One of the first passes thrown by Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay Packers camp was as noteworthy for who was competing for the ball as much as the play's result.

Cornerback Kevin King Taylor Gabriel Jersey , locked in coverage deep against receiver Randall Cobb, appeared to wrestle away an interception, though the ever-competitive quarterback disputed that call.

Coach Mike McCarthy took a diplomatic approach.

"Yeah, I'm a head coach so I thought it was an excellent play by both guys," McCarthy said Friday, drawing laughs. "I like the way Randall finished with the ball but I like the position that Kevin was in."

Outcome aside, the most important takeaway might be that two players who could be pivotal to Green Bay's success are healthy again.

Cobb revealed Friday that he had ankle surgery after offseason workouts. He was spotted at an airport with a walking boot on his right foot last month.

Doctors "went in and pretty much just removed a piece of cartilage that was giving me some problems," Cobb said . "Obviously not that big of a deal. But feeling a lot better than I did before."

Enough so that the senior member of the Packers receiving corps is a full go in camp .

"I think the first call, the first play ... where the ball goes deep to Randall, I think that tells you the kind of shape (Cobb is in)," McCarthy said.

Cobb's health is important for a receiving corps that lost Jordy Nelson after the respected veteran was cut in the offseason in a money-saving move. It left Cobb and Davante Adams as the Packers' top wideouts, plus a bevy of young players competing for targets that once went to Nelson.

"At this point, it's just getting my conditioning back. I was here the entire offseason working with our strength and conditioning staff trying to get back and get right Derrick Henry Jersey Big ," Cobb said.

King had left shoulder surgery after his injury-shortened rookie year. The shoulder maligned him for much of last season, and King was limited to individual workouts in the offseason as he recovered.

But King is a full go now, and his interception against Cobb in practice Thursday offered a glimpse of King's full potential when healthy. He is talented enough to be the Packers' top cornerback.

King wasn't done. On the next play, he broke up a throw for receiver Geronimo Allison and ended up hitting the ground.

"I could have done that last year," King said in the locker room.

Maybe, but he might have been in pain.

The shoulder no longer hurts, King said. The injury during his rookie season also sharpened his mental game.

"Mentally, it elevated me. It's been positive for me," King added.

A healthy King could do wonders at a cornerback position beleaguered by injuries the last couple of years. The 6-foot-3 King has the length to play effective press coverage for new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

Now King just needs to stay on the field after making 31 tackles in nine games last season, including five starts.

"There's no question about Kevin's ability and his level of talent and the ability to play," McCarthy said. "Yes, he made two competitive plays on the ball. ... The biggest thing I'm happy about is Kevin's healthy and he's come back from the shoulder surgery and is off to a good start."

NOTES: OLB Nick Perry, who is starting camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list Joel Edmundson Jersey , said he had no concerns about being ready for the opener on Sept. 9 against Chicago. Perry, who had offseason ankle surgery, and Clay Matthews are the veteran leaders at a position otherwise short on experience and production. "We're still going to take it one day at a time just to make sure that everything goes smoothly and I'm here for the long haul," Perry said. ... Rodgers and TE Jimmy Graham showed rapport in connecting for some tough pass plays during team drills. Graham was signed in the offseason as a free agent. ... A pass from Rodgers over the middle during a two-minute drill was picked off at the goal line by ILB Blake Martinez. ... Two backups, QB DeShone Kizer and TE Robert Tonyan, connected on a 15-yard scoring pass in coverage for the offense's only score in two-minute drill work.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy refuses to dwell on the second-half collapse by his team in Sunday's 24-23 loss at Green Bay in the season opener.

It's not easy, considering the Bears blew a 20-point lead in Nagy's head coaching debut. They'll take it as a lesson learned.

"It stings, but we need to use this," Nagy said Monday after reviewing film. "We need to go ahead and use this to get better.

"If you have the negative, pessimistic approach to it, then that's all wrong."

The loss bore a striking resemblance to the way Nagy's season ended last year as Kansas City's offensive coordinator — a 22-21 playoff loss to Tennessee after the Chiefs led 21-3.

Except in this one it was an injured Aaron Rodgers coming off the bench to lead the comeback against Khalil Mack and a Bears defense that dominated the first half.

Meanwhile, the Bears offense and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky struggled at some key points in the game with chances to lock up a win.

"We're close Clinton Portis Jersey ," Trubisky said after the game. "We know how close we are."

Rodgers took the Packers downfield immediately for the game-winning touchdown, and Trubisky failed to get the Bears past midfield needing a field goal on their final possession.

Trubisky finished 23 of 35 for 171 yards with a passer rating of 77.2.

"He played the way I knew he could play," Nagy said of Trubisky. "He made some plays. Now we left some out there too, but that's going to happen."

Trubisky missed a throw on a fade pattern in the end zone to a wide-open Allen Robinson, resulting in a field goal instead of a touchdown. He had a few other mistakes and the Bears settled for two second-half field goals, while struggling on third-and-short situations.

"We expected a lot of man (coverage) on third-and-short and they came out and played a bunch of zone," Trubisky said. "Credit to them for just mixing it up.

"A lot of our calls were built for man. We had some risky calls that we just went with and we blew them and they just made plays that we didn't."

On the final drive, in particular, Trubisky appeared somewhat rattled by the rush and overthrew Robinson. He also appeared too willing to abandon the play to scramble.

"There were some good ones, and there were a few where I thought his clock was ticking a little too fast," Nagy said. "You get the pocket collapse a little bit, and I thought that instead of just sliding and then hitching forward, it was a run. He kinda dashed out of there."

Nagy also criticized his own play-calling http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/josh-jackson-jersey , including a pair of ill-advised screen passes.

"They played the screens well yesterday," Nagy said. "That's a credit to them. I go back personally. We ran two screens back to back and I didn't like those calls.

"I told the guys those were on me."

Nagy noted defensive problems as well, such as shoddy second-half tackling and Kyle Fuller dropping a potential game-deciding interception. By and large, the offense had the most struggles with just 16 points scored.

One area where Nagy wouldn't back down was in defending his decision not to play starters in the next-to-last preseason game. He feels it had no negative influence on offensive execution.

"The start of the game, going right down the field in 14 plays and scoring a touchdown, that's growth," Nagy said. "The middle, the three-and-outs, that's not growth. We've got to fix those.

"And so that's not just the players, that's the coaching staff, that's myself. We do it together."

NOTES: The Bears came through the game without a new injury. Linebacker Danny Trevathan went down briefly with a back injury but returned and finished. … Hall of Fame inductee Brian Urlacher will be honored at halftime of Monday night's home opener against Seattle with induction into the Bears Ring of Excellence. Urlacher's Hall of Fame bust will be at Soldier Field.

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