Here's the tale of the tape from the Packers' 21-15 win over Chicago on Sunday:

Vision quest

This is what Packers coaches mean when they talk about defensive backs playing with vision.

FS Nick Collins, CB Tramon Williams and CB Al Harris each got an interception by reading the Bears' formations and QB Jay Cutler -- something they had fewer opportunities to do in Bob Sanders' old press-oriented scheme.

Collins was playing an outside, over-the-top technique in the first quarter when he intercepted a seam pass for TE Desmond Clark, who had SS Atari Bigby trailing him off the line.

In the second quarter, Williams knew he had Bigby over the top on WR Johnny Knox. So, even though Williams was supposed to stay outside in the Cover-2, he broke underneath as Knox took his route upfield and took advantage when Cutler put the ball on a line.

With 1:06 to go and the game in the balance, the Packers again were in Cover-2, with Harris playing an outside technique to funnel Knox inside. The Bears had opened their final drive of the first half in the identical formation -- shotgun, slot left, with Knox at split end -- and Knox slanted underneath Harris' soft coverage for a 14-yard gain. So, Harris rightly figured it was the same play, compressed his cushion before the snap and broke before Cutler let go of the pass, which came out late in part because of a low snap.

The Packers aren't playing all zone -- Williams was manned up on WR Earl Bennett when he nearly picked Cutler two plays before Collins did -- but this game showed the sort of opportunities Dom Capers' scheme can create.

3rd-and-wrong

Perhaps the most deceiving statistic was the Packers' 29 percent (4-for-14) conversion rate on third down.

The real problem was the first- and second-down disasters that repeatedly stuck them in third-and-long.

Twice in the first quarter, Bears LE Adewale Ogunleye recorded first-down sacks with speed moves against RT Allen Barbre, who was weak on the playside and slow with his hands.

In the second, C Jason Spitz had DT Israel Idonije where he wanted him -- playing behind on a first-down toss right to RB Ryan Grant -- until he got his hand around Idonije's left shoulder pad and dropped the big man, drawing a debatable holding call that wiped out 25-yard gain. Second down on the next drive was a mess of an inside zone run, with three Bears piling on Grant for a 3-yard loss.

Another first-down sack derailed the first drive of the second half, with SLB Nick Roach getting pressure against LT Chad Clifton and blitzing SS Al Afalava powering through FB Korey Hall to finish off QB Aaron Rodgers. The next drive crashed with another mess of a zone run to RB DeShawn Wynn that lost 2 and Clifton drawing what looked like a phantom false-start call.

Then, early in the fourth quarter, RG Josh Sitton inexplicably hesitated as MLB Hunter Hillenmeyer blitzed the A-gap. The false step forced Sitton to hook Hillenmeyer, drawing a holding call.

Each of those seven plays left the Packers with third-and-12 or worse, and they didn't convert any of them, ending up with four punts, two field goals and a safety. In more manageable third-down situations, the Packers were 4-for-7 (57.1 percent).

Playmakers

* Talk about setting up play action. The Packers had lined up in a two-tight I-formation eight times and run every time before Rodgers pulled one back and hit WR Greg Jennings for the winning 50-yard TD. The Bears lined up with nine in the box, and the only man deep, FS Kevin Payne, was on the outside of the opposite hash marks, leaving him no chance to help CB Nathan Vasher. The Packers got lucky, too -- TE Jermichael Finley blew his assignment, blocking down instead of picking up Roach, but Finley was so far out of position that Roach bit on the fake and didn't realize he had a clear shot at Rodgers.

* One play before the 25-yarder that wasn't, Grant exploded around the corner for 17 on a zone right play, with Barbre getting a stick on Ogunleye and Sitton spinning around Roach.

* Grant made a good read on his 1-yard TD run, bouncing outside behind TE Donald Lee because Spitz and Colledge had allowed DT Anthony Adams to squirt through.

* Credit two backups, DE Michael Montgomery and S Aaron Rouse, with thwarting the Bears' third-and-goal play on their penultimate drive. Backed up to their 3 and playing a 4-4 defense, the Packers got a rush from Montgomery, who stumbled off the ball but recovered and slithered past RG Roberto Garza. Rouse read TE Greg Olsen's double motion and blanketed him along the goal line, forcing Cutler, who was rolling right on a designed sprint out, to throw the ball away.

Play breakers

* Things went wrong on several levels on the second-quarter safety. Had Rodgers seen CB Danieal Manning getting ready to blitz from the right slot, he probably would have called for a protection adjustment -- perhaps realigning Wynn, who ended up picking up Briggs. Once the snap (and Manning) came, though, Rodgers needed to throw hot to WR Donald Driver. He didn't, and Manning chased him down.

* Arguably the most embarrassing among seven pressures yielded by Barbre came late in the first half, when Ogunleye clubbed his inside arm and knocked Barbre to the ground. It's never a good sign when the quarterback gets hit off a three-man rush.

* Cramps or not, Collins was in position and should have made a play on the ball WR Devin Hester caught for a 36-yard TD in the third quarter. Hesitation cost him.

* Collins' replacement on the next series, Rouse, wasn't at fault on Clark's key third-down catch that set up a field goal. Rouse was aligned 15 yards deep at the snap and correctly shaded toward the side where Hester was lined up. Instead, it was buck ILB A.J. Hawk who didn't get deep enough with his underneath coverage, allowing Clark to come free for a 23-yard gain. The Cover-3 the Packers were in was about the worst thing possible against the Bears' four-seam pass play.

* Rodgers' completion rate (17-for-28, 60.7 percent) would have been a lot better if not for an unacceptable five drops -- two each by Driver and WR Jordy Nelson and one by Wynn.

Dot ... dot ... dot ...

Capers' game plan for stopping Olsen worked to near perfection. As they did last season, the Packers played their nickel defense extensively (47 snaps, 66.2 percent) against Chicago's two-tight base offense. In the earlygoing, CB Charles Woodson mostly took Olsen when he lined up on the right and rookie OLB Clay Matthews took him when he was on the left, with safety help over the top. The Packers essentially had Olsen bracketed in many situations, and though Cutler threw his way six times, Olsen finished with only one catch for 8 yards. ... DL Cullen Jenkins (65), DE Johnny Jolly (61) and ILB Brandon Chillar (58) deserved their game balls. In addition to combining for 22 tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss, three QB hits and an interception, they played more snaps than anyone in the front seven except LOLB Aaron Kampman, who played all 71. ... Mack ILB Nick Barnett played 41 snaps in his return from ACL surgery, taking both base and nickel but sitting out five full series as a precaution. That left 41 snaps for buck ILB A.J. Hawk, who took all of the base but sat out nickel on the series Barnett played. ... Matthews played 44 snaps in his regular-season NFL debut, giving up only three snaps in nickel to base ROLB Brady Poppinga (27 snaps).