The Green Bay Packers are 11-3 and in prime position to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs. Ugly or not, the Packers continue to play well enough to win, additional emphasis on “well enough.”

For three weeks straight, the Packers have edged out the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and now the Chicago Bears. Each game featured moments of competent offense with stretches of malaise. Aesthetically, these weren’t the types of performances that instill confidence for the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers finished the game completing 48 percent of his passes for 203 yards. The stat line does little to quell the growing national narrative that Rodgers is just an average quarterback. Reality is different than national punditry, of course. Rodgers isn’t getting much help from receivers, who dropped multiple catchable passes Sunday. The Packers actually moved the ball well in the first half and looked in command despite scoring just seven points. And this Chicago defense isn’t too shabby, either. When he’s right, Rodgers is still a very dangerous quarterback. He still has All-Pro arm talent.

What matters down the stretch is that the Packers keep finding ways to play a little bit better. Their identity is ugly football.

As Rodgers alluded to last week, can this team win ugly all the way to the Super Bowl? Time will tell. In the meantime, collecting wins and working towards a first-round bye doesn’t hurt.

The best test and clearest illustration of their playoff potential will come next week in prime time against the Minnesota Vikings. The Packers have yet to win at the Vikings’ new stadium. Can do they do it next Monday?

Missed shots

On the first play of the game, Aaron Rodgers faked the handoff to Aaron Jones and lofted a beautiful throw into the hands of Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Except he didn’t. Valdes-Scantling short-armed the catch and the ball fell unceremoniously to the turf. It was yet another in a long series of failed connections between Rodgers and the second-year wide receiver who has fallen into a deep sophomore slump.

Later that drive, Rodgers floated one over Jimmy Graham’s down the right sideline. There were several other plays where the Packers took their chances downfield, but for a variety of reasons, they left empty-handed. Timing. Poor execution (i.e. drops). Pressure. These games probably feel different if the Packers start connecting on these downfield plays.

These are tough plays to make. They’re also fairly safe in the sense that most are thrown into single coverage. But the continued struggle to put these types of plays together illustrates the current ceiling placed on the offense. Their underneath stuff is only so effective, and without the additional explosive plays, it’s been hard to score points. Perhaps it’s a timing and repetition thing, as Rodgers suggested might be the case in his post-game comments, but the Packers leave a lot on the field.

Stone cold stunning

Credit to the Packers offensive line. Outside of a few rushes, Rodgers was kept fairly clean against the Chicago Bears’ defensive front, which features not just Khalil Mack but Akiem Hicks, who was playing his first game back from injury.

Right tackle Byran Bulaga held his own all game, giving Rodgers time to throw in the pocket, and the interior offensive line held Hicks in check, too. Rodger was only sacked one time for a loss of 11 yards.

On a semi-slick field, the offensive line turned in an impressive performance. They’ll have to continue the trend next week against the Vikings’ pass-rush tandem of Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen.

Hot flash, cold spell

The Packers put together one scoring drive in the first half, a four-play, 35-yard effort that ended with a beautiful throw from Rodgers to Davante Adams. Rodgers looked off the safety and took a shot with Adams in one-on-one coverage. The Packers started the drive on the 35-yard line but took care of business.

The offense wouldn’t score until the beginning of the second half, where they would score touchdowns in back-to-back drives. On the first scoring drive in the second half, the offense took five plays to move the ball 73 yards. In their next offensive possession, they needed just five plays to move the ball 66 yards for a touchdown.

In those moments, the offense clicks. It almost looks easy. Rodgers stays in the pocket. The ball comes out quickly. Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams find positive yardage. Davante Adams creates big plays.

But then? They start playing like today’s temperature.

The Packers scored on three of their 12 offensive possessions. They moved the ball well in the first half, but couldn’t convert into points. It was the second half that was most troubling.

After scoring their final touchdown, at the time up 21-3, the Packers’ best drive would account for 13 yards. In fact, taken together, the Packers moved the ball nine total yards in their final five offensive drives, including four-consecutive three-and-outs.

The Packers shouldn’t hang their heads in victory, as Bryan Bulaga said in the locker room after the game, but they need to solve this riddle if they want to advance in the playoffs. Their record is good, but they’re a paper tiger if the offense doesn’t improve.

Tyler Ervin continues hot start with Packers

Once again, the Packers’ special teams received a boost from Tyler Ervin, who’s playing in his second game as the team’s kick and punt returner.

Ervin didn’t field the one punt the Packers fumbled. That was Tramon Williams, who received a lucky break from the officials. Williams took a nasty, though not illegal, hit. Fortunately for the Packers, the refs aired on the side of caution.

When Ervin did get the ball, good things happened.

Ervin returned two kicks for 71 total yards; his longest return was 45 yards. He also returned one punt for 12 yards.

Ervin has the juice and vision to give the Packers a chance on special teams returns. Before Ervin, the kick and punt return unit had been an exercise in creative futility. Ervin has changed that, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

Bears own time of possession

True to their name, the Bears had to scratch and claw their way to victory in this one. Alas, they fell short, and that’s a credit to the Packers’ defense.

As mentioned earlier, the Packers final five offensive possessions resulted in nine total yards, including four-consecutive three-and-outs. The result: the Bears owning the time-of-possession battle. When the game clock struck zero, the Bears would have the ball for 34:22 minutes to the Packers’ 25:38.

Yes, the Packers gave up a lot of yards – that’s what they do. But they also took the ball away three times – also a thing they do.

Had the offense put up one more score in the fourth quarter, the last-ditch laterals in the closing seconds would have meant a whole lot less. The Packers played strong defense and forced Mitch Trubisky to win by completing difficult throws into tight windows and across his body. It’s a dangerous way to live for Chicago, and if Darnell Savage can get some lessons from Dean Lowry on how to catch the football, the score might look more like 28-13.

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