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Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers: A look inside the numbers

We'll take a deeper look at the statistics, both individual and team, and also run down the playing time breakdown for the Chicago Bears in their crushing defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers.

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Jonathan Daniel

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL's Game Statistic and Information System.

The Chicago Bears had 496 yards of total offense. They were 64% in 3rd down conversions (7-11), they were 2 for 3 in 4th down conversions and they held the ball for over 36 minutes. But that offensive output wasn't enough as the two third quarter interceptions were momentum killers that the Bears couldn't recover from.

This was a battle of two good offenses, and as is often the case, turnovers make all the difference. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers committed none, while Jay Cutler had two interceptions and two fumbles that he recovered. Cutler was 22 of 34 (64.7%) for 254 yards, 2 touchdowns and those two picks. He ended the game on the bench with Jimmy Clausen seeing his first action since 2010, completing his only pass for 9 yards during the game's final 10 plays.

The struggling Bears' ground game found its way with 235 yards. Workhorse Matt Forte finally found some relief as rookie number two tailback Ka'Deem Carey was in for 22 of 78 offensive snaps. Carey had 14 caries for 72 yards with a 5.1 yards per carry average. This was easily the best he's looked as a Bear. Forte had 23 attempts for 122 yards and a 5.3 ypc on 60 plays (77%). He added 5 receptions, on 6 targets, for 48 yards. I found it interesting that the Bears used both Forte and Carey at the same time.

Cutler's favorite target on the day was Martellus Bennett, who led the Bears in targets (11), receptions (9) and yards (134). He played 56 snaps, while back up tight end Dante Rosario played 18 and TE/OL Eben Britton played 17.

Five Chicago wide outs saw action, led by starters Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery with 68 and 64 snaps apiece. Each had a TD reception, while Jeffery topped Marshall in every other receiving category. Targets (7 to 6), receptions (4 to 2) and yards (39 to 19).

Josh Morgan had 3 catches, on 4 targets, for 24 yards. He was on the field for 56% (44) of their offensive snaps. Santonio Holmes saw 31 plays and Rashad Ross had 10; neither was targeted.

All in all it wasn't a bad performance from the offense, but defensively...

The Green Bay Packers had seven drives and it went like this, TD, TD, TD, FG, TD, TD, blocked FG.

Aaron Rodgers moved the ball at will on the Bears defense, but the most telling stat wasn't his 302 passing yards, or his 4 passing touchdowns, or even his 151.2 passer rating. In my opinion the most telling stat was the big fat ZERO the Bears put up in the quarterback hits category. Aaron Rodgers wasn't touched once, according to the official statistician.

The Bears did get a tiny bit of pressure on Rodgers, but it was a guy here and a guy there. All he had to do was shuffle a bit in the pocket, or escape from one defender before making a play. I checked with Pro Football Focus to see how they had the Bears pressure stats, and they had 1 QB hit and just 4 QB hurries credited to the Bears D. I know the Bears were without Jared Allen, Jeremiah Ratliff and Shea McClellin, but that's atrocious.

Before I get into the snap counts for the Bear defenders, I'll run down all the defensive stats. Ego Ferguson had a gimme sack when Rodgers ran out of bounds, Willie Young had a tackle for loss and Tim Jennings had a pass defended.

Yep, that's it.

Five Bears played all 52 snaps on defense, Ryan Mundy, Lance Briggs, Jon Bostic, Kyle Fuller and Tim Jennings. Mundy led the Bears with 8 tackles, followed with Jennings' 5.

Snap counts from the other defensive backs were as follows: Chris Conte had 46, nickelback Isaiah Frey had 28 and backup safety Danny McCray had 6.

Starting middle linebacker D.J. Williams had 24 snaps and two solo tackles.

The defensive line rotation saw three backups filling in. Trevor Scott had 8 snaps, David Bass played 6 and Cornelius Washington had 5. Starters Willie Young and Lamarr Houston had 47 and 46 respectively. Houston kicked inside for a few snaps in relief of starters Stephen Paea (42 snaps) and Will Sutton (40). Ferguson picked up just 14 snaps at DT.

For as poor a job the Bears did against the pass, they were surprisingly good against the run. They held Eddie Lacy to 48 yards on 17 attempts, for a 2.8 ypc. After a very bad start to the season, the Bears are now ranked 13th against the run. Overall on D, the Bears are allowing 372.8 yards per game, which is 11th best in the NFL.

If you're looking for a silver lining in all this, the Bears are 2-2 and there's plenty of football left to be played. We all know what the offense is capable of and the defense has shown up in flashes.

If you're ready to write off the 2014 season, then you obviously haven't been paying attention to the NFL. It's a week to week league and as the saying goes, on any given Sunday...

What were your thoughts on the numbers this week?