The problem with the Bears offense in Thursday night's 23-10 loss to the Packers wasn't that pass rushers outnumbered pass protectors.
It was that the rushers were superior to the protectors, and the extra blockers often were not where they were needed.
Of the Bears' 35 dropbacks, the Bears blockers outnumbered rushers by two or more 48 percent of the time. But on those plays, the Bears allowed four of their seven sacks and two of their four interceptions.
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In fact, keeping so many men in might have been a problem as it limited the potential receivers for quarterback Jay Cutler.
The Packers didn't have more rush men than the blockers once. The numbers were even only three times — a completion, a drop and the final interception.
The Bears clearly did not pay enough attention to Clay Matthews, however. They left the overmatched J'Marcus Webb alone with him 11 times, and on those plays Matthews had 2 1/2 sacks and drew a holding penalty. He would have benefited from two more holding penalties if replacement officials had not blown calls.
Here is what else a review of the tape showed.
Grading key: Grades are between 0 and 10 with 0 being complete failure and 10 being perfect.
Offensive line
Grade: 1
In addition to sacking Cutler seven times, the Packers hit him on 14 other plays. Most of that is on the offensive line.
Between penalties and sacks allowed, Webb gave the Packers 33 yards, which is more than any Bears wide receiver gained.
The only offensive lineman who didn't play poorly was right guard Lance Louis.
Quarterback
Grade: 1
Cutler threw four interceptions and easily could have thrown two more — a second quarter pass to Kellen Davis that safety Jerron McMillian dropped and a fourth quarter pass to Davis that was linebacker D.J. Smith dropped.
Cutler didn't have it easy in this game, but he did very little to help himself or his teammates. Aside from his abysmal leadership, he was frequently late in delivering the ball, and he was throwing off his back foot.
He threw a nice strike for a touchdown late, but could have had another touchdown to Brandon Marshall in the fourth quarter if he hadn't put up a duck that fell short of the intended receiver.
Wide receivers
Grade: 1
