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Chicago Sports

The Celtics sported a balanced attack with seven players scoring in double figures in their 106-101 victory over the Bulls at the United Center. Evan Turner led the way with 19 points while Kelly Olynyk  recorded a double-doubled with 18 and 11 rebounds. Jeff Green scored 14 points and Avery Bradley added 13 for Boston, which has won two straight since a three-game losing streak. Aaron Brooks led all scorers with 26 and dished out eight assists off the bench, while Derrick Rose sat out his second straight game with a pair of sore ankles. Pau Gasol tallied 19 points and grabbed nine boards as Chicago saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.

The Bulls are at home Monday night against Detroit

Bears at Green Bay tonight

If the embattled Chicago Bears quarterback plans on turning things around in
the 2014 season, he will have to do it against the one team which has always
been his personal house of horrors, the Green Bay Packers.

Cutler is a dismal 1-9 as a starter against the Packers in the regular season,
throwing for 13 touchdowns and a mind-boggling 19 interceptions in those
games, including two picks that led to second-half touchdowns in Chicago's
latest loss to its top rival, a 38-17 waxing back on Sept. 28 in the Windy
City.

That game started a stretch in which the once playoff-hopeful Bears have
dropped four of five games, culminating with an embarrassing 51-23 setback at
New England back on Oct. 26, a contest in which Tom Brady threw touchdown
passes on five of New England's first six drives.

Cutler completed 20-of-30 passes for 227 yards with three touchdowns (two
coming with the outcome already decided) and committed a pair turnovers
against the Pats.

Matt Forte had 114 yards on 19 carries and caught a touchdown pass for the
Bears, who are now 3-5 and dead last in the competitive NFC North.

"We lost today. We got beat by a really good football team, we have a whole
half a season to play and we are going to start over. And address every
situation that we have and all aspects of our football team," said Chicago
coach Marc Trestman.

Detroit leads the NFC North entering Week 10 at 6-2 and the Packers are a game
behind after suffering a 44-23 drubbing at the hands of New Orleans on Oct.
26.

Far scarier than the loss, though, was the fact that all-everything QB Aaron
Rodgers tweaked his hamstring in the matchup.

The game was tied 16-16 at halftime, but New Orleans intercepted the
previously red-hot Rodgers twice over an 11-attempt span in the final 30
minutes after he hadn't tallied one in 213 throws en route to breaking the
game open. And the hamstring was clearly the issue as it cut down on Rodgers'
vaunted movement skills.

"It was a glimpse of me at 40, I think," Rodgers joked. "I remember watching
Vinny Testaverde (at age 44) playing for Carolina against us. And he had like
a 22-yard run and I was like, 'Look at Vinny, he can still do it.' That was
awesome."

Rodgers had thrown for 977 yards and 13 touchdowns without an interception
during a four-game winning streak which was halted by NOLA.

The ll-Pro threw for 208 of his 418 yards in the first quarter before the
injury, completing 28-of-39 passes overall with a touchdown for Green Bay.

"Penalties and turnovers hurt us  and kicking field goals," Rodgers
said.

Randall Cobb posted five catches for 126 yards and a score, while Eddie Lacy
recorded eight receptions for 123 yards and added 59 yards on 13 carries in
defeat.

The Bears lead their all-time series with Green Bay, which is the longest-
running rivalry in the sport, by a 92-89-6 margin but the Packers have won
eight of the past nine, including the he NFC Championship Game following the
2010 season.

Back in September Green Bay scored 24 unanswered points in the 38-17 win with
Rodgers throwing four touchdowns passes, two each to Jordy Nelson and Cobb,
who both had 100-yard receiving days.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Rodgers is 11-2 against the Bears, winning eight straight when he starts and
finishes. The last time Chicago was in Green Bay, though, A-Rod didn't finish
as the Bears' Shea McClellin put Rodgers on the shelf for a good portion of
the 2013 campaign by breaking the QB's collarbone in a Week 9 matchup.

Of course A-Rod still got the last laugh, returning to the lineup for the
final regular-season game of 2013 and converting a 4th-and-8 from the
Chicago's 48-yard line with 46 seconds left by extending the play and finding
Cobb for a touchdown. The big play lifted Green Bay to a 33-28 victory
and the NFC North title.

This time around Rodgers will be facing a Bears defense that isn't all that
impressive when healthy and is currently banged up with corner Charles Tillman
(triceps) and defensive end Lamarr Houston (ACL) already gone for the season.

Impressive rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller is playing through hip and hand
issues but his effectiveness has waned. Meanwhile linebacker Lance Briggs is
slated to return from a rib injury after missing the prior three games, and
safety Chris Conte is still iffy with concussion issues as well as a balky
shoulder.

Overall, Chicago is 21st in the NFL, allowing 372.4 yards per game and things
have been getting progressively worse. The Bears have allowed an NFL-worst
32.0 points per game in their current 1-4 stretch.

Of course, Green Bay's stop unit has been even worse in 2014, surrendering
379.3 ypg, a disappointing 25th in all of football. The Packers are
particularly dreadful against the run, allowing 153.5 ypg, dead last in the
NFL.

The question is who can better take advantage of those shoddy units?

The answer is obviously Rodgers as the bye week enabled him to rest his tender
hamstring.

"The medical staff here gave me a seven-day plan to attack the rehab, and I
stuck to it," Rodgers said on his radio show.

Cutler, meanwhile, has been responsible for 12 of Chicago's 15 turnovers in
2014.

"We will not quit on the season," Bears general manager Phil Emery said. "We
will not quit on ourselves. We're not going to quit on each other. We feel we
built a work ethic, a system of doing things in this building is in place to
have the consistency we need to win."

The one issue for Green Bay could be the health of its offensive line.  Guards
Josh Sitton (toe) and T.J. Lang (let ankle) are both questionable for Sunday
night's game and the team has already been using a rookie at center in Corey
Linsley although the Ohio State product has generally performed very well.

"The best offensive lines in my opinion are the ones that play week in and
week out,"  said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was recently awarded with a
three-year contract extension. "The timing, the communication, particularly
the non-verbal communication, happens so fast at the line of scrimmage, so
it's definitely a big part of the flow of your offense."

"It's an opportunity for a number of people (if Sitton and Land can't play),"
He continued. "We had a series of guys rotating through there."

Those series of guys could be the returning J.C. Tretter, who Linsley replaced
at center, as well as Lane Taylor.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

Cutler is a talented athlete but he doesn't strike many as a mentally-strong
guy when things are going his way and it's pretty evident he's got some
significant confidence issues when he sees the Green and Gold coming.

Trestman's game plan should be for Cutler to turn around and hand it off to
Matt Forte, who had a season-high 122 yards on 23 carries against Green Bay in
September, about 30 times. That scenario not only preys on the notorious
undisciplined play of Clay Matthews and the Green Bay front, it will also play
keep away from Rodgers, which is Chicago's only real chance in Lambeau.

For all the criticism Cutler gets, though, he's far from the only issue in the
Windy City. Trestman has never flashed the ability to play the patience game
and that's not changing here.

Tonight's game can be heard on Newstalk 1060 with the Pre-Game Show at 7.

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