The High Stakes for Bears Against Packers

It's as if the Bears have undertaken a great crusade, calling in all hands from far and wide to make one final push for victory.

Think Lord of the Rings, the Battle for Helmsdeep; or Marvel's Infinity War.

Justin Fields is back, Allen Robinson as well. Even Akiem Hicks has returned to make a climactic push north behind the cheese curtain to try and do Sunday night what they rarely have done in the past in order to save the season and maybe even the job of coach Matt Nagy.

It's possible the Bears are too far gone to save the coaching staff by beating Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Then again, doing this always carries great weight with ownership and doing it after the Packers have won 10 of the last 11 against them could provide great relief at the very least.

There's little doubt it would please players. After Aaron Rodgers' proclamation of ownership at Soldier Field in October, fans and ownership might find just as much salvation.

"It would be everything," Hicks said.

He suggested something seemingly impossible could happen by beating the Packers for the first time since 2018.

"I think that it would recharge our season," Hicks said. "I think that things that have happened we can't take back. We can't change the outcome of the games that we've played thus far.

"But I think it says something about a person, that it says something about a team about how you finish, all right? And how you play those games that are supposed to mean the most. And so I think that would be everything for us to go out here and get a 'W' this weekend."

Fields has been in only one Packers game, the "I still own you" game.

It didn't sit well with him. He had vowed to turn the series around soon enough.

"Of course, we've been wanting to get a win against these guys for a long time now and this rivalry means a lot to not only the people around here, but the people of Chicago, stuff like that, Fields said. "It would definitely mean a lot and I think it would give us momentum in these last five games or after this game, these last four games. It would definitely be great."

Momentum is achieved through consecutive victories. A single win, even against a bitter rival, merely gives a team the chance to establish it.

The Bears obviously would be elated with either, considering the way their season has turned both record-wise and health-wise.

Every team has deflating injuries but the Bears' health issues all seemed to come at the worst time, when the schedule reached its toughest point.

Now they appear over many of these and look for payback, or at least some sort of gratification.

"I mean we are at a point where we need to win every game, so I feel like our determination is no different if it was the New York Jets or the Green Bay Packers," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said.

This is the true cold reality of a 4-8 season.

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