At their most desperate time, the Green Bay Packers leaned on two overlooked receivers to bail them out of their offensive struggles in a 26-10 win over the Chicago Bears on Thursday to improve to 4-2. Well, one receiver and one hybrid player.

Davante Adams and Ty Montgomery, second- and third-round picks in 2014 and 2015 respectively, had done little in their careers to justify their draft statuses. Adams spent most of this week in the concussion protocol and had been plagued by drops, which subjected him to the wrath of Packers fans everywhere. Montgomery had 15 catches in 10 career games prior to last week before injuries forced him into the lineup.

But out of necessity, both were pressed into expanded duty — and both responded in the win. Adams finished with a career-high 13 catches (one short of the club record, held by Don Hutson) for 132 yards and his first two-TD game, outshining the Packers’ highly paid duo of Jordy Nelson (one catch) and Randall Cobb (two dropped TD passes). Adams previously had only one 100-yard game and seven touchdowns in 34 regular-season games coming in.

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And with the Packers going without Eddie Lacy, who was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day, Montgomery — mostly a wideout by trade — became the primary runner. He rushed nine times for 60 yards and also caught 10 passes for 66 yards.

“He’s a running back now,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the game.

Rodgers was hardly perfect in this one, but he got into a rhythm, finally, in the third quarter. He finished 39-of-56 passing for 326 yards — his first 300-yard passing game since Week 10 last season against the Detroit Lions — and three TD passes. The 39 completions were a career high, and the 56 attempts were his second most. Being shorthanded in the backfield made passing often a necessity, but the 5.8 yards per attempt left something to be desired.

On the flip side, the Bears’ offensive struggles deepened as they fell to 1-6. Starting quarterback Brian Hoyer, who became the first Bears QB to throw for 300-plus yards in four straight games coming in, suffered a broken left arm in the second quarter and most likely will miss significant time. The Bears also lost their best offensive lineman, Kyle Long, with an arm injury.

They had to turn the ball over to Matt Barkley, who saw his first regular-season action since midway through the 2014 season. He completed 6 of 15 passes for 81 yards and two picks. Bears quarterbacks finished the night a combined 130 yards on 26 passes.

Even with the Packers winning, and turning in a solid defensive effort, it’s hard to say that their ailments are cured. The first half was mostly ugly, and it carried over into the early third quarter. They jumped offsides on the first play of the game and fumbled the opening punt. Despite converting a third-and-8 and a fourth-and-4, the Packers settled for a field goal on the opening drive when Cobb couldn’t hang onto a would-be touchdown from Rodgers.

On their next drive, the Packers moved the ball well again — thanks in part to a 44-yard pass interference call against the Bears’ Adrian Amos. But after getting to the Chicago 1, the red zone woes worsened. First, the Packers tried to draw the Bears offsides on fourth-and-goal from the 1; that didn’t work. Then Mike McCarthy burned a timeout. Then they went for it for real, and Montgomery was stuffed — running out of a three-wide set on the doorstep of the goal line. Just bad all around.

After Barkley came in and led a field-goal drive, the Packers drove down the field in the final two minutes of the half. Cobb once again couldn’t haul in a catch in the back of the end zone as his second foot came down out of bounds, and Mason Crosby’s second field goal of the half made it 6-3 Packers at the break.

On the Packers’ opening drive of the second half, Rodgers got sloppy with the ball. He didn’t feel the Bears’ pressure, hung onto the ball too long and was strip-sacked by rookie pass rusher Leonard Floyd for the second full sack of the game — and his career. Floyd then recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown (Chicago’s first defensive TD in 35 games) for a shocking 10-6 Bears lead.

It was Rodgers’ fifth fumble in his past six games, and the third one he has lost. But he sharpened thereafter as the Packers picked up the tempo. Adams fueled both drives to close out the third quarter and kicked off the fourth quarter with the second of his two TD catches as the Bears had umpteen miscommunications in a bad performance from the secondary.

The Packers still need more from Nelson, who has been quiet since the bye, and Rodgers struggled early — especially when the Bears got pressure, when he seemed too antsy in the pocket. You could argue the Packers were two Cobb catches away from a big night, and the injuries to Lacy and recently promoted Don Jackson forced Rodgers into throwing it too much.

That’s fair, and yet who knows if Adams and Montgomery can turn in these types of performances on a regular basis? If they can, the Packers will feel better about themselves as they head into a stretch that features six road games in their final 10, starting with a big test at the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 30.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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