Green Bay Packers safety Darnell Savage intercepted two passes off of Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky on Sunday night. Both of Savage’s takeaways helped lead the Packers to a 41-25 win over the Bears and also widen their lead in the NFC North in the process.
Savage wasn’t necessarily having a bad year in 2020, but he appeared to turn a corner in Week 9 against the San Francisco 49ers. We took a closer look at Savage’s film from that game here, as it was one of his better performances on the season.
Against San Francisco, he made a nice play on a ball that should have been intercepted and possibly returned for a touchdown.
Dating back to his rookie season in 2019, Savage has shown flashes of being a potential playmaker for Green Bay’s defense, but those plays haven’t come to fruition. Then, on Sunday night against the Bears, he became the playmaker they expect him to be.
Early on in the second quarter, Trubisky took a shot deep toward the end zone looking for wide receiver Darnell Mooney but overthrew him. Savage read it the whole way as he outran Mooney to get under the ball for a pick in stride. The turnover resulted in a touchback for the Packers, and ended up being a 14-point swing. On the ensuing drive, the offense marched down the field for their third touchdown of the game to go up 20-3.
When discussing the interception during his postgame interview, Savage said it was a play the defense had been ready for.
“We actually got that play earlier in the year,” Savage said. “People always say it’s a copycat league – stuff that works teams are always going to find a way to get back to it. I had a feeling they were going to take a shot, and when I turned and I saw the ball was in the air, I just tried to run as fast as I could and get under it.”
“It ended up working out.”
On his second pick, Savage was playing underneath in robber coverage rather than deep. Trubisky tried to hit Anthony Miller on a deep crossing route but ended up throwing into triple coverage. It was a bad decision by Trubisky, and play Savage made on the ball was reminiscent of former safety Nick Collins. While the ball was in the air, Savage got his head turned and made an acrobatic overhead interception.
Again, the offense scored off the turnover. Fourteen of the team’s 41 points in a 16-point win were in large part because of Savage.
Later, Savage would leave the game with a back injury and then return shortly after. Savage said he suffered the injury while falling on his back for the second interception.
According to Savage, he would get treatment right away and then take things day by day. The prognosis didn’t sound serious, but this is not the best time for the defense to be missing one of their key playmakers.
Some will say this performance came against Trubisky, so take it was a grain of salt, but this is the type of game Packers fans have been looking for from Savage. It showed why Green Bay traded up in the 2019 draft to take him in the first round.
Through a little over 1.5 seasons, Savage has made an impact from a variety of positions, whether it be in the slot, near the line of scrimmage, in robber, or deep safety. His versatility has been huge on defense and will enable him to make more plays like the ones he did against the Bears.
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