The Green Bay Packers have found themselves in a situation identical to Aaron Rodgers final game as a cheesehead, a win and into playoffs against a divisional opponent. On January 8th, 2023 the Detroit Lions disappointed the Packers organization and fanbase with a gritty week 18 win on Lambeau grass. Much like the Bears today, they were already eliminated from playoff contention despite showing strong improvements throughout the season. The Lions ultimately used that win as a tone setter for this season where they have won the divisional title for the first time in NFC North history. Why is this game important for such a young Packers team, how much does this game mean to the Bears, and how do the Packers avoid the same fate as last season.
What The Playoffs Mean for Green Bay
This may come as a shock, but the Green Bay Packers aren’t a true Superbowl contender. They are the youngest team in the NFL with minimal playoff experience across the board, not to mention the most questionable defensive coordinator in the league as well. I’m sure they’d love to win a Superbowl, but I don’t see that one panning out. The incentive to make playoffs is diagnosing your future with Jordan Love on top of getting experience to your young team. Love has had a great first year as as the starter, if he can extend the great play against a 2 seed defense like the Cowboys then you know you have a bright future with him at the helm. On top of this, the team had an identical situation set up last season in which they were unable to claim a playoff spot, with that fresh on their mind it would hurt even more to know that they were two games away from two playoff appearances.
What This Game Means for the Bears
The Bears are in one of the more unique positions of any team this year and the future, they’ve already locked up the number 1 pick with a pick that’s not theirs (Panthers DJ Moore trade) and have evolved into a different squad throughout the season, stemming from a trade for star former Commander Defensive lineman Montez Sweat. On top of this they seem to have their QB1 of the future (or at least next season) with Justin Fields. With the number 1 pick on lockdown why would the Bears not want to play spoiler to a “rival”. I put this in quotes because Matt Lafleur is 9-0 against the Chicago Bears as Green Bays head coach. As Aaron Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show, this is their Superbowl.
How to Avoid History Repeating
The Green Bay Packers can and should beat the Bears. They’re finally getting a little healthy with players like (former) all pros Jaire Alexander and De’vondre Campbell hopefully active for the game on top of big play threat Christian Watson and two of the best offensive rookies in the league in Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave. The Bears have some of their better defenders hurt with Jaylon Johnson likely out and Kyler Gordon possibly out the bears will likely be thin in the secondary, with Jordan Love coming off of an NFC player of the week award with a 250 yard 4 total touchdown performance that can’t be promising for the Bears defense. The Packers are capable of winning and losing any NFL game due to their persistent errors on special teams and lack of execution by their defensive coordinator Joe Barry. The Packers defense is a concern against this Bears offense because the Bears offense looks much better since they played each other in week 1. The ‘bend don’t break’ style of the Packers defense is volatile and doesn’t work all the time but particularly recently. Justin Fields is coming into his own and I don’t believe the Packers will be able to sag off of the talent of DJ Moore or Cole Kmet without letting up too many key conversions or Justin Fields timely scrambles, so the defense will either need to adapt or the Packers offense will need to do the carrying they’ve been doing for the last handful of weeks. To think that simply because the Bears are not playing for a playoff spot it will dissuade them from grinding for a win is silly. With a quarterback and coaches still having plenty to prove, this game is as important for the Bears as it is the Packers.
