Its about time the Bears have a victory monday. Any Bears fan with a head on his shoulders knew that this past game against the despised and abhored Packers was do or die. Win, the playoffs are still a very real possibility. Lose, kiss the season goodbye. The odds were no doubt tipped in Green Bay's favor. The Bears came into the game with a still decimated defense, missing Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown and Dusty Dvoracek AND playing with a number of players far from full strength: Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris and Adam Archuletta, who played with a broken hand. On offense the Bears also had injury issues and some other problems. Brian Greise was starting only his second game with the Bears, John Tate was out with an ankle injury and Bernard Berrian left halfway into the game with a toe injury. Still, after a horrendous first quarter the Bears defense hung tough and the offense did just enough to get a huge victory against a streaking Green Bay team playing at home, where Brett Favre usually plays at the highest level.

Here's the Bear Breakdown:

Offense
QB: The key to the game for Greise was patience. Although Greise was clearly frustrated early on with the anibility of the offense to string together a drive, Greise stayed patient and eventually found a way to march down the field a number of times and lead a previously inept offense to 27 points against one of the better defeneses in the game. Aside from an interception thrown on a deflected pass, Greise played sound, smart football, looking off defenders and hitting recievers in stride. He seemed to have a better grasp of his limitations than he did last week, when he forced throws that he probably could have made three or four years ago, but today, no way. He spread the ball around and made use of his tight ends more than Rex really ever has. Overall, Greise played exactly how the Bears expected him to.

RB's: Cedric Benson has continued to dissapoint. Andrea Kramer reported that Jerry Angelo said that he traded away Thomas Jones because he and Ced couldnt get along. If what he said is true, that really changes my perception of Angelo. Not only did he make a move for a bad reason, but he got rid of the better player, at least at this point. Thomas Jonesing aside, Benson did what he has done all season long. He showed signs of life, but most of the time was stopped for two, perhaps three yards. He didnt make any defenders miss and with a defense that was clearly geared towards stopping the Bears' running game, the onus was on Cedric to do some heavy lifting. Instead of improving as the game wore on, which Benson himself said he does, he seemed to be gassed and forced Greise to win the game. Luckily for Benson, Greise did win the game and took the heat off of Benson. I personally would like to see a bit more of Adrian Peterson in the game. He seems to run harder and with more of a purpose than Benson. Players feed off of energy and Benson, even after big runs and touchdowns, seems hesitant to get off of the ground and sulks around like a guy that doesnt give a damn. When he ran out of bounds on a stretch play, he really confirmed what most Bears fans already know The Bears need to mix up the running back situation.

WR/TE's: I myself predicted that if Greise is to succeed as the Bears quarterback, he would need to utilize his tight ends more than his recievers. The speedy recievers seem to be a better fix for Grossman because they are best stretching the field vertically. Tigght Ends reall work sideline to sideline, which is Greise's strength. Greg Olsen, in really his first chance at playing extended minutes, played an outstanding football game. He had a number of huge catches, none bigger than the go route in which he caught a pass for a huge first down onthe final game winning drive which ended with the a touchdown pass to the other tight end, Desmond Clark. On the topic of the wide recievers, they werent as bad as they looked. There were a number of times in which the recievers got open where Greise didn't have the time to get the ball off. Better results will come with more time to mesh for the recievers and Greise. There is no doubt in my mind that Greg Olsen will be seeing a lot more playing time, starting with next week's game against Minnesota, who the Bears will only beat if they can throw the ball.

OL: While the run blocking still left a lot to be desired, the fact that the Packers seemed to stack the line on almost every play needs to be taken into account. Teams know that the Bears want to establish the run and they gear their defense towards stopping Benson, and so far they have succeeded. On the other hand, they played pretty well in passing situations and gave Greise enough time to make plays when he needed to. It also didnt help that the Bears were missing a very good player in John Tate, who was replaced by the human turnstile, John St. Clair. The offensive line did enough considering the situation, i.e the Packers stacking the box.

Defense
DL: The linemen, like every other defensive unit on the Bears, really improved as the game went on, particularly in the second half. The Packers really gashed the Bears for a lot of rushing yards in the first half, about 100 yards or so. But come the second half, the line really beat up on Green Bay's running backs and forced Brett Favre to throw, resulting in a few costly mistakes and a number of other close, game changing plays. Tommie Harris was the only lineman to register a sack, but pressure was still consistently applied to Favre and pressure was the sole reason for the interception thrown to Brian Urlacher.

LB's: The Linebackers really responded after getting embarassed by the Packers in the first half. Brian Urlacher had a key interception in the Packers' red zone, but Lace Briggs really stole the show. He registered sixteen or so solo tackles and by the time the coaching staff beefs up his stats, the number may jump into the twenties. As usual, Hunter Hillenmeyer did his job and really helped elimnate the tight ends from the game and also helped limit the number of yards gained by passes to running backs releasing after a block or immediately after the snap. Whatever the linebackers did in the second half, it worked. Brett seemed to abandon the intermediate passing game, which in my opinion is his strengh and looked downfield too often.

CB/S's: The secondary as a whole really played a nice game. John Madden appropriately awarded Charles Tillman with a spot on the horse trailor for his stupendous effort despite still being pretty ####ed up and being questionable coming into the game. His two strips were game savers and his second half coverage of his reciever really were the main reasons for the Packers' inability to have any success in the passing game after halftime. Tillman told a reporter that Lovie Smith was livid in his halftime speech and Tillman said he was really shaken up by Lovie, who almost never loses his temper. Danieal Manning perhaps played his worst game as a Bear, but really stiffened up his defense as the game wore on. He got beat badly by Jennings on his second quarter TD but after that, he had his side of the field on lockdown. Adam Archuletta really deserves credit for stepping up and playing a realtively solid game considering he was playing with a broken hand and couldn't really wrap up ballcarriers, which he doesnt do much of even with two healthy hands. The safeties really could have played a lot worse, but i think Brandon McGowan had the wrong approach on the last second hail mary, which he intercepted. He did break up the play and grab the int., but i would have rather seen him bat the ball batted down rather than get into a jumping match with a one-time high jumper, Donald Driver.(Thanks for that nugget Chris Collinsworth)

Special Teams: Even when Devin Hester doesnt get his hands on the ball, his impact on the game is enormous. He forced the Packers into short kicks all night long and it resulted in the Bears really dominating the field position for most of the game. The few times the ball ended up in Hester's hands, he made something out of nothing, leaving numerous Green Bay gunners in the dust. Coverage ace Brendan Ayanbadejo played a huge game, making some big special teams tackles and more importantly, stripping the ball on a punt return at a crucial juncture in the game. The coverage unit allowed one big return, but other than that they were great. Robbie Gold had another strong game and continues to be automatic from anywhere less than fifty. Not to say that he cant hit from farther than fifty, but the Bears dont seem willing to let him try.

Overall, the Bears really stepped up their game and made the type of plays that good teams make. Above all else, the Bears won the turnover ratio 5-1, a formula for a W in 99.9% of the time. They now have to play a good, turnover free game against the punchless Minnesota Vikings. As long as the special teams and defense play a good game, force turnovers and influence field position like they just did against Green Bay, the offense should be able to do the job against a very stout defense.