Bears vs Packers: Inside the snap counts, stats, and more

There were several scenarios I pictured for the Chicago Bears' week one opener against the Green Bay Packers, and none of them ended with a Green Bay 38 to 20 blowout. None of them included Jordan Love dribbling the football before throwing a 37-yard pass to Luke Musgrave. None of them had Justin Fields throwing a pick 6, losing a fumble, and getting sacked four times. And none of them had D.J. Moore being targeted only twice.

I shared some thoughts on the game last night when I guested on our postgame podcast with Bill Zimmerman, and after taking a day to cool off, I'll share some more thoughts later tonight on Bear & Balanaced.

But let's get into the numbers on this one...

Green Bay had the yardage edge (329 to 311) and a better yards-per-play average (5.5 to 4.4), but the Bears had more first downs (22 to 15).

On third downs, the Packers were 9 for 16 (56.3%), while the Bears were just 3 for 13 (23.1%). Each team was 1 for 2 on fourth-down tries, but that one miscue by the Bears was a big one that gave Green Bay the ball with great field position.

The Packers had two takeaways, while the Bears had none.

Green Bay was penalized more in the game, with 9 for 90 yards to Chicago’s 7 for 61.

Let's take a closer look at the Bears' playing time breakdowns and some individual stats.

OFFENSE

Justin Fields led the Bears in rushing with 59 yards on 9 attempts, and he finished with a passer rating of 78.2 on 24 of 37 passing for 216 yards, 1 TD, and 1 pick. This was the second most attempts and completions in a game in his career.

Khalil Herbert ran 9 times for 27 yards, and he caught 3 balls for 37 yards. He also ran in a two-point conversion.

Rookie Roschon Johnson ran for 20 yards on 5 carries with a TD, and he caught a team-high 6 passes for 35 yards.

Darnell Mooney led the Bears with 53 yards on 4 receptions, and he caught Fields' TD pass.

D.J. Moore caught the only 2 balls thrown his way for 25 yards.

Chase Claypool caught as many passes as Dick Butkus who was a guest of the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon.

Braxton Jones was hit with 4 penalties.

DEFENSE

T.J. Edwards had a game-high 14 tackles, and fellow debuting Bear Tremaine Edmunds had 8 with 2 tackles for loss.

New defensive end Yannick Ngakoue had Chicago's only sack, 4 tackles, and 2 TFL.

DeMarcus Walker and Andrew Billings each had 2 tackles and a QB hit, and Walker added a TFL.

Dominique Robinson had 1 more tackle than Richard Dent, who was in attendance and hanging out with Butkus on the sideline.

SPECIAL TEAMS*

*The above image has players who only played in the third phase.

Cairo Santos hit his lone extra point, and he was 2 for 2 on field goals with a long of 47 yards.

Trenton Gill punted 4 times for 212 yards (39.5 net), with one inside the twenty-yard line.

Trent Taylor had 2 punt returns for 16 yards and 1 fair catch.

Rookie Tyler Scott had 4 kickoff returns for 84 yards, and he added 2 catches for 14 yards.

Kick returner Velus Jones Jr. was inactive.

Six different Bears had either a tackle or an assisted tackle in the third phase: Travis Homer, DeMarquis Gates, Robert Tonyan, Josh Blackwell, Jack Sanborn, and Trrique Stevenson. Homer and Gates were each hit with penalties.

To check out the complete Bears vs. Packers box score, I find that ESPN has an easy-to-navigate site, so hit that link if you want to see all the numbers.

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.