The Bears and Packers broke into a skirmish less than 10 minutes into the game Sunday, sparked by Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander pushing quarterback Justin Fields out of bounds at the end of an eight-yard scramble.

Alexander appeared to make contact with Fields while he was still in bounds, was not flagged for the play and didn’t hit Fields hard enough to knock him to the ground, but offensive linemen Lucas Patrick and Cody Whitehair immediately confronted Alexander and the incident mushroomed. Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool and Packers defensive tackle T.J. Slaton got offsetting personal fouls.

“People think they can take late shots on him, and that’s where we take that into our own hands,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “We’ve gotta be more poised and not get a penalty there, but simply we were just trying to protect him. … Last year I felt like there were a couple times we weren’t necessarily protecting him, so this year it’s an emphasis for us that that’s not gonna happen.”

After everything calmed down, Alexander put his shoulder into wide receiver DJ Moore’s back as they ran back onto the field, and Moore shoved Alexander to the ground.

“Jaire plays like that — not necessarily dirty, but he’s a talkative guy,” Jones said. “He tries to get in your head.”

The Bears closed that drive with a field goal on their way to a 38-20 loss.