3 Takeaways from Bears' Week 1 Loss vs. Packers

Eventually, the Chicago Bears should begin to have better results against the Green Bay Packers. That day did not come Sunday.

The Bears were again bested by their NFC North rival in their opening contest of the 2023 NFL season, falling 38-20 at Soldier Field. It was the ninth straight time that Green Bay has defeated Chicago, which owns only one win over the Packers in the past 15 meetings between the two teams.

Green Bay jumped out to a 7-0 lead shortly after the midway point of the first quarter and led the entire way. Chicago didn't get into the end zone until the final minute of the third quarter, at which point the Packers had already pulled away.

Here are three takeaways from the Bears' Week 1 loss.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 10:  Jordan Love #10 of the Green Bay Packers scrambles away from DeMarcus Walker #95 of the Chicago Bears during the second half at Soldier Field on September 10, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. 

Aaron Rodgers had long tormented Chicago over his 18 seasons as Green Bay's quarterback. The good news for the Bears? Rodgers is now with the New York Jets. The bad news? Jordan Love has quickly proved he could become a tormentor of Chicago himself.

The 24-year-old threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday, leading a Custom jersyes that racked up 329 total yards and was extremely efficient on third downs (9-for-16). It was only the second career start for Love, who spent the past two seasons as Rodgers' backup.

Despite Green Bay's offensive success, several of Chicago's key offseason acquisitions on defense had strong debuts. T.J. Edwards (team-high 14 tackles) and Tremaine Edmunds (eight tackles, including two for a loss) led the way, while Yannick Ngakoue recorded the Bears' only sack of the day.

But overall, the Chicago defense was not be up to the task of slowing the Packers, which was often a problem for the unit against opponents last season, when the team finished an NFL-worst 3-14.

In order to produce better overall results, the Bears need their defense to do a better job all-around.

Although the Bears quarterback completed 24 of his 37 pass attempts for 216 yards, threw a touchdown pass and led the team with 59 rushing yards, he also threw an interception and lost a fumble.

Chicago's offense especially struggled on third downs, going 3-for-13 in such situations.

"We shot ourselves in the foot so many times: pre-snap penalties, false starts, holdings," Fields told reporters. "We put ourselves in third-and-long. It's hard to convert on that for an NFL offense. I think if we just clean that up and keep getting better, we'll be fine."

The Bears also need more playmakers to step up and help out Fields. On Sunday, the only one who did so was wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who finished with four catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.

DJ Moore was quiet in his Chicago debut, recording only two catches for 25 yards. Chase Claypool had no catches among his two targets. None of the Bears' three running backs rushed for more than 27 yards.

Fields needs to avoid making mistakes, but he also needs the talent around him to play to their potential moving forward.
                        
                                   

If the Bears are going to avoid falling into an early-season hole, they'll need to win some challenging road matchups over the next month.

In Weeks 2 and 3, Chicago has away matchups vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs. The Bears will also go on the road in Week 5, when they face the Washington Commanders.

That's another reason why Chicago would have liked to have built Cheap Jerseys momentum with a Week 1 victory.

"It definitely sucks, but in the grand scheme of things, you've got to look at the bigger picture," Fields said. "We have 16 games to go in the regular season. We've got a lot of room to improve, a lot of room to grow."