Mark Grote

My goodness, we've seen some absolute blowouts in the playoffs.

And unfortunately, one where the Packers blew out the Cowboys at their place, that is fresh in my mind, given the performance that Jordan Love had in that game.

But when it comes to how the Bears are trying to get this done, especially when you know that bad defense does offend our sensibilities when it comes to what we're used to and seeing in Bears games.

They only gave up 19 points to the Lions, but they still lost.

And then they gave up 42 points the week before and also lost.

That game, I feel like, is better because it was the 49ers at their place and they were able to hang with them.

Losing to the Lions 19-16 at home.

Not great when you want to get into the playoffs the way that you want to with winning and playing your starters and having what I think is some valid momentum, at least to build the habits.

You know, you're playing a team that you care about at your place.

Be nice to close it out with a win before this extra game against the Packers on Saturday.

which is why we all had different interpretations of what Ben Johnson had to say yesterday after he watched the film.

This was in the afternoon when discussing the defensive strategy or just what he thinks of this defense going into this all important Packers playoff game.

Okay, I get that, but at the same time, you didn't win.

And in the game before, you didn't win, and that was too many points.

It can be that simple sometimes.

It can especially be that simple when you consider how much the Lions outgained the Bears at the half last Sunday, and how much the 49ers outgained the Bears in the half the week before.

When you have Ahmed Rossane Brown getting over 100 yards receiving at the half on Sunday this past game, and when you have Christian McCaffrey with 140 total yards from the line of scrimmage at the half the week before, you can say that, and I understand why you need your offense to step up.

But you can also ask for more out of your defense based on what we saw these past two games.

I want to hear the thesis here.

I think there are two aspects of this that can be true at the same time.