Pretty good week for Packers fans. The Lions lost and didn't play better than the Packers against the Eagles. The Vikings are horrific. And the Bears just barely beat the horrific Vikings.
Bears and Vikings
The Bears beat the Vikings 19-17.
Game Notes
The Bears had this game under control for most of it before a late Viking run forced them to win it on a field goal with just four seconds left. Must be nice to make field goals.
Caleb Williams had another meh game, where a few highlights had Bears fans foaming at the mouth. Williams was 16/32 for 193 yards and no TDs. Good for a 68.2 QB rating. He wasn't the worst QB in the game; that was J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy was also 16/32, but he threw for 43 fewer yards and two picks (along with one tud). Gross.
Obviously, with the Bears atop the division at 7-3, no Bears fan is looking to replace Caleb Williams, but there sure as hell are Vikings fans looking to replace McCarthy already. It doesn't help that there are at least two former Vikings QBs having close to MVP-level seasons. If Kirk Cousins, now starting for the Falcons, starts blowing up, Vikings fans may riot.
The Bears focused far more on the ground game than the Vikings, totaling 39 carries to the Vikings' 22. Sadly, those 17 additional carries amounted to just 25 more yards. The Bears often look good running the ball but Ben Johnson seems to catch the run the ball just to run the ball disease that sometimes moves around the North.
Lions
The Eagles topped the Lions, 16-9.
Game Notes
Personally, I think the Packers outperformed the Lions in their respective Eagles match-ups. 116 of the Lions' 317 total yards came on three plays. Jared Goff was 14/37 and had a pick to go with one tud. 14 for 37!
The story of the game was that the Lions, fresh off a change in play caller last week, failed five fourth-down conversion attempts and were 3 for 13 on third down. Sam LaPorta was put on IR before the game, and the Lions didn't have an answer for must-have downs. The Sun God should be that player; he had two catches for 42 yards on 12 targets. 2 for 12!
Speaking of the Sun God, he has the fifth-highest WR PFF grade this season, but it's worth noting that grade, 85.4, is currently lower than any of the last three seasons and he hasn't actually had an 85 grade in a game since week 5. He has had sub-70 grades in half the games this season. Something worth tracking.
The defense played well against an Eagles team that was hyper-focused on getting the ball to AJ Brown. Definitely not to the level the Packers played last week.
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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