Bears Set to End 20-Year Streak at Lambeau Field in Week 5 vs Packers

The Bears' 3-1 start to the season has the NFL world looking at them in a different light.

Chicago Bears RB D'Andre Swift runs with the ball against the Green Bay Packers. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

A hot start to the 2026 NFL season has the Chicago Bears in uncharted waters. After a dominant Week 4 victory over the New York Jets, the Bears are heading into next week as -2.5 road favorites per FanDuel against the Green Bay Packers for the first time in 20 years. The last time the Bears were favored to win at Lambeau Field was Week 1 of the 2006 season, according to Brendan Sugrue of The Bears Wire.

The Bears actually started Sunday as a slight road underdog, according to CHGO's Adam Hoge, but the NFL world appears to be buying up all the Bears stock they can. Meanwhile, a narrow win over the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers has the Packers looking like a pretender. Remarkably, the Bears are favored despite the fact that we still don't know whether Caleb Williams will be ready to play next week.

The Bears are ascending just as the Packers seem to be falling from their pedestal

Chicago Bears QB Tyson Bagent gives a thumbs up after a game at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Chicago Bears entered the 2026 NFL season with only one mission: prove that last year wasn’t a fluke. Whether that means just making the playoffs as a Wild Card team or winning the Super Bowl, they just need to prove that their 2025 awakening on offense was a new normal and not a flash in the pan.

Through one quarter of the season, that’s exactly what the Bears have done. They’re 3-1 after Week 4, one game behind the Vikings for first place in the NFC North. Indeed, the Vikings handed the Bears their only loss so far, but that came in monsoon-like conditions at Soldier Field and Caleb Williams’ hamstring injury prevented what should have been a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Their other three games have all been impressive, and they're averaging 36 points per game in those wins.

Everything is coming up roses for the Bears, but the same cannot be said for the Packers. In fact, things could not be going much worse. They're still without Micah Parsons, and now they've likely lost star linebacker Edgerrin Cooper to a season-ending injury. As for the offense, running back Josh Jacobs remains on the Commissioner's Exempt List, which means he isn't playing, right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele is done for the year after rupturing his patellar tendon, and Jordan Love looks lost.

At 2-2 on the season, the Packers just look like a team in complete disarray. Not even their two wins were impressive, as one was an overtime nailbiter against the New York Jets and the other was the aforementioned win over Tampa Bay, who was starting an undrafted free agent rookie quarterback in place of the injured Baker Mayfield.

A new page has turned in the historic Bears-Packers rivalry

Chicago Bears DE Austin Booker pressures Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The most historic rivalry in the NFL has been flipped on its head over the last year and a half. Since losing 14 of their last 17 matchups, the Bears have now beat the Packers twice in a row, including their miraculous Wild Card win in January. They'll be looking to make it three in a row next Sunday, a feat the Bears have also not accomplished since that 2006 Super Bowl season.

Yes, for the first time since before Brett Favre first donned a green-and-yellow jersey, it seems that the Bears are clearly a better team than the Packers, and not just for this season. Even looking at the next five years, I don't think there's any coach or general manager who would take the Packers over the Bears, and there's one reason for that: after decades of incompetence, the Bears finally got the right head coach and quarterback.

Enjoy this new feeling, Bears fans. This is what having a well-run NFL team looks like. And to Packers fans, maybe seek out the Bears fans in your lives for tips on how to cope with a rudderless franchise.

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