Dale Finnie’s Week One matchups review

Week One is officially in the books. Having taken a dive into two matchups in the Green Bay Packers‘ clash with the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars who faced up with the Indianapolis Colts, let’s see how we got on in the predictions.

We will start with the latter which was a much closer game than anticipated. My thoughts before this game were that Jacksonville could wrap it up by halftime. I expected Lawrence and Ridley to both have a big game, with the defence giving Colts young QB Richardson a rough welcome to the league.

For the Colts, I didn’t see them having too much to offer and for Richardson to show some glimpses of his talent on off schedule throws or potentially making a big gain out of nothing. I just didn’t see him having the players around him to compete with the loaded Jags. 

So how did the game go…… 

The Jags did win 31 – 21, but the Colts were leading 21 – 17 at one point in the 4th quarter. The Jaguars did rally late and also came up big with an interception from Richardson which was in all honesty, the moment that Jacksonville secured their Week One win.

Rookie QB Richardson put in an impressive regular season debut, 65% completion rate for 223 yards and a touchdown, whilst also having an impact on the ground which resulted in a TD for himself. Without a real standout receiver, I was really impressed to see Richardson put up the production he did, showing signs of improving the players around him by being so talented himself.

Defensively the Colts also showed more than I expected to see, mainly thanks to DeForest Buckner who put on a performance – he returned a fumble by the Jags for a touchdown and was a thorn in their side all game. 

Jacksonville will be happy to get this one out the way and go 1-0 vs their divisional opponents. Calvin Ridley was the man to watch heading into this one and he didn’t disappoint. 101 yards off of 8 receptions, with a TD. Almost all of his production was done in the 1st half so just imagine the stat line if that was even close to replicated in the 2nd half.

There is a lot of buzz around Lawrence and Ridley, so I was delighted to see that come game time they both showed up. It wasn’t the wide margin victory I predicted, but the Jags did get the job done and in the final stages pulled away, putting the game to bed. 

The Jags host the Chiefs next and will need to come out how they finished off against the Colts if they are to gain some revenge against Mahomes and company. 

The Colts face another divisional opponent in the Houston Texans and this gives them a real opportunity to gain their first victory. They can take plenty away from their loss and if they play even somewhat similar against the Texans, then they will have a good chance of going to 1-1. 

Now we come to the game that I was most intrigued by in Week One. Jordan Love led the Green Bay Packers against Justin Field’s Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The first matchup between the two and the first meeting post Aaron Rodgers, who let’s say had some success against the Bears in his time at Green Bay. I saw this as being a cagey affair and a possible low scoring game, with Green Bay coming out on top. Fields has a new WR1 in D.J Moore but I wasn’t convinced he would have a great first home game with Jaire Alexander ready to stop any momentum.

The Bears Offensive line protecting Fields could only be taken on trust and was unproven so that really worried me, as it set up that Fields would have to just run for his life which he is extremely good at, but it doesn’t let him establish a passing game. Green Bay has more strength in depth and I could see their running game controlling the game with Rookie TE getting some good action in. 

So how did it unfold? 

38 – 20 victory for Green Bay who firmly put the Bears in their place. Jordan Love looked great all game and put in a really mature performance in week 1. 245 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions more importantly. Some of his passes were of real quality, from 4th down conversions to the lovely finessed ball to Doubs in the 4th Quarter. He looked the part all game long and his time studying Rodgers the past few years is certainly time well spent. The Running game was the key to success for the Packers and Aaron Jones had the Bears number, 86 yards receiving with a TD, to go with his 41 rushing yards and a TD. Having that production is a luxury for Love and he will have loved knowing he had Jones to lean on all night long. Rookie TE did feature in the win and I fully expect him to continue playing a role in the offence, with it growing as the season continues. 

11 losses in a row now for the Bears on an opening night that looked and felt very similar to last season. Fields didn’t look good and threw an awful interception to be quite honest. All the talk of his big leap this season is definitely put on hold in my eyes. I do however have to question the game plan, – it’s so predictable, it’s too heavy on screen plays and it certainly doesn’t look like it’s set up for any kind of success. A lot of hopes were pinned on D.J Moore’s impact on Fields but Moore was held to just two catches for 25 yards, nowhere near the production Bears fans wanted to see or expect to see.

Although I’m not surprised by his quiet opening night, Jaire Alexander can silence almost any WR1 in the league and he put in a stellar performance to open the season. The O-Line still looks so far off in being able to protect Fields, who was sacked four times. I know how talented Fields is overall but if he continues to be the lead rusher, then you have to ask is that by design or is that because he has so much pressure coming at him that he just needs to take off. Fields doesn’t look comfortable or confident and it raises some serious doubts over how much progress the Bears have actually made since last season. 

The game ended up playing out quite like I expected, just with more points on the board than I imagined. Love is going places, but the Bears need to find out how to progress and quickly. 

Next up for Green Bay is a match up with Atlanta which is a game I expect them to shine in once again. Great chance to go 2-0. 

For the disappointing Bears they face Tampa Bay in what I believe is an uphill battle for them. That Tampa defence will be itching to tee off as they watch the film from the Bears opener and unless they have a much improved game plan, then they could find themselves with back to back losses to start off their 2023 season.