GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — David Montgomery made things happen for the Chicago Bears just about every time he touched the ball.
But he rarely got that chance in the second quarter when the Bears fell further and further behind. The Green Bay Packers outscored Chicago 21-0 in that second period and went on to beat the Bears 27-10 on Sunday night.
Montgomery ran 15 times for 122 yards but had just one carry in that decisive second quarter.
The Bears entered the night ahead of the Packers in the division standings for the first time since 2018 but squandered an opportunity to put the three-time defending NFC North champions in an early hole.
Montgomery, Justin Fields and the rest of the Bears’ offense made things look easy on their first possession of the night.
Everything got excruciatingly difficult for the next hour or so.
The Bears took a 7-3 lead midway through the first quarter as Fields’ 3-yard touchdown keeper capped a seven-play, 71-yard drive.
Montgomery had four carries for 38 yards in that series. He had one run for minus-5 yards the rest of the first half.
After that drive, the Bears wouldn’t get another first down until about eight minutes remained in the third quarter. By that time, they trailed 24-7.
The Bears went three-and-out on three straight possessions, then ran just one play on their next series before the first-half clock ran out. After their touchdown, the Bears gained just 13 yards on 10 plays the rest of the first half to fall behind 24-7.
The struggles of the offense and the defense’s inability to slow down Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Jones caused the Bears to get outscored 21-0 in the second quarter.
Perhaps the only good play the offense ran during that entire stretch — a 31-yard completion to former Packers receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — got wiped out because Fields was about 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage when they threw the pass.
The Bears threatened to make a game of it as they finally started getting the ball more to Montgomery, who ran for 89 yards on 10 carries.
But they came up short again.
Chicago trailed 24-10 in the fourth quarter when the Bears had an apparent 6-yard touchdown run by Fields overturned because replays determined he was down before stretching his arm across the goal line.
On the biggest play of the game, the Bears again didn’t give the ball to Montgomery, though they could hardly be blamed for relying on the bruising Fields to try to score himself from less than yard away.
Fields tried to make it across the goal line while getting swarmed by Green Bay’s Preston Smith and Jarran Reid. Officials ruled Fields was stopped just shy of the goal line, and the call stood after a replay review.
The Bears wouldn’t threaten again.
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