After beating the Atlanta Falcons, the Chicago Bears have won six of their last eight games. Although Chicago has been eliminated from playoff contention, Sunday’s rivalry game is equally important to both teams. The Packers remain in the hunt for a playoff spot, and the Bears’ front office still has to evaluate their quarterback and coaching staff.
Despite starting the season with a record of 2-5, the Packers are now 8-8 and have a 68 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to the New York Times Playoff Predictor. The Packers will miss the playoffs if any of the following scenarios occur on Sunday:
1. The Packers lose, and the Seahawks win
2. The Packers lose, and the Vikings win
3. The Packers lose, the Buccaneers win, and the Saints win
A Bears win at Lambeau Field will make it much harder for the Packers to make the playoffs, especially considering that the Seahawks play the lowly Arizona Cardinals.
For the second straight year in a row, the Chicago Bears have secured the number one overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, this time courtesy of the Carolina Panthers. Ryan Poles has another chance to draft a new franchise quarterback. No matter how much Poles might like Fields, he wasn’t the general manager when Fields was drafted in 2021. There is a high chance Poles falls in love with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, or some other quarterback in the coming months. Fields has one more opportunity to make a lasting impression by dominating a Joe Barry-coached Packers defense that struggled in December.
Unfortunately, Justin Fields hasn’t had great success when playing the Packers. Across five games, Fields averages a measly 187.6 passing yards per game and 53.4 rushing yards per game and has scored only six total touchdowns (four passing and two rushing). Fields’ biggest issue when facing the Packers is limiting turnovers. He has thrown seven interceptions and lost two fumbles. On the bright side, Fields completes about 63.9 percent of his passes against Green Bay. For comparison, Fields’ average throughout his career is 60.2 percent.
In his tenure as head coach of the Bears, Matt Eberflus is 0-3 against the Green Bay Packers. His point differential in those three games is negative 44, and his defense has given up 28.7 points per game to the Packers’ offense. But Matt Eberflus’ defense has drastically improved as the season has progressed, primarily due to the impact of Montez Sweat. Despite only playing eight games with the team, Sweat leads the Bears in sacks with six. Since week 11, Chicago leads the NFL takeaways with 17. In totality, the Bears rank 1st in the NFL in interceptions (22) and 3rd in the NFL in takeaways (27). Last season, the Bears took the ball away 23 times (14 interceptions and nine fumbles). Chicago also boasts the NFL’s best run defense, allowing only 84 rushing yards per game. That’s an enormous improvement compared to last season, when the Bears ranked 31st and allowed 157.3 rushing yards per game. Matt Eberflus’ job might seem safe from a statistical point of view, but beating your biggest rival is very important, especially to upper management.
Beating the Packers is very important to George McCaskey. Since George took over in 2011, the Bears are 3-20 against the Packers. Their only wins came in December 2013, Thanksgiving Night in 2015, and when they clinched the NFC North title in December 2018. New Bear’s President and CEO, Kevin Warren, worked for the Detroit Lions for two years and the Minnesota Vikings for 14 years. So, he has seen plenty of games between NFC North opponents. Warren might initiate a head coaching search if the Bears lose to the Packers in week 18. After all, he is the new boss in town.
