Packers receiver Davante Adams strikes at opportune times in win over Bears

CHICAGO – When the Packers throw to Davante Adams, good things happen.

The Packers scored three touchdowns in Sunday’s 24-14 win over the Bears, and Adams contributed a key play on each touchdown drive. Each came against Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

In the second quarter, Adams straight up beat Johnson from the slot for a 32-yard gain, which flipped the field position and led to an Allen Lazard touchdown catch. In the third quarter, Adams drew a defensive pass interference call against Johnson on a third down, which kept the drive alive and led to an Aaron Jones touchdown.

The real backbreaker came in the fourth quarter, after the Bears had cut the lead to three. Adams either beat Johnson or Johnson intended to pass him off, but nobody picked Adams up. It didn’t help that safety Eddie Jackson missed badly on a tackle. Adams gained 41 yards before stepping out of bounds.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers scored a game-sealing touchdown minutes later, and made sure Bears fans know that he still owns them.

Rodgers said they had seen something in the first half and made an adjustment on it on that play.

“The thing that I will miss, you know, 20 years down the line, is moments where you make a solid adjustment and look over at the guy, and it’s a stud like [Adams] and he just went like this [nodding his head],” Rodgers said. “My whole body started tingling. I just knew it was going to be one of those special plays. And the guys gave me enough time, and he ran a nice route and almost scored.”

[ Aaron Rodgers tells Bears fans ‘I still own you,’ and he’s not wrong ]

Johnson talked earlier in the week about how it can be intimidating when Rodgers makes an adjustment at the line of scrimmage, and he just knows that Rodgers is one step ahead of them. That play was a clear example of just how good Rodgers is in those situations.

“That was a great call by him,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “[We] actually called the quick game version of that, and he checked it to the double-move. Just great job by those guys. And he recognized the look and thought we could get it, so that’s what he did.”

It wasn’t just Rodgers beating the Bears Sunday. The Packers as a team ran for 154 yards on 31 attempts for a 4.97 yard per carry average. Running back Aaron Jones rushed for 76 yards on 13 carries, while AJ Dillon ran for 59 yards on 11 carries.

Believe it or not, the Bears did a decent job limiting Adams’ touches – remember this is a guy who led the NFL in receptions heading into Week 6. He finished the day with four receptions for 89 yards. The problem was, the few times Adams touched the ball turned out to be huge gains.

The Bears pass rush had three sacks – Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn and Akiem Hicks each had one – but it was overshadowed by issues against the run and in the secondary.

“The leaders we have on that defense, they understand where we’re at,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “That defense has been playing really well. That’s a good offense that we played. They’re well-coached. They’ve got a great quarterback. And so that’s a challenge. So what you do is you look at where you went wrong. The effort by our guys is always there. It never changes.”