A highly anticipated offensive shoot-out at Lambeau Field turned into a  defensive gridlock on Thursday night. The Green Bay Packers defense had a huge target on their back following their weak performance in Week 1 against the 49ers. In Thursday nights rivalry game against the Chicago Bears, the Packers defense completely shut down the Bears explosive offense to earn an encouraging 23-10 victory.

The rampant defense of the Packers held the Bears to just 168 total yards. Jay Cutler was completely flustered by Green Bay’s aggressive defense, only throwing for 126 yards and one touchdown, whilst also giving up four interceptions. Cutler was also sacked seven times, and is now 0-3 at Lambeau Field. Green Bay also limited Chicago’s run game, especially after Matt Forte left the game in the 3rd quarter with an ankle injury.

Packers linebacker, Clay Matthews, had seven tackles, and 3.5 sacks. Matthews has already matched the amount of sacks he had last year in the first two games of the season, and should continue to harass quarterbacks all season. The secondary also shone with Tramon Williams picking up two interceptions, whilst Charles Woodson and rookie Jerron McMillian also both picked off Cutler. The Packers secondary was also able to lock-up Bears star wideout Brandon Marshall, and limited him to two receptions for 24 yards. Marshall had a touchdown opportunity in the 3rd quarter however, but was not able to hang onto the ball.

Interestingly enough, Green Bay’s punter, Tim Masthay, threw a touchdown pass before Aaron Rodgers. In the second quarter, on a fake field goal, Masthay pitched the ball to Tom Crabtree who followed his blockers all the way for seven. Rodgers finally threw his first and only touchdown pass of the game in the fourth quarter to veteran wideout Donald Driver. Rodgers finished the game completing 22 of 32 passes for 219 yards, one touchdown and one interception. In addition, the Packers run game proved to be far more effective than in Week 1, as they rushed for a total of 106 yards, and Cedric Benson lead the team with 20 carries for 81 yards. Benson also had four receptions for 35 yards.

Green Bay has now extended their winning streak against the Bears to five games. The Packers handled the pressure of an expectant home crowd extremely well to earn their first win of the season. Green Bay will be on the road for their next game, a tough clash with the Seattle Seahawks on September 24th. The Bears will be back at Soldier Field, September 23rd, against the St.Louis Rams.

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In an offensive slugfest the Green Bay Packers defeated the New York Giants, 38-35. The tone for the game was set from the very beginning, as the New York Giants drove down the field to score a touchdown on the first possession of the game. On a broken play, Giants quarterback Eli Manning delivered a bomb to Travis Beckum.

Beckum made great cutbacks to make a couple Packer defenders miss on his way into the endzone. After a completed extra point kick from Lawrence Tynes, the giants were up 7-0, and for the first time in a month, the Packers were trailing in a game. The explosive offense from the Packers, led by MVP frontrunner Aaron Rodgers, put their hands on the ball yet.

Late in the first quarter, Aaron Rodgers knotted the game up, when he found Jermichael Finely wide open near the goal line for an easy touchdown score. The Giants would drive back down the field to score a field goal reestablishing their lead, and letting the Packers know they were in for a fight.

It was a fight the Packers were more than willing to participate in. In the first play of the second quarter, the Packers dealt the Giants a blow they never saw coming. Packer linebacker Clay Matthews picked off Manning’s intended pass to Ahmad Bradshaw, and returned it for a touchdown to give the Packers their first lead of the day.

The Giants defense forced Rodgers to throw a rare interception. The ball was picked off by Chase Blackburn, and returned inside the Packers redzone, culminating in a 1-yard run by Brandon Jacobs for the touchdown. With the Giants back on top 17-14, it was once again Rodgers’ time to put the team on his shoulders.

Starting at his own 20, Rodgers engineered an 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Donald Driver, who was all alone in the back corner of the endzone. The Packers would go up 21-17, and never relinquished the lead.

However, the Giants did make it interesting late in the fourth quarter. With 3:34 left on the clock, Manning lead the Giants down the field to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game up at 35. The only mistake made on the drive is that the Giants left 58 seconds on the clock.

Rodgers took full advantage of his time and completed one pass to Finley and one to Jordy Nelson, who made a spectacular catch, to put the Packers in field goal territory. After a quick pass to Greg Jennings to gain better field goal position, Mason Crosby kicked a 30 yard game-winning field goal.

With the win, the Packers moved to 12-0 and clinched the NFC North Division title for the first time since 2007. The Giants fall to 6-6 and are locked in a tight NFC East division race with the Dallas Cowboys.

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The Green Bay Packers managed to stay unbeaten as they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a close one, 35-26. For the first time this year, the Packers did not look like the offensive juggernaut that teams around the NFL have become accustomed to. The Packers were pushed to the edge by the Buccaneers, but prevailed thanks to an Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson late in the 4^th quarter.

The Packer offense didn’t necessarily struggle, but it lacked the familiar flow seen in previous games. After the game Rodgers was noticeably dejected with his performance he stated, “I didn’t throw the ball very well. I’m not trying to be ridiculously humble right now, I’m just frustrated. The ball wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to today.”

Rogers lack of comfort with the ball showed itself when he was picked off by corner Elbert Mack. The Buccaneers offense took advantage of the rare gift, Rodgers has only thrown four picks this year, and Josh Freeman delivered a quick strike to Dezmon Briscoe for a touchdown to pull them within two points. Freeman carved up the Packer defense up on the drive completing five passes in a row.

A sight the defense could not have been accustomed to, because for most of the day Lagarette Blount ran wild on the field. Including an impressive 54 yard run where Blount bulldozed through the arms of seven Packer players.

However when the Packer defense needed to come through at the end of the game, they forced the Buccaneers to turn the ball over on downs and effectively sealed the victory. The Packers defense needs to make all the necessary adjustments if they want win next week, because their opponent is Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions who just threw for five touchdowns.

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