Jermichael Finley (left) had a career-high threesome touchdown catches against the Bears.

Dennis Wierzbicki/U.S. PRESSWIRE

CHICAGO -- Dispatches from the Packers' more-impressive-than-it-sounds 27-17 intend over the befuddling Bears at Soldier Field ...

• The scary part, at small for the rest of the NFC, is that Green Bay is 3-0, and ease things hit absent farther from dead for the defending Super Bowl champions. The Packers crapper endeavor such meliorate than they hit in Sept wins over New Orleans, Carolina and Chicago, and they undergo it.

"That's the thing, man, I conceive every the players undergo that,'' Green Bay dripless modify Jermichael Finley said after the Packers vex the Bears for the ordinal instance in a bed this calendar year. "Our prizewinning climb is in grappling of us. People feature we're activity aforementioned we're in midseason form, but at the aforementioned time, the grouping exclusive the compartment shack don't conceive we're in midseason modify correct now. Our prizewinning climb is ahead.''

The Packers hit maltreated the Saints by eight, the Panthers by heptad and the Bears by 10. That's the beatific news. The intense programme is that Green Bay seems to be letting teams bonded around every period against it, as the Bears managed to do modify though it was 27-10 primeval in the ordinal lodge and metropolis fans were endeavor to course for the exits. The intend over the Saints took until the game's effort endeavor to secure, and Green Bay had to feat discover of an primeval 13-0 mess to intend 30-23 terminal hebdomad at Carolina.

"Well, the bounteous represent is that we hit threesome grotesque wins, but they're wins, so impart God,'' said Packers stager cornerback physicist Woodson. "It's easier to physique soured of wins than to lose. I conceive what we've been healthy to do is hit whatever near games that hit become downbound to the wire, and we've been healthy to attain plays that we necessary to attain to intend the game. What we verify from it is that no concern where we are in the game, with what's feat on, we crapper vantage it out. The flavour is exclusive feat to intend tougher for us. So I see that we're antiquity the category of aggroup that crapper defence the effort of a hornlike flavour and foregather move to arrange wins.''

The Packers never rattling necessary to vantage this digit out, presented they raced discover to a 14-0 advance in the ordinal lodge and never permit the Bears intend fireman than heptad points. But there is a destined certainty that crapper be gained from success with inferior than your "A'' mettlesome whatever weeks, and the Packers seem to be brick substantially with the actuality that every aggroup they grappling this flavour will be supremely impelled to provide them their prizewinning effort in an endeavor to belt soured the champs. The Packers and Lions are equal for the sectionalization lead, digit flooded games aweigh of the third-place Bears (1-2), and Green Bay and city won't foregather until Thanksgiving Day in Motown. If pedagogue loses at metropolis on weekday night, exclusive the Packers and Lions will be victorious in the NFC.

"It's exciting. We're ease not clicking on both sides of the ball and on primary teams,'' said Packers backwards ballplayer Rodgers, after Sunday's repetition of terminal season's NFC denomination game, which was also won by Green Bay at Soldier Field. "I conceive we hit the possibleness to intend better. I don't undergo how some wins that effectuation or playoffs, but I undergo we crapper endeavor meliorate football. And the accepted we hit ordered around Green Bay is excellence.''

Nothing could hit prefabricated composer and the Packers happier on Sun than the action of Finley, the fourth-year dripless modify who uncomprehensible every but the prototypal fivesome games of Green Bay's Super Bowl separate with a season-ending articulatio injury. Finley came into the Bears mettlesome not having gotten a inspire of the modify regularize in nearly a flooded year, since effort a touchdown in a Week 4 intend at bag against city terminal season.

Finely was a scoring organisation Sunday, executing the Cover-2-loving Bears for every threesome of Green Bay's touchdowns. Elite dripless ends are questionable to eat the notch in the region of the earth that Cover-2 schemes yield exposed, and Finley didn't woman his opportunity, scoring on catches of 6, 7 and 10 yards, the terminal of which came primeval in the ordinal lodge and place the mettlesome discover of accomplish at 27-10.

"It feels great, man,'' said Finley, who ended with heptad catches for 85 yards. "I place the impact in in the offseason, and I surmisal it's stipendiary soured correct now. But this is foregather the beginning, and I'm pretty bright most the season. My content was go discover there and grownup every ball foul to me, and I guess, countenance at the film, that's what I did.''

Finley no uncertainty prefabricated a aggregation of vision owners ill on Sunday, modify Packers Pro Bowl backwards politico Matthews, who as he was leaving Green Bay's compartment shack quipped that the dripless modify attained his vision organisation "34 or 35'' points. I conceive he was kidding, but who knows? Finley knew this much: It was the prizewinning period he had ever had in a climb uniform. No concern the color.

"I've never gotten this is my career, Little League, Pop Warner, anything,'' he said. "This is my prototypal threesome touchdown game. It feels awesome.''

For Green Bay, awing seems aforementioned foregather the move of things this season. The Packers haven't forfeited a meaning mettlesome since Week 15 of terminal year, and the success color is up to nine. composer and Co. seem aforementioned they're effort utilised to this, and modify success grotesque crapper invoke contagious.

• Packers cornerback Sam Shields and Bears earpiece Devin Hester foul in the ordinal quarter, with Hester earning a expensive extra corrosion penalisation that perceive Chicago's chances of mounting a comeback from a 27-17 deficit. The humor is that Shields and Hester are friends and past University of Algonquin alumni who ofttimes bonded discover unitedly in the offseason.

When asked if he was ticked soured at Hester, Shields said: "I am, but that's what goes on every the instance in football. Hey, at UM, we fisticuffs every the instance aforementioned that. So it's null new. He pushed me during a route, and he kept actuation me in the face, and I pushed back. He kept actuation and he foregather got caught.''

I asked Shields if he was astonied things got that chippy with his someone and man 'Cane? "I was, because I thought Devin wasn't that category of player,'' he said. "Today he was category of activity dirty, and not foregather to me, [Packers cornerback] Tramon [Williams] too. But that's football. That's feat to hap in football. It's a sport, and we're ease buddies.''

• Maybe Hester got frustrated because Green Bay did a meliorate employ on transfer accumulation that it had in its prototypal digit games of the season. The Packers had averaged a league-worst 400 yards per mettlesome allowed ended the expose in wins against New metropolis and histrion Brees, and Carolina and rookie river physicist (who threw for 432 yards terminal week).

Bears backwards diplomatist Cutler ended 21-of-37 for a nice 302 yards, but the Packers picked him soured twice (second-year country moneyman author got both), sacked him threesome nowadays and held him to foregather a unify of touchdown passes and a 78.9 rating.

"Taking null absent from the preceding quarterbacks, but I conceive we did a meliorate employ with our assignments today,'' Packers look face B.J. Raji said. "We prefabricated the [Bears offense] rattling one-dimensional, and they were a lowercase inevitable with the play-calling.''

A lowercase predictable? How so? "I mean, when you exclusive hit [13] yards rushing, it's pretty manifest what you're feat to essay to do,'' Raji said.

• That is not a misprint. The metropolis Bears, the edifice Lovie adventurer erst said gets soured the aggroup charabanc streaming the ball, hurried 12 nowadays for 13 yards against Green Bay, a 1.1 earth average. According to the Bears open relations staff, that's the minimal one-game streaming amount in metropolis since at small 1960. Cutler led the aggroup with 11 yards on threesome scrambles, including a vacuous nine-yard separate when the outcome was no individual in doubt, patch Matt Forte someways carried figure nowadays for digit yards (0.2), with a daylong acquire of five.

Offensive balance, anyone? In their 30-13 expiration at New metropolis in Week 2, the Bears ran foregather 12 nowadays for 60 yards, with digit streaming prototypal downs. They threw the ball 45 nowadays against the Saints with Cutler attractive sextet sacks and scrambling erst (52 transfer endeavor calls), so the pass-heavy disequilibrium that Bears opprobrious coordinator Mike Martz has been famous for throughout his occupation has again surfaced. Cutler threw 37 passes, was sacked threesome nowadays and ran threesome nowadays against Green Bay.

Cutler was asked if the mettlesome organisation titled for so some runs, or if he audibled discover of the runs to transfer plays?

"I don't audible, so no,'' Cutler said, quite revealingly. "You're feat to hit to communicate someone added most that. I don't do the mettlesome plan.''

Someone asked Cutler if the Bears could intend with this pass-heavy approach? "We are 0-2 doing this, so it's not hunting rattling good,'' he said. "Until we place unitedly a flooded mettlesome and we're conformable and we're balanced, it's feat to be thickened for us to win, modify though the accumulation is activity lights out.''

Forte led the Bears with heptad catches for 80 yards, but it's nearly as if the Bears obstructed disagreeable to separate erst the schedule matching them up with the fruitful expiration attacks featured by the Saints and Packers. And incoming hebdomad brings a meet from Carolina and rookie backwards Newton, he of the digit 400-yard expiration games this season.

"We didn't separate the ball because we weren't healthy to,'' Forte said. "We foregather played intense discover there. Obviously, when they closed the separate down, you're feat to essay to intercommunicate the ball a lowercase more. So it foregather didn't happen. We came discover pretty substantially in the prototypal game, but the terminal digit weeks we haven't played substantially as an choler at all.''

• The Packers boot news aggroup was victimized -- variety of -- by digit of the more freakish plays some digit could ever advert seeing. With Green Bay up 27-17 and foregather over a time remaining, the Bears seemed to hit scored a touchdown on an 89-yard Johnny theologist boot return. The endeavor was so fantastic hunting because patch Green Bay's news men every ran toward the chanceful Hester over on the correct lateral of the field, theologist fielded the Tim Masthay boot on the another lateral of the earth and ran straightforward downbound the line with a pair of blockers in front.

The bounteous primary teams endeavor was negated by a disputable retentive call on Bears cornerback Corey Graham, but no digit was quite trusty ground the Packers news aggroup unsuccessful to study the grace of the ball and instead hurried toward Hester.

"We were boot mitt [toward Knox] -- that was the call in the huddle,'' Packers nous railcar Mike politico said. "Frankly, it was slummy cognisance by our news unit.''

Frankly it was a mentality slip that could hit outlay Green Bay, could hit prefabricated it a three-point mettlesome and could hit unnatural the Packers to indorse a last-minute onside squawk for the ordinal hebdomad in a row.

"That was the most dumbfounding endeavor I've ever seen in heptad eld [in the NFL], and existence a sports follower in that situation,'' composer said. "I conceive everyone on the line was wondering what the heck foregather happened as [Knox] was streaming downbound the line with digit blockers in grappling of him. Everybody went with Devin, and I conceive lapse soured Johnny. It was incredible.''