GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -Jay Cutler quickly made amends for the worst half of his career.
s Sunday night.
Ryan Grant scored from the 1 and Mason Crosby kicked a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter for Green Bay, who had a 10-2 halftime lead after Cutler’s debut began with a bumble and kept getting worse.
Cutler nearly fumbled his first snap from center Olin Kreutz and was wild with three interceptions – tying a career high – to finish 8 of 22 in the first half with a 16.9 QB rating.
It got better quickly.
Cutler led the Bears on a 10-play drive to start the second half and converted a fourth-and-inches on the Green Bay 37 before finding Devin Hester streaking down the right side for a 36-yard TD pass on the next play to cut the deficit to one.
Gould’s kick came on Chicago’s next possession to give the Bears their first lead. Cutler finished the third 5 of 6 for 99 yards, good for a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the quarter.
Cutler was traded from Denver in the offseason and is expected to be the franchise quarterback Chicago hasn’t had since Sid Luckman. But, Cutler was shaky early.
Safety Nick Collins got his hands on Cutler’s first interception after Tramon Williams nearly had two on the same drive, but the quarterback’s costly mistakes came midway through the second quarter.
Cutler later threw a third-down screen pass at the Green Bay 8 that 6-foot-3, 325-pound defensive end Johnny Jolly picked off for his first career interception.
d up deep in their own zone, then gave up a safety when Danieal Manning came untouched from the right side and threw Aaron Rodgers down in the back of the end zone to make it 3-2.
After the free kick, Cutler gave the ball right back when he fired a pass under pressure to the middle of nowhere in Green Bay’s new 3-4 defensive scheme. Williams easily picked it off and returned it 67 yards.
Grant then punched it in on the next play to give the Packers a 10-2 lead.
Green Bay squandered plenty of other chances in the 178th meeting between the two teams.
Crosby missed a 49-yarder wide left on the Packers’ first possession and center Jason Spitz’s hold negated a 25-yard run by Grant that would’ve set up first-and-goal. Instead, Crosby hit a 52-yard field goal to open scoring with 8:18 left in the half.
Chicago’s defense kept the pressure up on Rodgers, who was 13 of 23 for 105 yards after three quarters.
Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye sacked Rodgers twice in the first quarter and linebacker Brian Urlacher lowered his right shoulder into the quarterback after he had released the ball on a third down to send him sprawling.
Rodgers got up and glared at referee Ron Winter for a late-hit penalty, but no flag came.
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