Brandon Chiller just put Barnett on the bench. I don't even want to see samurai boy out there. And Hawk played very well.

On the outside, I think Poppinga just lost his starting job because I saw some really good play out of Matthews tonight.

The whole front seven did a good job because Forte usually has many more 5+ yard gains. Thank you Dom for bringing a defense back to Green Bay.

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I think you are speaking too soon about people losing their jobs after the first game. Poppinga is still a great defender but Clay Mathews is hitter and I will give him that. He can stop run plays very well as he did at USC. Barnett is not himself just yet as I have said on other threads, he will not be benched again. I would pick Barnett over Chillar anytime. In the end its a team effort and we Won Tonight.

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Two things:

1) Mathews was scouted as the best pass-rusher in this draft at LB. He has a good motor, and has the ability to play with the big boys. Still, needs to show he can stay healthy - I fully expect him to start before the season is done.

2) I think it was someone over at Packersnews.com that pointed out MM was playing Barnett for two series, then sitting him out for two series. Good way of using the depth IMO. That said, get Desmond Bishop in there! The dude has earned playing time for goodness sakes - find a way to get him on the field in some packages.

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The defense will stay very close to what it was tonight, with maybe Barnett seeing some more time when he gets healthy. If DL depth is our weakness on defense, LB depth is our strength. I never would have imagined this being a position of strength when we made the conversion, but it's crazy. I think the pressure of our DL will also mask some of the deficiencies of our LBs, but we shall see as the season wears on. Right now I'm excited for Chillar and Hawk because today was near the best they've played in their career.

As long as our DL continues to get pressure, we should see Poppinga on the field more being that his strength is against the run which we really need. He's also one of the most intense players on the team. Just watch his interview on Packers.com a couple days ago. It's hard to keep players with his intensity off the field.

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The Bears are a running team although we didn't see a lot of that today. That said, I'm surprised we didn't see more time gameplanned for Bishop because of his run-stuffing abilities. I think that's also because our LBs played out of their minds today and because those are the guys who seem less a liability in coverage. With their top receiver at TE, maybe we didn't want Bishop in the game too much today...and as you all noticed, we shut him down today.

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What really surprises me is that Bishop said he has basically been relegated to ST work in practice - getting no reps in the 3-4 base.

That is surprising - but my goodness the LBs were awesome today.

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As long as our LB's continue to play at this level, I'll be okay with Bishop seeing only ST reps. If they being to falter, we better see more of him.

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very impressed by the play of the front seven all around

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I still say Bishop is back-up and that because Hawk and Chillar are better on the field and maybe Barnett will be too.

Seriously when they all get healthy I want to move one of them to OLB....

I mean come on.... if Bishop can't get time at ILB let him learn and play both ILB and OLB. Why not?

That or move Chillar or Barnett to OLB and let Bishop fill there role because I don't think Bishop would fit better at ILB than he would at OLB.

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I think Bishop would be good on the outside. We've just got so much talent at the position. Great problem to have.
I'd start Chillar over Barnett.
Mathews will start over Poppinga as soon as he gets up to speed with the pro game. He will only get better. So will Thompson.
And Raji will be back too.
How's Bigby? Any word on him?

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