Aaron Rodgers had a record-setting night for the Green Bay Packers. The Chicago Bears’ season is quickly turning into a nightmare.
Rodgers threw six touchdown passes to tie the franchise game record and match the NFL record for a half, and the Packers routed the reeling Bears 55-14 on Sunday night.
Rodgers was 18-of-27 for 315 yards, throwing touchdown passes of 73 and 40 yards to Jordy Nelson to help the Packers (6-3) open a 42-0 halftime lead.
Rodgers tied the team touchdown pass record that he shared with Matt Flynn and matched the NFL mark for a half set by Oakland’s Daryle Lamonica in 1969.
The 190th meeting of the NFL’s oldest rivalry turned into an old-fashioned blowout and Rodgers watched most of the second half from the sideline in knit cap.
“We just kind of got things going our way,” Rodgers said. “The line did a good job of giving me time to extend plays. If you extend plays, you look down the field and there’s Jordy Nelson. He made some nice catches.”
A night full of milestones included Rodgers’ 16th scoring pass of 70 yards or more to break the record he shared with Denver’s Peyton Manning and Rodgers’ predecessor in Green Bay, Brett Favre. Rodgers looked just fine two weeks after tweaking his left hamstring in a loss to New Orleans.
The 55 points tied a Packers record at Lambeau Field.
Both teams were coming off byes. The down time didn’t help the Bears, who have lost five of six to drop to 3-6.
Their defence has fallen completely apart.
Two weeks after giving up 38 points in the first half in a 51-23 loss to the Patriots, the Bears set a dubious franchise record by giving up 42 points in a half.
Embattled quarterback Jay Cutler was on his way to having another night to forget at Lambeau Field with two first-half turnovers. He has thrown 12 interceptions in four career games in Titletown.
Cutler was 22-of-37 for 272 yards. His performance surely won’t ease the withering criticism the quarterback has faced back home in Chicago.
Rodgers could seemingly do no wrong.
He connected with tight end Andrew Quarless on a 4-yard scoring strike with 3:53 left in the quarter for a 14-0 lead.
But the misery was only just beginning for the Chicago secondary.
Rodgers found Nelson for a 40-yard touchdown pass with 12:17 left in the second quarter. A screen pass to Eddie Lacy on Green Bay’s next possession turned into another catch-and-run for a 56-yard score and a five-touchdown lead.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Packers was when Randall Cobb fumbled near the goal line after a 4-yard catch. The Bears recovered in the end zone – but even that play went awry for Chicago after Kyle Fuller was whistled for unnecessary roughness.
Nelson had six receptions for 152 yards, while Cobb had 72 yards on four catches. He caught a touchdown for the sixth straight game.
Star pass rushers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers each had sacks. Peppers forced a fumble on his sack against his former team that he recovered at the Chicago 32, setting up another score.
The Packers’ league-worst run defence also held Matt Forte to 54 yards on 17 carries. Matthews relished this performance after the defence had an embarrassing second-half letdown in the 44-23 loss to the Saints.
“So much emphasis is put on it,” Matthews said about improving defensively. “When we stopped their run and the way our offence was going, it was game over.”
The Bears finally snapped the shutout when Cutler connected with Brandon Marshall for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 7:44 left in the third quarter.
Marshall left the game in the fourth quarter with a left ankle injury.
Elsewhere, Tony Romo made sure that “America’s Team” left an impression in London on Sunday, shrugging off a back injury to lead Dallas to a 31-17 victory over Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium.
“It’s just a little sore,” Romo said of the effects of two small fractures in his back, which saw him miss one game before returning to train and travel with the team this week.
He completed 20-of-27 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns – two of them caught by Dez Bryant. Jason Witten also made a touchdown catch and DeMarco Murray ran for 100 yards as the Cowboys headed back Stateside pleased with their trans-Atlantic adventure.
“I had no idea what to expect but I genuinely couldn’t have enjoyed this week more,” Romo said after the victory in one of three regular-season games being played at Wembley this year.
“The people, the fans, the environment ... it’s one of my favourite cities in the world.”
The upset of the day belonged to the New York Jets, who snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 20-13 victory over Pittsburgh.
“Finally,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “Golly, that felt great.”
Jets quarterback Michael Vick threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter and displayed vintage form on the ground as the Jets beat a Steelers team coming off back-to-back victories in which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had thrown a total of 12 touchdowns.
Arizona’s prospects of boosting their league-leading record looked dim when quarterback Carson Palmer exited with a left knee injury with the Cardinals trailing St Louis in the fourth quarter.
But Arizona rallied around backup Drew Stanton and scored two defensive touchdowns for a 31-14 victory that took the Cardinals’ record to 8-1 for the first time since 1948, when the club were based in Chicago.
Palmer, who inked a three-year, $50 million (Dh183.6m) contract extension this week, was hurt when he was sacked by Rams safety Mark Barron.
Palmer eventually limped off the field, but was taken by stretcher to the locker room. The team said further tests were needed to determine the severity of the injury, but several media outlets reported the Cardianals feared he had a season-ending torn ligament.
The Saints suffered a rare defeat in New Orleans, where Phil Dawson’s 35-yard field goal with 5:14 left in overtime completed a stirring San Francisco rally that saw the 49ers notch a 27-14 triumph.
Dawson also booted a 45-yard field goal with 44 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Theo Riddick with 29 seconds remaining to lift the Lions to a 20-16 triumph over Miami.
Jamaal Charles and Alex Smith both ran for touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Kansas City rallied for a 17-13 victory over the Bills in Buffalo and in Tampa, Matt Ryan’s TD pass to Roddy White in the fourth quarter helped Atlanta to a 27-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It was a prolific night for Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who threw five touchdown passes to lead Denver to a 41-17 victory over Oakland.
It was the ninth five-TD game of Manning’s career, one more than Drew Brees for the most in NFL history.
Super Bowl champions Seattle got it done on the ground in a 38-17 victory over the New York Giants.
Marshawn Lynch led the Seahawks scoring four touchdowns, accounting for 140 of Seattle’s club-record 350 rushing yards.
In Baltimore, Justin Forsett rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns as the Ravens defeated Tennessee 21-7.
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