Winning on the road against a divisional opponent (and rival) is a great accomplishment. However, as with any victory, there are usually still aspects of a team’s performance that can be corrected. In the Packers’ case, it is obvious that there were issues with the run defense. For the most part, the Packers’ defensive line and outside linebackers were not the problem. B.J. Raji and Julius Peppers, for example, played well up front. The inside linebacker and defensive back groups, on the other hand, made many mistakes.

The first play that we will analyze is Matt Forte’s 22-yard run on the second play of the game. The Packers used their base 3-4 defense with three safeties on the field (Ha Ha Clinton Dix, Micah Hyde, and Sean Richardson) against the Bears’ “13 personnel” (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR). The Bears ran a “One-Back Power” play. No. 28 Sean Richardson (circled in red) was the third safety, and his responsibility was to “fill” on any run his way. Even though this run was designed to go away from him, he still needed to be disciplined if a cutback occurred. He wasn’t disciplined, however, and his aggressiveness took him out of the play. If he would have been under control and been more disciplined while approaching the line of scrimmage, he would have been in perfect position to fill and make the tackle in the hole.

The second play to look at is an 8-yard run by Forte. The Packers employed their Nickel “Bear” front versus the Bears’ “11 personnel” (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). Chicago ran “One-Back Power” again. On this play, focus on Sam Shields, who was the outside cornerback at the very bottom. When the wide receiver Shields was covering went to perform a “crack” block on Casey Hayward, Shields did not react quickly enough. As soon as Shields realizes that his WR is going to “crack” a defender, he needs to immediately and aggressively “replace” and come up to tackle Forte. This is a classic “crack-replace” scenario for a CB. Shields did end up making the tackle, but he hesitated a little and let Forte come to him. A little hesitation in this situation was the difference between a 3-yard gain and an 8-yard gain.

The third play that we will break down is a 23-yard run by Forte. The Bears had “11 personnel” on the field, so the Packers countered with their normal 2-4-5 nickel. On this play, the Bears ran “Outside Zone” to the weak side of a Trips (3x1) formation. This is not an easy play to defend, and the Bears blocked well, but ILB Nate Palmer (No. 51) hesitated. Once Palmer sees the zone blocking and the left guard working up to block him, he needs to attack the left guard immediately. However, that did not happen. As a result, the left guard was able to take Palmer out of the play, and Forte had plenty of room to maneuver. ILBs cannot wait for guards to come to them on zone running plays. Then, to make matters worse, Sam Shields missed the tackle, which allowed Forte to gain about 14 more yards.

(The Cowboys ran the exact same play in the 2014 Divisional Round game at Green Bay, but Clay Matthews attacked downhill, did not let the left guard block him, and disrupted the play.)

The fourth play in this article will focus on ILB Nate Palmer again. On this 20-yard run by Forte, the Bears had “11 personnel” on the field again, and the Packers used their 2-4-5 nickel. Chicago essentially ran a Sweep with the center and right guard pulling. Here, Palmer was the weak side ILB (circled in red), and his hesitation was the main reason why this big run occurred. As the weak side LB, when a running play like this or an Outside Zone run goes away from you, you cannot allow the offensive tackle (left tackle in this case) to cut you off. Palmer’s hesitation allowed the left tackle to cut him off, and it took him out of the play. If Palmer would have reacted quicker to the action going away from him, he probably would have made the tackle for a minimal gain.

The fifth and final play that we will examine is another 8-yard run by Forte. Here, the Bears ran an Outside Zone run to the strong side of a Trips formation out of “11 personnel”. Again, the Packers played their 2-4-5 nickel, and it looked like Dom Capers called “Cover 3 Buzz”. The player to keep your eye on is slot CB Casey Hayward (circled in red). At the snap, Hayward did a good job of recognizing that the slot WR was going inside to try to perform a “crack” block. So, Hayward knew that he needed to 1) “replace,” 2) force the play to go inside, and 3) make the tackle. He accomplished the first two tasks, but he missed the tackle.

So, most of the problems with the Packers’ run defense in Chicago can be blamed on lack of discipline, hesitation, and simple missed tackles by the linebacker and defensive back units. These errors are correctable. As long as the defensive line plays well, if Capers and the position coaches can point these things out on film and correct these mistakes, the run defense should be better in the future.

Thanks for reading, Packers fans. Follow me on Twitter at @RobertOlson92 for daily analysis on the Packers.