything.
"I enjoy playing, regardless of record. It's been a disappointing season
for the most part this year, but that's no reason to pack it in, and I feel
fortunate and lucky every day that I get to step out on the field."
Seven plays later, when Favre found Antonio Freeman tip-toeing across the
back of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 5-yard line, the passing/receiving combination became the 10th tandem in league history to
connect on 50 scoring receptions.
"You know, Antonio has had his problems this year, and I think it's upset
him," commented Favre. "But you don't catch 50 touchdowns by luck or by
chance. The catch he made tonight in the end zone to keep his feet in
bounds shows what Antonio Freeman can do. He's a playmaker. He's had his
struggles this year, but he'll bounce back from it.
"It's amazing to have a combination like that. It's hard to do. It's hard
to throw one touchdown, period - better yet 50 to one guy."
With 4:23 to play in the first half, the touchdown, which tied Freeman with
Max McGee for third place on the Packers' all-time touchdown-receptions
list, also pushed Green Bay's lead to 14-3, where it would remain until the
third period.
The Packers' offense was more than enough to overcome the stellar play of
Chicago running back James Allen, who had 17 carries for 80 yards and 11
receptions for 93 yards.
But the Green Bay defense kept Allen and the Bears' offense out of the end
zone, and with their offense 8-16 on third-down conversions, the Packers
left Chicago Head Coach Dick Jauron disappointed following the game.
"We didn't perform very well in any area," said Jauron. "Certainly
defensively, we worked like heck to get them in third down situations and
then couldn't stop them. I guess they deserve some credit there, but I
didn't think we played particularly well, and certainly in the third downs
we didn't play well. When you do that, you can't win the game."
The first quarter ended scoreless, but the Packers were threatening deep in
Chicago territory.
The Packers' second drive of the game began on their own 20-yard line, and
they methodically drove the length of the field with first-down passes to
Ahman Green, Freeman, and Bubba Franks as well as two drive-sustaining receptions for Schroeder.
Franks' reception gave Green Bay a first-and-goal at the 3, and on the first
play of the second quarter, Green rumbled across the goal line to provide
the game's first score.
The series was the Packers' 13th drive of 80 yards or more during the 2000
season, the most in the NFL.
The Bears immediately responded when, on the following drive, a 41-yard pass
from Shane Matthews to Marty Booker set up a 32-yard Paul Edinger field goal
with 8:47 remaining in the half.
However, the Packers answered momentarily on Favre's history-making drive.
Green Bay began their second series of the second half on their 19-yard
line. Schroeder caught two passes on the drive, including a key 38-yard
reception on third down, and Green punched through the line on an 8-yard
touchdown run with 6:03 left in the third quarter.
Schroeder, who had 119 yards on 6 catches, continued to assert himself as a
clutch receiver and key playmaker. But after posting his third 100-yard
receiving game of the season, the fifth-year player deflected much of the
credit to his quarterback.
"He's just an amazing quarterback," said Schroeder. "He's an amazing
athlete. Anything he does, he's good at. He has the desire to win. Even
when we were up 28-3, he came in the huddle and said, 'This game's not over
yet; we still have to put more points on the board.' So he's the type of
guy who's going to work hard all of the time. He's just that type of
athlete, and that's why he's fun to play with. It's an honor to play with
him."
Any lingering mystery regarding the game's outcome was put to rest one minute into the fourth period, when the Bears were faced with a second-and-10 at the Chicago 26.
Matthews dropped back to pass and threw to the left sideline, but Packers
cornerback Tyrone Williams read the play, intercepted the throw and raced 37 yards to the end zone for his first career touchdown, which put Green Bay ahead 28-3.
A fourth-quarter field goal by Edinger was far too little to threaten the
Green Bay lead, and safety Darren Sharper made his league-leading seventh interception of the season (tied with the Lions' Kurt Schultz and Titans' Samari Rolle) to seal the win.
With the victory, the Packers' record improved to 6-7. To reach the
playoffs, Green Bay has the sturdy task of winning their last three games
against the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
also would need several other competing teams to drop one or more games.
But the Green and Gold seemed please to simply rebound from last week's
upsetting Monday night loss at the hands of the Carolina Panthers, and they
remain hopeful to continue their winning ways.
"We talked about how we wanted the focus to just be on the Bears, and we
needed to get this victory," Sherman said. "We were disappointed with how
we played (last week). I wanted them to come out tonight mad about the fact
that we lost to the Bears the first time (October 1), mad about the fact
that we lost on Monday night and disappointed so many of our fans. We
wanted to prove something tonight, and maybe we did."
Injury Notes
Unfortunately, the Packers' victory was not without a difficult loss.
Rookie defensive tackle Steve Warren suffered a severely strained right quadricep, the same injury that ended the season of fellow defensive lineman Santana Dotson in last week's game.
Warren will be evaluated on Monday, as will starting center Frank Winters,
who sprained a bicep and did not return to the game.
Green left in the first half with a hurt right knee, but came back in the
second half and appeared unrestricted in his movement.
Other Notables
- All 4 first-half drives for the Bears crossed the 50-yard line, but
they managed only 3 first-half points.
- Josh Bidwell placed 3 punts inside the Bears' 20-yard line, tying his season and career highs.
- Every active Green Bay offensive lineman saw action in Sunday's
game. Reserve Barry Stokes played played both left and right guard positions, while Mike Wahle also played on the left side.
- When third-string quarterback Danny Wuerffel took the final two snaps (both kneel-down plays), he became the fifth Heisman Trophy winner to play for the Packers, joining Bruce Smith (1945-48), Paul Hornung (1957-62), Ty Detmer (1992-95) and Desmond Howard (1996, 1999).
Packers-Bears archived complete game broadcast (Real Audio)
Post-Game Audio Clips
Head Coach Mike Sherman (RealAudio)
S LeRoy Butler (RealAudio)
QB Brett Favre (RealAudio)
RB Ahman Green (RealAudio)
WR Bill Schroeder (RealAudio)
S Darren Sharper (RealAudio)
T Mark Tauscher (RealAudio)
DE John Thierry (RealAudio)
GM Ron Wolf (RealAudio)
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
No Score
2nd Quarter
GBP: A.Green 2 yd run for Touchdown. (R.Longwell Extra Point is good)
CHB: P.Edinger 32 yd Field Goal is good.
GBP: B.Favre pass to A.Freeman for Touchdown. (R.Longwell Extra Point is good)
3rd Quarter
GBP: A.Green 8 yd run for Touchdown. (R.Longwell Extra Point is good)
4th Quarter
GBP: T.Williams Interception and 38 yd run for Touchdown (R.Longwell Extra Point is good)
CHB: P.Edinger 46 yd Field Goal is good.
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