GREEN BAY, WI — — Aaron Jones rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown and caught a goal pass from Aaron Rodgers, who continued his dominance over the Chicago Bears by leading the Green Bay Packers to a 27-10 win Monday night.
Green Bay (1-1) rebounded from a 23-7 loss at the start of the season in Minnesota to beat the Bears (1-1) for a seventh consecutive season, resulting in their second-longest winning streak in history at 205 games, making them the oldest rivalry the NFL. The Packers won 10 consecutive wins against the Bears from 1994 to 1998. They have two more seven winning streaks in this series, from 1928-30 and 2000-03.
The Packers built a 24-7 halftime lead by dominating the second period, then got on the goal line in the fourth quarter to thwart a Bears comeback attempt.
Green Bay vowed to get Jones the ball more often after he had five carries for 49 yards and three catches for 27 yards against the Vikings. Jones came through, gaining 8.8 yards per carry and leading the Packers’ 203-yard rushing charge.
A week after struggling to connect with his new generation of receivers, Rodgers was characteristically efficient, going 19 of 25 for 232 yards and two touchdowns.
Chicago’s David Montgomery rushed for 122 yards in 15 carries. Justin Fields had a touchdown run and was 7 of 11 for 70 yards with an interception.
The Packers beat the Bears 21-0 in the second quarter. Jones scored twice, both times catching Rodgers’ pitches in the backfield and reaching the end zone.
The first was a back pass, which counted as a 15-yard carry. On the second touchdown, Jones started moving, catching a flip pass in the backfield and hitting it from 8 yards. Jones benefited from the return of right tackle Elgton Jenkins, who was playing for the first time since tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament on November 12.
Jones’ second result was Rodgers’ 450th career touchdown pass. The only other players to reach that mark are Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.
Rodgers added the No. 451 in the last minute of the first half with a 5-yard completion for Allen Lazard, who sat out the Vikings’ game with an ankle injury.
Rodgers completed passes to eight receivers. Neither had more than three receptions, but Sammy Watkins converted his trio of catches for 93 yards.
The Bears made the game competitive in the second half by capitalizing on Green Bay’s mistakes.
Cairo Santos’ 40-yard field goal cut Green Bay’s lead to 24-10 after a fumbling exchange between Rodgers and AJ Dillon gave the Bears the ball at their own 31.
The Packers’ next series was thwarted when a snap from Josh Myers hit receiver Christian Watson, who was on the move, and got past Rodgers. Dillon recovered from the fumble, but it put the Packers in a third-and-22 situation and resulted in a punt.
Driving toward Green Bay’s end zone, Chicago had an apparent 6-yard touchdown run from Fields, who was knocked over when replays realized he was down before stretching his arm over the goal line. The next game, Fields was again running in fourth and scoring from inside the 1, and officials ruled that Preston Smith and Jarran Reid stopped him just short of the end zone with just over eight minutes left.
Rodgers connected with Watkins for 55 yards on the following drive and set up Mason Crosby’s 28-yard field goal with 2:28 left.
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