Bears and Packers Game Day Preview
In this story:
Green Bay Packers (4-8) at Chicago Bears (3-9)
Kickoff: Noon, Sunday, Soldier Field, Chicago
TV: Fox (Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, Kristina Pink)
Streaming: fubo TV (Sign up for free trial)
Radio: WBBM AM-780, FM-105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote)
Spanish Radio TUDN AM-1200, Latino Mix FM-93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)
NFL On SiriusXM: Bears broadcast 108 and 232; Packers broadcast 159 and 387
Latest Betting Line: Packers by 5 1/2 (Over/under 44 1/2). Money Line, Packers bet $188 to win $100, Bears bet $100 to win $110. Most up to date betting info at SI.com sportsbook
The Series: The 204th regular-season game and 206th overall between the league's primordial rivals. The Packers own a 103-94-6 advantage in regular season. The teams split two playoff games. The Packers have won 12 of the last 13 and seven straight in the series.
The Coaches: Packers coach Matt LaFleur has won all seven games against the Bears. He is in his fourth season and has a record of 43-18.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 3-9 in his first season and 0-1 against Green Bay.
Last Week: The Packers fell behind Philadelphia in the second half and lost 40-33. The Eagles ran for 363 yards. Jalen Hurts had 157 yards and Miles Sanders had 143. Hurts threw for 153 yards and two TDs. It was Green Bay's seventh loss in eight games and Aaron Rodgers left in the second half with a rib injury. He also has a thumb injury. Rodgers was 11 of 16 for 140 yards with two TDs and two interceptions before leaving. Jordan Love finished, going 6 of 9 for 113 yards with a TD. Christian Watson caught four passes for 110 yards and a TD, his second 100-yard game in the last three.
The Bears lost 31-10 in the rain to the Jets in New Jersey with Trevor Siemian suffering a season-ending oblique injury in pregame, but playing after taking a pain killer. Safety Eddie Jackson suffered a season-ending foot injury and wide receiver Darnell Mooney a season-ending ankle injury in the game. The Bears led 10-7 early, fell behind 17-10 by halftime and had only 63 passing yards in the second half. David Montgomery ran for 79 yards on 14 carries but the 127 yards rushing by the Bears as a team was their lowest total since Week 5.
This Season: The Packers were out of the gates with a 3-1 start after beating New England, including a three-game winning streak, then lost to the New York Giants 27-22 and went into a tailspin with seven losses in their last eight games. This included a five-game losing streak, capped off by a 15-9 loss to Detroit. Aaron Rodgers is 254 of 392 for 2,682 yards with 21 TDs and nine interceptions. It's the most interceptions he has thrown since 11 in 2010 when the Packers won the Super Bowl. The offense has looked all year for a young receiver to step up and in the last three games Christian Watson has with two 100-yard games and six TD catches. Tight end Robert Tonyan leads the Packers with 44 receptions and wideout Allen Lazard leads in receiving yards with 533 (40 catches). Aaron Jones has run for 821 yards on 155 carries with two TDs and AJ Dillon for 531 yards on 125 carries and two TDs. Rashan Garry leads Green Bay in sacks with six but is out for the season after a torn ACL. Preston Smith has 5 1/2 sacks. CB Jaire Alexander has a team-high three interceptions.
The Bears have lost eight of nine, five straight and five straight times this season lost with the chance to tie or win on their last possession. They stayed relatively free of injury until the last three weeks and now the defense is depleted. Fields is seventh in the NFL in rushing with 834 yards on 122 attempts and is 136 of 228 for 1,642 yards passing (59.6%) with 13 TDs and eight INTs. Montgomery is 25th in rushing with 580 yards on 146 attempts. The Bears have no active wide receivers with more than 14 receptions with the team this season. Equanimeous St. Brown has 14 and Dante Pettis 13. Tight end Cole Kmet is their top active receiver with 29 catches for 336 yards and a team-high five TDs.
Matching Up:
- The Packers are 16th on offense, 14th in passing and 14th at rushing. They are 23rd in scoring offense. Green Bay is 16th on defense, fourth against the pass and 31st against the run. They are 22nd in scoring defense.
- The Bears are 23rd on offense, 32nd (last) at passing and first in rushing. They are 18th at scoring offense. Chicago is 20th on defense, 12th against the pass and 27th against the run. They are 27th in scoring defense.
Injury Report:
- Packers: T David Bakhtiari (knee) is out; S Darnell Savage (foot) is doubtful; LB De'Vondre Campbell (knee) and WR Romeo Doubs (ankle) are questionable.
- Bears: S Jaquan Brisker, CB Kyler Gordon are out (concussions); T Larry Borom is out (ankle/knee); T Riley Reiff (back) and CB Kindle Vildor (ankle) are questionable.
Of Note: Both teams have 786 NFL victories, tied for first in league history. ... Fields has five straight games with both a rushing and passing TD, making him the only other player besides Kyler Murray (2020) to do this in the Super Bowl era. ... LB Jack Sanborn ranks third among all defensive players since the start of Week 9 with 42 tackles (34 solo). ... Packers RB Jones has 4,984 yards rushing, and needs 40 to take over third place from John Brockington on the Packers’ career list. The top two are Ahman Green (8,322) and Jim Taylor (8,207). ... The Bears are tied for last in the league with 16 sacks.
Next Week: The Packers have their bye week and play again on Monday Night Football, Dec. 19 against the L.A. Rams. The Bears have their bye week and do not play again until Dec. 18 at Soldier Field against Philadelphia at noon.
Key Individual Matchups
Bears G Teven Jenkins vs. Packers DT Kenny Clark
Clark has always been a huge problem to the Bears in past seasons but he is going through a bad season and it started early. He didn't exactly shine in the first Bears-Packers game in Week 2. There's no other way to describe it. His numbers appear decent on the surface with three sacks and six QB hits. The two-time Pro Bowler, however, is ranked 90th against the run out of 107 interior defensive players graded by Pro Football Focus. It's part of the reason the Packers are 31st against the run and a defensive tackle can't be so porous. Clark had only an assist and a quarterback hit in the first Bears-Packers game. Jenkins has been the third-best run blocker at guard in the NFL, according to PFF. He is the fourth-best guard overall. His refusal to let up until the echo of the whistle leads to some incredibly devastating pancake blocks. Jenkins could still improve as a pass blocker but when healthy it's apparent he is their future at guard.
Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Packers S Adrian Amos
Amos, the former Bears safety, has been outstanding with the Packers but is going through easily his worst season. Amos has a 132.3 passer rating against when targeted, according to Sportradar. It's the worst rating-against of his career and he has allowed three touchdown catches. He also has allowed a career-worst 77.4% completions. The 6-foot, 214-pound safety could be in coverage often against Bears tight end Cole Kmet, who is 6-6, 260 and has a 6-inch height and 46-pound edge. Kmet might be used more downfield as a result of Darnell Mooney's season-ending injury. He is easily the receiver Justin Fields has the best rapport with, and if it's Trevor Siemian playing he is a very easy target to find. Kmet leads the Bears with five TD catches. He had a very slow start with two catches after three weeks but now has 29 receptions for 336 yards. His yards per target is a career high of 7.8 and he is averaging a career-best 11.6 yards per catch.
Bears RB David Montgomery vs. Packers LB Quay Walker
The Packers rookie is have an eye-opening season against the run. PFF has graded him 79th out of 83 linebackers at defending the run, and he's 69th of 83 overall. He came out of Georgia as the 22nd pick overall this year and there seems little doubt he'll eventually be a force, but the league is often unkind to rookies. Bears running back David Montgomery showed the team again last week why he should be a priority for a paycheck after this season with his ability to break tackles and move within a pile. He has 17 broken tackles, ranking fifth in the league according to Sportradar. His broken tackle every 8.6 carries ranks fourth in the league. Montgomery isn't the breakaway threat but is the guy who makes sure the chains keep moving. Montgomery ran for 122 yards against the Packers in the first game, a season high. He's coming off a 79-yard game, his second-best effort this year, and averages 65.5 yards on 13 attempts against the Packers for six games.
Bears CB Jaylon Johnson vs. Packers WR Christian Watson
Watson is starting to wake up after stumbling through the beginning of his first season. He has 12 catches for 265 yards the last three games with six TDs, outstanding numbers. However, prior to that he had only 10 catches for 88 yards in six games. He was held to three catches for 9 yards in the first Bears game. Jaylon Johnson has been stepping up when healthy. He has a career-best 94.8 passer rating-against and has given up one TD this year after allowing five in each of his first two seasons, according to Sportradar. Another thing Johnson is doing better in this scheme is tackling, with only 6.9% missed tackles. It is his career-best percentage and the oblique injury he had a few weeks ago now is a distant memory.
Bears CB Kindle Vildor vs. Packers WR Randall Cobb
It shouldn't be considered a surprise that the Packers won only once during Cobb's recent stay on injured reserve with an ankle injury. He was a security blanket for Rodgers and one of the few Packers receivers Rodgers could count on until Christian Watson started to produce three weeks ago. The Bears actually held Cobb in check in the Week 2 game, as he averages 3.8 catches and 55 yards against them for his career and had three receptions for 38 yards. The Bears are again without slot cornerback Kyler Gordon, who has a concussion. Vildor is having his best year in the league but is not especially adpet covering slot receiver types. The secondary will likely be jumbled around. They could also use Jaylon Johnson there or Jaylon Jones or even safety DeAndre Houston-Carson.
Bears RT Riley Reiff vs. Packers OLB Preston Smith
It looked for a while like Alex Leatherwood would line up at this spot but the "Big Sheriff" as Bears players call Reiff, should be able to start. Reiff has been effective and ranks 35th overall as a pass blocker according to Pro Football Focus. Smith must shoulder the pass rush load on the outside for the Packers with Rashan Gary down for the year due to injury. Smith has pretty much operated as he's wanted against the Bears in the past with 7 1/2 career sacks in nine games against them, including 6 1/2 with Green Bay after coming over from Washington. Leatherwood will be making his first Bears start and he's doing it at right tackle, a position where he struggled greatly while with the Raiders before being moved to right guard.
Bears WR Chase Claypool vs. Packers CB Jaire Alexander
Alexander has a career-best passer rating against when targeted of 65.2, according to Sportradar, and has given up two TD passes. The two TD passes is the same total he gave up in his full Pro Bowl year of 2020. Claypool has a good size advantage with 6 inches of height on the best Packers cornerback but hasn't seemed to use his height well in the few games he has played since coming over from Pittsburgh. It's a matter of getting more comfortable within the offense for Claypool but doing this at midseason is a difficult thing to accomplish.
Bears DE Al-Quadin Muhammad vs. Packers T Zach Tom
Muhammad has been among the big Bears disappointments as a veteran who was acquired and knew the defensive scheme but he has one sack and two quarterback hits, with seven hurries. The defensive ends have big run-stopping responsibilities in this scheme for the Bears but it's no excuse for one sack and two QB hits in 12 games. David Bakhtiari had returned and was playing well but went on the injury report and is out because of an appendectomy. The Packers could go a few different ways with replacing their left tackle but when Bakhtiari was unavailable against the Commanders and Bills they went to rookie Zach Tom. The fourth-round rookie from Wake Forest is 6-5, 305 pounds. The other option they have is moving right tackle Yosh Nijman to left tackle. He had played there for Bakhtiari in the past.
Bears LB Jack Sanborn vs. Packers RB Aaron Jones
Sanborn has more tackles in the last four weeks than all but two linebackers, according to the Bears. But he has been hitting ball carriers too high and opponents then hurt the Bears with broken tackles. Also, Sanborn's tackles have been downfield a bit too far. He's an undrafted player thrust into a starting role due to the trade of Roquan Smith, and his lack of great speed is sometimes apparent. Jones will test Sanborn's open-field tackling. The Packers are at their best when they are giving the ball a lot to Jones, and he had 24 carries for 138 yards in a win over Dallas, but then they dialed it back quickly to 12 attempts in each of the losses during the last two weeks to Philadelphia and Tennessee. The solution seems pretty simple for Green Bay. The need to give Jones the ball.
TICKETS TO SEE JUSTIN FIELDS AND THE BEARS THROUGH SI TICKETS
THE OLD BEARS-PACKERS RIVALRY DEFINITELY LIVES IN JUSTIN JONES
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
