The Joe Barry defense continues to make progress, but it seems like for every two steps forward there’s a step back.

First, let’s take a look at the good:

On Sunday, the Packers forced four three-and-outs, including three consecutive. They managed to stop the Bengals in short yardage conversion situations twice. These are things we’re not used to seeing out of the Packers’ defense.

The Bengals were just 5/14 on third down. The Packers notched three sacks and two interceptions. 

However, in other situations, the Packers were abysmal.

Fourth down continues to be a struggle. The Packers gave up two fourth down conversions (on two attempts). The defense also continues to allow touchdowns literally every time an opposing team enters the redzone. At this point, it would be more efficient to simply spot the opposition seven points every time they get past the 20 to save some time.

Now, this is obviously problematic. The defense’s two biggest weaknesses are defending in scoring position and defending against must-have, clutch conversion attempts. 

You have to be pretty incredible in the rest of the field to make up for those deficiencies, and the Packers simply are not there.

The good news is it does feel like improvement is happening. The Packers’ defensive line played its best game of the season. Outside of Kenny Clark, who is always wrecking opposing offensive lines, both Dean Lowry and Kingsley Keke played well.

Preston Smith is playing strong football and is PFF’s top-ranked edge defender against the run. Rashan Gary continues to create pressure regularly. De’Vondre Campbell is all over the field. Eric Stokes is rapidly improving.

But as a unit, something still needs to come together in these clutch scenarios.

I do need to give credit to Joe Barry for the clear improvement this defense has had since week one, when it looked like the worst unit in the league. The Packers are tackling better than I’ve seen in recent memory, and also defending better against the run than they did much of the time with Mike Pettine.

It’s the sporadic nature of this defense that’s so frustrating. They’ll go several drives looking like a top-flight defense, and then simply have no answers for two drives after that.

Meanwhile, Barry’s playcalling continues to make fans scratch heads in crucial moments. He tends to go too conservative with regard to dialing up pressure, and still is letting opposing offenses take too much underneath yardage with the coverages he’s calling.

If everything becomes more cohesive and consistent, this could actually be a pretty solid defense.

The good news is the Packers play a team this week in the Chicago Bears that has a difficult time making much happen on the offensive side of the football.

If ever there were a time for this defense to put together a complete game and start stacking successes, it was now. 

Which defense will we see Sunday? Time will tell.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

This past weekend I headed up to central Wisconsin to visit the in-laws and to head to Amherst, where Central Waters Brewing Company was having its annual release of its bourbon barrel-aged stout, Black Gold.

This rare treat comes in a different recipe each year, and if you are able to get your hands on one, count yourself lucky. You have to purchase tickets in advance to be able to get a set of bottles (four 22 bouncers, plus another 22 ounce bottle of the marshmallow fudge cookie variant). 

This is the kind of beer that you can let cellar for years if you want, and I intend to do that with at least a couple of these bottles. But I couldn’t leave Amherst without trying a couple of their barrel-aged specialties on tap.

The photo above shows my awkward attempt at trying to hold both of them in the air for a picture while in line for takeout beer at the brewery. 

On the left is the 2021 edition of BLACK GOLD. At 13.8% ABV, this bad boy is no joke. It was aged in oak bourbon barrels for notes of caramel, coffee, oak char and whiskey. It’s got a very warm, nutty flavor to it and I cannot wait to see how it mellows and ages with time. Every year this is an absolutely outstanding beer.

On the right is the specialty collaboration between Central Waters and Toppling Goliath Brewery, Toppling Waters. This absolutely massive beer (17% ABV) is an imperial stout aged in maple and bourbon barrels, then double barreled into fresh bourbon barrels and aged for another two years. This beer took years to make, and it is an absolute MASTERPIECE. It’s warm, complex, smooth and incredibly delicious. No wonder it has an unthinkably high 4.72 rating on Untappd.

Both of these beers are going to be very tough to find in bottles unless you join some bottle swap pages, but you can currently find them both on tap at the Amherst brewery, or at the new tap room about to open up in Milwaukee. Absolutely worth the pilgrimage.

AJ Dillon is making the most of his larger role

When the Packers let Jamaal Williams walk in free agency this offseason, it became apparent AJ Dillon was in line for a much larger role.

Dillon’s snap count has significantly increased over this time a year ago, and he’s made the most of his opportunities.

The Cheesehead TV evening show co-host has 38 carries for 166 yards on the season so far, a 4.4 average. Against the Steelers, he pounded the rock 15 times for 81 yards, a 5.4 average. He only needs eight more rushes to meet his total from a season ago, and 76 more yards.

He’s been surprisingly effective through the air, especially this week against Cincinnati. On the season he has nine catches, seven more than a season ago, for 88 yards and a touchdown.

If you extrapolate these stats out over the season, Dillon would finish with about 565 rushing yards and 170 receiving yards, healthy totals for a RB2 spelling one of the best in the game in Aaron Jones, who is on pace for another 1,000 yard rushing season himself.

Dillon’s value as a power rusher and capable receiver is becoming more apparent by the week. Against Pittsburgh, he served as a battering ram and closer, a role to which he is uniquely well suited given his size and power. 

I would argue he actually provides a better stylistic complement to the skillset of Aaron Jones than Jamaal Williams did. And that’s no disrespect to Williams, who was a strong runner, receiver and blocker in his own right.

The broadcast crew against Pittsburgh called Dillon perhaps the best RB2 in the game. Strong praise for a player who’s clearly ascending and could prove to be a very valuable part of this offense as the season rolls along.

Remembering great Packers/Bears moments

As I’ve ruminated elsewhere, there is a distinct possibility this year will provide us with the last chances to see Aaron Rodgers take on the Chicago Bears in a Green Bay Packers uniform. 

But even more than that, depending on what happens in the not-so-distant future, there’s always the possibility that the three decades of domination in this rivalry could come to an end.

Now, that being said, the Bears still (and will always) suck. But with an uncertain future for this franchise, it’s good to take some time to remember the good times and appreciate how good the Packers have had it in this rivalry over the last three decades.

Let’s take a look back at a few of my favorite Packers/Bears moments over the the last several decades.

• 99 Yard Pass: The Brett Favre pass to Robert Brooks against the Bears on Monday Night Football in 1995 tied the NFL record for longest scoring play from scrimmage.

• Bombs to Freeman: In 1996, the Packers throttled the Bears at Soldier Field, with Antonio Freeman catching two memorable bombs from Favre. One was a diving play over the back of a defender, the other a hail mary.

• NFC Championship: This game wasn’t pretty, but a victory over a blood rival in a conference championship will always feel great. This game will hang over the heads of Bears fans forever, and all who saw the game still have visions of BJ Raji dancing in their heads.

• Rodgers to Cobb I: In 2013, the week 17 win-and-you’re-in contest between the Packers and Bears ended in dramatic fashion with Aaron Rodgers finding Randall Cobb on fourth down with seconds left for a game-winner.

• Rodgers Goes Off: In 2014, Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes in the first half against the Bears en route to a 55-14 victory.

• Rodgers to Cobb II: Who can forget the epic comeback in Week 1 of the 2018 season, with Rodgers finding Cobb for another game-winner? Rodgers came back after halftime in dramatic fashion and gutted out a memorable performance on a bum knee.

Around the NFC North

Here we go once again around the NFC North leading into week four.

-The CHICAGO BEARS improved to 3-2 while taking down a Raiders team mired in drama over the impending departure of Jon Gruden. The Bears’ defense is legit, and they’re getting a better pressure rate and pass rush win rate than the vast majority of teams in the league. But they still aren’t doing anything to inspire any confidence on offense. Justin Fields has barely been asked to do anything, the team isn’t running the ball extraordinarily well. It’s hard to know exactly how good this Bears team is. We should have a better idea after Sunday.

-The DETROIT LIONS are 0-5, and suddenly Dan Campbell has gone from meme coach and kneecap biter to being everyone’s favorite lovable loser because he shed tears at a press conference. Yawn. The Lions suck, they’re going to continue to suck, and I give them no pity.

-The MINNESOTA VIKINGS eked out a win against the lowly Lions on Sunday, but did not look particularly good doing it. Alexander Mattison played well in Dalvin Cook’s absence, but Kirk Cousins continues to be average at best, and Adam Thielen has been practically invisible. This Vikings team seems designed for seven or eight wins this season--they’ve got enough talent to win games, but not enough to win a lot.

“Weird” things found in Wisconsin fridges

So I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who’s from another part of the country and casually mentioned finding some pickled herring in my in-laws’ fridge and, of course, needing to sample some of it.

Their reaction was somewhere between confused and grossed out.

Turns out, the very existence of pickled herring (let alone it being a fixture of refrigerators) is something I very much take for granted as a resident of Wisconsin. 

Not sure I’d even want to see their reaction when I told them I occasionally order pickled eggs at a bar here in town.

That got me thinking about some of the other things commonly found in Wisconsin fridges that folks from outside of the region might find odd, or might not understand.

Some examples:

• VENISON. If you’ve got a hunter in the family, you’ve almost certainly got venison in a freezer somewhere. Just made some tacos the other day with ground venison, and probably will be making a venison chili pretty soon. 

• VARIOUS CHEESES. It’s not just about the curds. I’m always amazed at how little people from other areas of the country know about cheese. At any given time I probably have four kinds of cheese in the fridge, and more if there’s going to be some kind of gathering coming up.

• JOLLY GOOD. Yeah, I talked about Jolly Good last year at length, but folks, IT’S BACK. If you know, you know.

• BRATWURST. I didn’t realize this was such a regional delicatessen, but I have had at least two friends off the top of my head from the southwest who had no clue what a brat was. Savages.

• KRINGLE. How does anyone survive without kringle? The superior pastry. May or may not be found in the fridge, but worth mentioning.

• A WHOLE LOT OF MILK. Apparently people in other states don’t, like, drink milk? Or at least not in the same quantities we do? Growing up, my family of 6 used to go through like four gallons a week, at least.

Davante Adams is peerless

For the last several years, whenever Packer fans have brought up Davante Adams as being the best receiver in the league, there were inevitably always people responding “but what about…”

Not any more. There is no comparison. Adams is head and shoulders above the rest of the league.

Julio Jones is long past his prime. Deandre Hopkins isn’t producing to the same level he had in past years. Michael Thomas was always a product of an offense that force fed him short passes over and over again due to Drew Brees’s noodle arm. 

There really isn’t a legitimate argument for anyone else in the league right now, and the stats back that up. Through five games, Adams ranks first in receiving yards, receptions and targets and has a couple touchdowns to his name. He’s got more deep receptions in the league than anyone.

It’s meaningless to start talking about MVP in week six, but for the sake of this discussion--Aaron Rodgers is not currently in the race.

But Adams should be. And if he keeps accruing stats at the rate he is and starts catching more touchdowns, he could well be in the thick of the race at the end of the season.

Prediction for Packers vs. Bears

The Bears’ pass rush does make me a little nervous, especially given the Packers’ offensive line’s status is uncertain at the time of my writing this. It remains to be seen if Josh Myers and/or Elgton Jenkins will play this weekend. Getting both back would be a big deal for an offensive line that has held up quite will, but could definitely use some reinforcements against this Bears front seven.

The good news is we don’t really have to worry about the back end of the Packers’ defense much this week, because the Bears can’t throw the ball. 

This game is simple: if the Packers’ offensive line holds up, they win the game, and probably without too much difficulty. And with how well the offensive line has performed in adverse circumstances this year, my money is on that happening.

Packers 30, Bears 17