LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears made some changes in an effort to resuscitate their struggling defense Sunday in Green Bay, but they ultimately experienced the same disappointing results.

Defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek gets his facemask tugged during Sunday's 37-3 loss to the Packers.

Unlike previous games, linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs rarely crowded the line of scrimmage, Nate Vasher and Corey Graham split time at cornerback, and Danieal Manning returned to the nickel position.

The Bears also utilized a 3-3-5 alignment in a handful of passing situations, replacing a tackle with linebacker Nick Roach to go along with five defensive backs. 

Unfortunately, the changes didn’t prevent the Bears from allowing a season-high 200 yards on the ground and 227 yards through the air in a 37-3 drubbing. It was the first time Chicago permitted at least 200 yards rushing and passing since Nov. 21, 2004 against the Colts.

“Defensively, run, pass, we didn’t play well; [we] weren’t able to stop either one,” coach Lovie Smith said after the game. “They kind of did what they wanted to against us.”

The Bears defense entered Sunday's contest ranked fourth in the NFL against the run and 30th versus the pass. But the Packers kept the ball on the ground early as Ryan Grant rushed for 48 yards on Green Bay’s first four plays and compiled 105 of his season-high 145 yards on 13 carries in the first half.

“We’ve focused quite a bit on our pass defense for the last few weeks it seems like,” Smith said. “But you have to stop the run too. Once you can do both, it really makes it tough.”

Grant entered Sunday’s NFC North clash averaging 69.4 yards per game and 3.6 yards per carry. But he averaged 5.8 yards on 25 carries against the Bears with runs of 35, 22 and 18 yards.

“We knew he was a good back,” said safety Kevin Payne. “I am surprised we didn’t play as well as we should have played. Give them credit. They came out and played hard, played more physical than we did. We need to start playing up to our potential. We’re a better team than what we showed.”

The Packers entered the contest ranked 23rd in the NFL in rushing, averaging 98.1 yards per game.

“Anytime you give up 200 yards, I mean, that’s not a very good performance,” said defensive coordinator Bob Babich. “We’re surprised any time we give up that many yards. It’s very disappointing. It’s something that we don’t ever expect to do and it’s something that we’ve got to get corrected, period.”

The same could be said for the Bears pass defense, which failed to record a sack for the third time this season and has just five sacks in its last five games. Chicago was not even credited with a quarterback hit against the Packers, who had yielded four sacks in each of their last two games.

“I don’t think I hit the ground,” said Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who completed 23 of 30 passes for 227 yards with 2 TDs, 1 interception and a 105.8 passer rating. “No sacks, no quarterback hits … When you’re not getting touched in the pocket, you can stand in there and throw with a lot of confidence, and that’s what I did.”

Given how their defense has performed this season—most recently in back-to-back losses to the Titans and Packers, the Bears are fortunate to remain in a three-way tie atop the NFC North with Green Bay and Minnesota.

“It’s been a very disappointing couple weeks,” Babich said. “It’s been an up-and-down season as we go along here. [But] we have good football players, guys that have a lot of pride and play with a lot of pride. We’ve just got to make sure to get it corrected.

“We’re still in first place in the division. For us, we’ve got to play good defense to win. Any time you give up as many yards and as many points as we gave up [against the Packers], you don’t give your team a chance to win.”