Bears and Packers: Who Wins and Why

Call it the problem that won't go away.

The Bears have had no way to handle quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The closest they came was when he was being knocked out of the game by Khalil Mack and Co. in 2018 and when Shea McClellin made a rare impactful play to break the Packers QB's collarbone in 2013. Josh McCown won the game for the Bears in 2013 over Seneca Wallace, and in 2018 Rodgers returned anyway and led a comeback win.

So it seemed almost humorous this week at Halas Hall when the solution by coach Matt Eberflus seemed to be one of ignoring it all and hoping maybe it will go away on its own.

"I don't even go in that direction," Eberflus said when asked of the rivalry. "I just stayed focused on us."

Players repeated this throughout the week like so many parrots, although those 19 who have been around long enough to have faced Rodgers before do have memories of how things really are.

Until the Bears actually do something about it, Rodgers does own them in a manner of speaking.

It was the same way in 2004 when Lovie Smith took over the Bears and they had been dominated by Brett Favre.

Smith said he had the answer for Favre in the form of his defensive system. He was right. Eberflus isn't saying that, and it's a good thing because the mechanics are different.

Favre was an aging risk taker who threw it up against zone defense and the Bears made him pay as they retook the series for a few years.

Then along came Rodgers and Smith was long gone when the real Green Bay dominance began.

It's been six straight losses, 11 of 12, 15 of 17 and 23 of 26. The six straight matches the longest stretch of games they've lost since Rodgers became Packers starter.

This is the closest thing to Michael Jordan's dominance of about every NBA team that Chicago or anyone else has seen, except without the championships. The Bears have become the Washington Generals to Rodgers' Globetrotters act, as he just toys with them for amusement and ends by yelling "I still own you."

He does, and will until they prove otherwise.

The way they eventually answer is by having better athletes on the line of scrimmage, at receiver, at running back, on defense, at quarterback.

They aren't even close yet. Ryan Poles has an offseason of work coming up to take care of that.

The Minnesota Vikings might be close, as they didn't beat the Packers through a fluke. They had a better receiver and capable enough passer to get him the ball. They definitely had a defense capable of stopping the poor receiver group Green Bay has assembled.

For now, it's going to take grit like the Bears showed last week to pull off upsets of good teams. It's going to take good fortune, and usually teams don't get 12-3 advantages in penalty calls even if the "S" in HITS principle stands for smart play.

"We know this week they’re gonna come with something to prove, just because they didn't have the game they wanted to have last week," quarterback Justin Fields said. "We're prepared for that.

"They're probably not gonna make as many mistakes as they did last week, so we're just gonna have to come out with a fast start and just put points on the board."

It seems at least someone isn't ignoring the situation, but ignore it or not, it's a problem they have until better talent arrives.

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Prediction: Packers 31, Bears 13

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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