Well, that game was something, wasn't it? 

Despite a rocky start and numerous blunders by the special teams unit, the Green Bay Packers came away with the win over Chicago to improve to 10-3 on the season.

As we do following each Packers game, it's time to go Behind the Numbers, taking a look at the stats and figures that you need to know from Green Bay's performance.

15

Typically the opening script for an offense is around 15 plays, so this figure is just an estimate, but you get the idea. A big reason behind Green Bay's success on offense in 2020 was that they were able to get off to fast starts, finding quite a bit of success with Matt LaFleur's opening script of play calls. However, that hasn't been the case this year.

"At times the last couple years we've been so good in the first 15 to 20 plays that we script, and scoring on opening drives, touchdowns," said quarterback Aaron Rodgers via Packers.com following the Vikings game. "Hasn't really been the case this year. We've been a lot slower starting, so we gotta look at that."

As always, there's much more that goes into it, but it seems quite clear that this offense is at its best when utilizing the quick passing game and when they have a good run/pass mix. Not to mention that motion, play-action, and getting the ball to the pass-catchers in space have all been vital to Green Bay's success as well.

But once again, early on, we saw Rodgers holding on to the ball, looking for the shot play downfield despite defenses playing heavy cover-2 against Green Bay and with an offensive line down several starters. 

Why is this the case? I have no idea. Sure, the deep ball is an important aspect of this offense, but Rodgers and LaFleur are trying to force it way too much instead of letting those opportunities present themselves.

89

It was a rough few weeks for Allen Lazard heading into the bye week that included some dropped passes, but he was able to find his groove against Chicago. With Randall Cobb sidelined, Lazard took quite a few of those slot snaps and finished the game with 75 receiving yards, one touchdown, and 14 yards on a jet sweep, along with some key blocks as well. 

35:00

The Green Bay Packers entered Sunday's game second in time of possession this season, holding the ball for an average of over 32 minutes per game. While against the Bears, it didn't begin with Green Bay dominating the clock; it finished that way with the Packers holding the ball for 35:00.

 54 and 46

Through nine games, this Green Bay Packers defense had been really good at limiting the big play. In fact, with their lightboxes and heavy cover-2 look, they were one of the best in football at it. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case since the Minnesota game, and we again saw their opponent rip off some chunk plays. On two fairly quick passing plays, Damiere Byrd had a 54-yard reception and Jakeem Grant a 46-yard reception.

Too many to count

By PFF and Football Outsider's metrics, the Packers entered the game with one of the worst special teams units in football. But somehow, they made all their previous blunders look quite tame in comparison to the display they put on against Chicago.

Packers special teams in the first half:

-97-yard punt return TD allowed
-34-yard punt return allowed
-42-yard kick return allowed
-40-yard kick return allowed
-Kickoff out of bounds
-Muffing kickoff headed out of bounds to give your offense a start at its own 5-yard line

Wild.

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 13, 2021

In addition to what Matt noted in the first half, we saw a muffed punt by Amari Rodgers that was fortunately called back due to a flag. More poor return coverage, a shanked punt from Corey Bojorquez, and a missed onside recovery by Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

While, yes, players have to make plays, at the end of the day, the responsibility falls on Maurice Drayton. When asked after the game if Green Bay would move on from Drayton, LaFleur replied with "absolutely not." However, something has to change.

22

There weren't huge sack totals posted by Green Bay against the elusive Justin Fields, but as OLB Coach Mike Smith says, he will take consistent pressure over sacks every day--and that is what we saw on Sunday night. The Green Bay Packers were able to pressure Fields on 22 of his 43 dropbacks, according to PFF. When kept clean, Fields averaged 10.2 yards per attempt, but under pressure, that figure fell to only 3.2.

1

Now, granted, the Bears' passing attack hasn't exactly been potent this season, but it was another impressive showing from the Green Bay Packers' cornerbacks. According to PFF's game recap article, Rasul Douglas didn't allow a reception on his two targets, and of course, he came away with another pick-6. Meanwhile, Chandon Sullivan, who has had a nice season, allowed one completion on four targets for 25 yards and had an interception of his own. We also very rarely heard Eric Stokes' name called. The players deserve the credit, but so does Joe Barry's scheme that utilizes lightboxes and a heavy cover-2 look to provide these corners with some assistance.

4

We will see what the exact diagnosis is on Billy Turner's knee, but it looks like the Green Bay Packers could be without four of their five preferred starters along the offensive line, with Royce Newman being the only player still at his original starting position. 

Yet despite losing Turner, the offensive line unit with Dennis Kelly held up well, with the run game averaging 5.0 yards per carry and the offensive line being credited with allowing only one sack. But the big question that remains is, can this unit continue to fight through these injuries and play at a high level?

We will see, but some good news is that LaFleur did say that he hopes David Bakhtiari will return to practice later this week. 

42

Now, of course, it helps to play with a lead, but the run defense had another nice performance, holding David Montgomery to only 42 yards on 10 carries, and 20 of those yards came on one rush. The Green Bay Packers are yet to allow a 100-yard rusher this season.

121 and 341

Despite the slow start for the offense, Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers put up huge numbers as they often do. I said recently that it can be easy not to realize the moment just how well these two are playing, given that they do it so often. But the fact that they can put up these types of numbers with such ease is incredibly impressive and shouldn't go unnoticed. 

Rodgers finished the game completing 29 of 37 for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Adams, meanwhile, caught 10 of his 13 targets for 121 yards and two touchdowns. 

DB is a full man inside basically saying you ain’t running a slant, Tae eyes acting like the fade is coming & having the patience of Sallie Mae to wait until dude opened his hips slightly before coming back underneath. There’s a purpose with this ART pic.twitter.com/C40jIs71Gm

— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) December 13, 2021

1

The Green Bay Packers magic number to clinch the NFC North is down to one game--which means they just have to win one of their final four, or Minnesota has to lose one of their final four.