The Presteblog hereby continues a trend as old as this blog, making fun of Packer victims by showing their own media’s turning on them like hungry dogs on a corpse inside their house.

Sunday’s 31-23 win of the Packers, widely considered to be a Super Bowl contender, over Da Bears, widely considered to be a number-one-2016-draft-pick contender, was closer than you’d think it should have been. That’s until you consider the nature of the Packers-Bears rivalry, the fact it was both teams’ first game, and Packer announcer Wayne Larrivee’s claim that there actually isn’t that much talent difference between the top of the NFL and its bottom.

But let’s start with the Chicago Tribune’s David Waugh:

The bad news: Sometimes in Chicago, we get carried away with coming close. As much as [head coach John] Fox set the right tone, the challenge will be getting Bears players to build on positives without making too much of an effort that ultimately fell short. It’s OK to be surprised at how well the Bears competed, but it’s dangerous to assign more significance than that to their fourth straight loss to the Packers.

The Bears simply looked capable of being the NFC North’s best 0-3 team by the end of September. By Week 17, they figure to lead the league in near-misses. Beyond that? The NFL doesn’t use moral victory totals as tiebreakers to establish draft order.

Yet after making it a one-possession game against a Packers team that outscored them 93-31 in two routs last year, the Bears find themselves in the odd position of having to guard against overconfidence.

“There is no consolation prize, no second place,” Fox reminded everybody. “So you’re never happy.”

Keep saying so, Foxy, even if players such as Kyle Long sounded as if they agreed. “It’s not a good taste in my mouth right now, in any of our mouths,” Long said.

Too many others sounded like guys on a Bears team that hasn’t won a game since last Nov. 23, a core diminished enough by six consecutive losses to worry whether losing has become a bad habit.

Martellus Bennett referred to the loss as “a confidence-builder” — a popular theme. Matt Forte celebrated the return of legitimacy to the huddle.

“Nobody had that stupid look on their face like before when something (bad) would happen,” Forte said. …

In the home opener a year ago, quarterback Jay Cutler threw a fourth-quarter interception that was the biggest play in a loss to the Bills. On Sunday, Cutler cost the Bears again by getting picked off by Packers linebacker Clay Matthews with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left and the offense on a potential game-tying drive.

“As soon as I let it go I knew we were in trouble,” Cutler said.

Matthews read Cutler perfectly from the back side and, with one throw, the beleaguered Bears quarterback made all the preseason talk about reducing turnovers sound like wasted breath. The first Bears game of the Fox era turned like so many others coached by Marc Trestman and Lovie Smith.

Cutler’s tendency to turn the ball over in the clutch was one Bears secret Fox couldn’t conceal. Cutler dropped to 1-11 as a Bear versus the Packers. The praise several teammates offered Cutler postgame — “He played his ass off,” Alshon Jeffery said — represented the lowering of standards Fox must guard against in the locker room. For his part, Cutler understood how one major mistake muted anything else said about the way he managed the game.

The difference between the Packers and Da Bears is under center, obviously. The Trib’s Dan Wiederer reports that Rodgers is 13-3 vs. Da Bears, while Cutler is now 1-12 against the Packers:

Alan Ball sat in front of his locker Sunday, still puzzled, still frustrated, still replaying the sequence over in his mind. The Bears cornerback had been asked to detail the 13-yard touchdown pass he surrendered to Packers receiver James Jones in the first quarter.

And frame by frame, Ball ran it back. Jones’ precise fade route. His own solid coverage. The magnificent pinpoint throw by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

All at once, Ball envisioned himself twisting again, Rodgers’ throw dropping right over his helmet and into Jones’ chest.

“He’s a hell of a quarterback,” Ball said. “But when you get into situations like that, I have to find a way to be better. Plain and simple. He was playing at a high level because that’s what he does. But on a play like that, my team is counting on me to make a play. So I have to figure out how to make a play.”

Welcome to this Bears-Packers rivalry, Alan. And chalk up meeting No. 191 into the Packers’ column, a 31-23 victory that came in big part because of Rodgers’ ability to make plays and the Bears’ inability to counter on defense.

Jones’ 13-yard touchdown wasn’t his only score against Ball. He added another way-too-easy 1-yard reception on a slant route early in the third quarter. On that play, Ball acknowledged, he needed to be tighter on Jones to disrupt the timing.

That’s no easy task, of course, against Rodgers.

“He runs that system like it’s no one’s business,” Ball said. “He reads the defense. He puts his guys in position to make plays. And then, not only are his guys in position, he puts the ball where it needs to be.”

Rodgers’ third and final TD pass came with 10:26 left, a back-breaking 5-yard throw to Randall Cobb that was so on the money that Cobb managed to snare it while being interfered with by cornerback Sherrick McManis. And just like that, Sunday’s affair at Soldier Field served as a microcosm of the rivalry and perhaps a forecast for the rest of the Bears season.

Rodgers beat the Bears for the 13th time in 16 tries with a blend of accurate throws and shrewd scrambles.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley:

The Bears took the field Sunday with a new GM, head coach, coaching staff, schemes and football operations staff. All but one defender — cornerback Kyle Fuller — was either new to the Bears’ starting lineup, or to his position.

Aaron Rodgers was the same, though.

And he’s now, after a 31-23 victory at Soldier Field, 12-3 lifetime against the Bears.

“He’s a great player,” Bears coach John Fox said. “We’re both looking forward to competing against each other for some time to come.”

Someone should ask Fox: Why?

Rodgers is the green-and-gold monolith standing between any NFC North team and greatness. He completed 18-of-23 attempts for only 189 yards Sunday, but threw three touchdowns and posted a 140.5 passer rating.

“You come in and say, ‘Aaron Rodgers throws for 189 yards and we lose?’ (Crap). That shocked me,” outside linebacker Pernell McPhee said. …

 

The Bears’ new 3-4 defense, whose plan was to push the pocket back into Rodgers’ face, produced zero sacks and zero quarterback hits despite debuting exotic personnel pairings and schemes.

Still, the Bears led 13-10 before Rodgers marched the Packers 59 yards to start the second half, taking a 17-13 lead on James Jones’ second touchdown catch.

It wasn’t until the Bears’ failed fourth down and Jay Cutler’s fourth-quarter interception that the Packers pulled away. Cutler completed half his 36 attempts for 225 yards and one garbage-time touchdown to Martellus Bennett, leaning mostly on Matt Forte’s 24 carries for 141 yards. …

Trailing by one, the Bears allowed the Packers to hold the ball for 9:31, converting three third downs and one fourth down, before scoring on a five-yard Randall Cobb catch early in the fourth quarter.

Given how close the game was, the least surprising news of the day is reported by ESPN Chicago’s Kyle Thele:

It’s the first week of the NFL season, but fans are already in midseason form when it comes to complaining about the Bears.

Even before the Bears game went final Sunday afternoon, some Bears fans were already calling for the quarterback’s head. Hordes of fans took to Twitter asking the team to bench Jay Cutler. …

For the most part, Cutler’s play was solid. However, the plays that left a lasting memory were ones Cutler would rather forget.

After leading the team down the field and inside the five yard line, Cutler and the Bears offense failed on four consecutive passing plays, turning the ball over on downs.

A defensive stop gave the Bears the ball back, but was immediately negated by an ugly Cutler interception. …

From the moment Packers linebacker Clay Matthews stepped in front of the pass, fans were ready to be done with Cutler.

If you think about it, it’s somewhat remarkable in today’s NFL that a quarterback has been allowed to lose 12 games to one team. Cutler is now on his third coaching staff since he arrived in Chicago.