Week 1 is in the books. We already chronicled the Lions 35-23 win over Arizona. Now let’s take a look at how the other NFC North teams fared (the also-rans).
Falcons 23 Bears 17
The Bears hung in there with Falcons surprisingly. The Bears defense hung tough againt Matt Ryan and all his weapons. Ryan led an 11 play 83 yard drive for a 10-3 lead capped by a Devonta Freeman five yard TD run. The Bears answered marching 75 yards ending with a Jordan Howard four yard TD run to tie the game at 10 at half time.
The Falcons won the third quarter with a field goal and touchdown drive to take a 20-10 lead. Atlanta was backed up at their own five yard line up 13-10 but drove 95 yards in 3 plays. Ryan hit Austin Hooper for the backbreaking 88 yard TD for the 20-10 lead. The Bears would answer with a TD drive and the Human Joystick Tarik Cohen scoring his first TD on a 19 yard catch and run.
Atlanta would kill 4 minutes and add a field goal forcing the Bears to score a TD down 23-17. Chicago drove 68 yards all the way down the field but two crucial drops hurt the Bears. Chicago was stopped on 4th and goal from the five yard line when Glennon. The Falcons escaped with a road victory at Soldier Field.
Adding insult to injury, the Bears lost first round pick from 2015 Kevin White yet again to a season ending injury. White broke his clavicle and will miss the rest of 2017.
Glennon earned an 86.8 rating and Chicago ran the ball really well at 6.6 YPC with Cohen and Howard. Matty Ice was excellent with a 116.1 rating but the Falcons had run woes at only 2.8 YPC despite the Freeman TD.
Chicago hung tough but lost another close game.
Packers 17 Seahawks 9
Holy defensive game, Batman!! The Packers defense played lights out holding Seattle to only three field goals on the day. Daniels forced a huge fumble and had 1.5 sacks. Nick Perry added 1.5 sacks and Seattle was shut down from running the ball with Eddie Lacy. Chris Carson and Russel Wilson had some success though on 8 carries combined.
Wilson was held to 158 yards passing with a 69.7 rating. The Packers defense bounced back from last year in a big way in this game. Seattle has offensive line problems and struggle on the road and it showed.
Green Bay’s offense was shut out in the first half and Rodgers threw a fluky interception as Seattle led 3-0 at half. Green Bay rebounded in the second half. The Daniels fumble changed the game and set up an extreme short field starting at Seattle’s six yard line. Ty Montgomery punched it in for the 7-3 lead.
Seattle responded with a field goal drive to close the gap to 7-6. However, Aaron Rodgers woke up and earned a 13 yard scramble for a big first down. Rodgers found Montgomery for 12 yards and hit a strike on a free play to Jordy Nelson for 32 yards for the 14-6 lead.
Seattle punted and Green Bay killed another five minutes with a field goal drive for a commanding 17-6 lead. Seattle answered with a quick field goal drive to get it back to one score. However, the Packers were able to kill 6 minutes from the clock with first downs to Cobb, Nelson and a Rodgers scramble. A second Rodgers interception was called back on a defensive hold. Finally, Rodgers hit Bennett for 26 yards to seal the game and the Packers win at home.
Vikings 29 Saints 19
The Vikings hosted the Saints on Monday Night Football. Minnesota looked great on offense against the lowly Saints defense. Bradford had time and earned 143 rating with 346 yards, 3 TDs and 0 picks. Rookie Dalvin Cook was a workhorse with 22 carries for 127 yards at 5.8 YPC. The Vikings may/might have a running game again but it’s tough to tell against the Saints only.
Adam Thielen notched 157 yards on 9 carries and Diggs had a great game with 93 yards and 2 TDs. Rudolph grabbed a backbreaking 15 yard TD for the 26-9 lead.
The Vikings defense was stifling against the 2016 2nd best offense. Brees was held to field goals early and often. Brees finally got a late garbage time TD to cut the score to 29-19. The Vikings dominated this game on offense and defense. This was a good home win for Minnesota to start the season.
Up Next
Minnesota visits Pittsburgh (1-0) in a tough Week 2 matchup.
Chicago travels to Tampa Bay in Week 2. Tampa didn’t play in Week 1 due to Irma.
Green Bay opens up the new stadium in Atlanta visiting the Falcons (1-0).
Detroit is also on the road for Monday Night Football at the Giants (0-1).