The Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers in the primetime slot on Sunday night. Aaron Rodgers and Co. need a win to keep pace with the Arizona Cardinals for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Chicago needs a victory to maintain some dignity this season.
Here are two Packers dreams and one Bears nightmare for Sunday’s NFC North battle.
Green Bay finally wins one comfortably
The Packers haven’t won a game going away since Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. The Los Angeles Rams game felt more like a thumping, but LA made a late run. While they have beaten other teams by 10-plus points, no contest felt completely out of reach until the late stages of the fourth quarter. They wouldn’t necessarily qualify as a blowout. But Green Bay has a chance for one on Sunday.
The Packers are a 12-point favorite for Sunday’s tilt against the Bears, and the line is pretty justifiable. Chicago is a mess right now and will be going back to a healthy Justin Fields at quarterback. But the results haven’t been great, even with Fields under center.
Chicago has lost six of their last seven games, with the lone win coming on a field goal as time expired against the Lions on Thanksgiving. Matt Nagy’s offense has been abysmal, and the defense has been trying to keep things afloat without Khalil Mack. They’re running into a Green Bay powerhouse at precisely the wrong time.
The Packers are coming off the bye week, having played one of its best games of the year against the Rams. Having a week to rest and recharge the batteries should make them even more lethal.
It’s a bad matchup across the board for the Bears. The first Packers dream is that they are finally in a game where they aren’t sweating it out in the fourth quarter.
Rodgers owns the Bears with another MVP-type performance
In the first matchup against Chicago this year, Aaron Rodgers had three total touchdowns and was 17 of 23 through the air. He didn’t completely shred the Bears’ secondary, but he methodically picked his spots as Green Bay marched up and down the field.
It was a touchdown run late in the fourth quarter that created a viral clip where Rodgers yelled to Bears fans, “I own you.” Now he’ll try to back it up again on Sunday. And he won’t be backing down from his previous statements from the first matchup.
“It’s been a great rivalry and I’m proud to be a part of it. We have gotten the better of them the last 27 times we’ve played them, for the most part,” Rodgers said.
“Obviously, I think the record kinda speaks for itself. But I get it. At some point, that will be used against me. It is what it is. I don’t regret saying it at all.”
There is an odd sense of added pressure on Rodgers to deliver in a big way following his boast in their last matchup. However, Chicago hasn’t had much luck slowing Rodgers down throughout his career, and the dream scenario for Green Bay is that Sunday is no different.
Chicago gets a spark from Justin Fields’ return
Andy Dalton was an abomination last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. The veteran gunslinger threw four interceptions, and Arizona returned all four of them inside the Chicago 30-yard line. Suffice to say, the Bears’ defense never had a shot. They were already going up against Kyler Murray and his arsenal of weapons on offense. Giving them a short field over and over again is asking for disaster. Chicago got just that.
After missing that game with cracked ribs, Justin Fields will be back under center. The nightmare scenario for Green Bay is that his return, along with Allen Robinson, gives Chicago some momentum. Fields has shown off some highlight-reel plays this year, but he has yet to piece the puzzle together fully. One major hindrance may be the head coach. Regardless, Fields can get it done with his arm and his legs, something Dalton can’t do.
Green Bay neutralized Fields in the first matchup this year, but that doesn’t mean Fields won’t step up this time. He has a ton of arm talent, and Chicago took him in the first round for a reason.
Green Bay’s defense cannot sit back and expect the Bears to just rollover. They’ll need to be aggressive from the get-go and rely on Rashan Gary and Preston Smith to provide constant pressure off the edge while Kenny Clark brings it up the middle.
