Packers: Top five performers vs. Bears in season opener win

2. Darnell Savage

As stat lines go, three tackles does not tell the story. Also, as important as Amos was, Darnell Savage was more scary.

Not since Nick Collins have we seen a safety with this much speed. Savage was an absolute speed maven on the field Thursday night. On no less than three plays, Savage was a mere millimeter of a distance away from making a game-changing play. Look to the Bears’ last two drives of the first half and you’ll see what I’m talking about. In a span of three plays, Savage either knocked down a pass or disrupted the route enough for an incompletion.

Give this young man a few weeks and those plays are going in the other direction. On the first, he was a step slow into reacting to a pass across the middle. He got to the ball in enough time to ensure the incompletion, but with a better veteran presence, that pass gets intercepted. Two plays later, almost an identical situation and he is only half a step from the play. He got a hand on the ball, but with more seasoning, that ball goes the other way for six points as there was no one in front of him.

Savage showed us why he was a first-round pick. His speed and ball skills were prevalent. What he needs now is playing time. His natural instincts are better than those we’ve seen in a Packers uniform in a long time. And that’s saying something. As it is, as of right now, we have the most talented safety tandem since LeRoy Butler and Eugene Robinson.