Bear Digest

Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers playoff TV, radio, and betting trends

How to watch Saturday night's Bears and Packers game on TV or streaming with radio information as well as betting lines and trends.
Gene Chamberlain|
DJ Moore hauls in the TD pass from Caleb Williams to beat Keisean Nixon and win it in overtime in the Bears' Dec. 20 victory.
DJ Moore hauls in the TD pass from Caleb Williams to beat Keisean Nixon and win it in overtime in the Bears' Dec. 20 victory. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

In the playoffs, anything goes strategically as teams attempt to extend seasons.

This applies even when opponents are as familiar with each other as the Bears and Packers.

When the Bears face the Packers on Saturday night, it will be their third matchup  in five weeks. The only extremely significant personnel difference in that time is Green Bay's loss of linebacker Micah Parsons, but that occurred after the first game between the teams.

Nevertheless, Bears coach Ben Johnson believes they can find ways to scheme in surprises heading into the third game this season and third all-time playoff game between them.

"There are certain things that we'd like to highlight, and we'd like to attack," Johnson said. "We know them, they know us personnel-wise, scheme-wise at this point.

"And so, the good news is in the National Football League and really anywhere, there's a million different ways you can run plays and a million different types of plays that you can run. And so, I don't think we're going to have any shortage of ideas here this week on offense, defense, or special teams.”

Only 6 yards gained separated the Bears and Packers in their two regular season games and both came down to the end.

There's no reason to expect anything different this time. Here's how to watch, and also what to watch in this playoff game between NFC North rivals.

Green Bay Packers (9-7-1) at Chicago Bears (11-6)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV: Prime (Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung)

Local TV: Fox

Streaming: Prime

Radio: ESPN AM-1000 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Jason McKie)

Westwood One (Ryan Radtke, Mike Golic)

Spanish Broadcast: Latino Mix FM 93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)

Latest DraftKings Betting Line: Bears by 1 1/2 (Over/under 46 1/2)

The Series: 213th game. The Packers lead the series 109-97-6, with two postseason games in that count. The Bears won a 1941 playoff matchup 33-14 at Wrigley Field. The Packers won the NFC Championship Game in 2010 21-14 at Soldier Field. The Bears won the last game in Week 16 22-16 in overtime at Soldier Field.

The Coaches: Packers coach Matt LaFleur is 79-45-1 including 3-5 in postseason. He has a 12-2 record against the Bears.

Bears coach Ben Johnson is 11-6 in his first season and is 1-1 against the Packers.

The matchup: The third battle in a little over a month between these ancient rivals but neither team comes rolling into this showdown. The Packers have lost four straight, starting with 34-26 game Dec. 14 at Denver when OLB Micah Parsons suffered a torn ACL. The Bears have lost two straight after they clinched the NFC North title. The Packers outgained the Bears by 6 yards total in the two games played between them this season. The Bears rallied in the second game from a 16-6 deficit to tie on a field goal, onside kick recovery, TD pass by Caleb Williams to Jahdae Walker and an overtime 46-yard TD pass to DJ Moore. The Packers held on as the Bears rallied from a 14-3 deficit in the first game when Williams threw an interception to Keisean Nixon in the end zone at game's end.

Williams set the Bears franchise record for passing yards with 3,942. He threw for 27 TDs with seven interceptions and had a 90.1 passer rating while averaging 6.9 yards per attempt on 58.1% completions. Bears RB D'Andre Swift had a career-best 1,087 yards on 223 carries. Packers QB Jordan Love completed 291 of 439 for 3,381 yards with 23 TDs and six interceptions for a passer rating of 101.2 and 7.7 yards per attempt. RB Josh Jacobs led Green Bay in rushing with 929 yards on 234 carries. 

Team Rankings: Green Bay is ranked 15th on offense, 16th in scoring, 17th in passing and 15th in rushing. The Packers are 12th on defense, 18th against the run and 11th against the pass. The Bears rank sixth on offense, ninth in scoring, third in rushing and 10th passing. They are 29th on defense, 23rd in points allowed, 27th against the run and 22nd against the pass. The Bears led the NFL in takeaways (33) and in fewest turnovers (12). The Packers committed the third-fewest turnovers and rank 26th at taking away the ball.

Key injuries: Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks (concussion), WR Savion Williams (foot), T Zach Tom (back).

Bears WR Rome Odunze (foot), DB Kyler Gordon (groin), DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (concusion), DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson (concussion).

Of note: Packers punter Daniel Whelan led the NFL in yards per attempt (51.7). ... Bears S Kevin Byard led the NFL in interceptions with seven. ... Bears CB Nahshon Wright tied for the most interceptions among cornerbacks with five. ... Bears TE Colston Loveland tied for the most TDs at his position among rookies with six and tied for second for TD catches among all rookies. ... The Bears set a franchise record for TDs scored on offense with 47 (45, 2013). ... Chicago finished No. 1 in turnover differential and is the first team to lead in takeaways (33) and also commit the fewest turnovers (12) since 2011  (49ers). ... LaFleur's 76 wins are tie with Paul Brown for second in NFL history for wins by a coach in his first seven seasons George Seifert (86). ... The Packers have made the playoffs six of the last seven years, tied for second most times in that period behind Buffalo. ... Green Bay's 13 playoff road game wins are the most in NFL history. ... Love had a 112.9 passer rating against the NFC North this season. ... Green Bay has won 14 of its last 16 at Soldier Field.

Bears and Packers betting trends

  • The Bears are 10-5 against the spread in their last 15 games
  • It has been under the total in six of the last nine Bears games
  • Green Bay is 1-4 ATS in its last five games
  • The Packers are 11-3 ATS in their last 14 against the Bears
  • The Packers are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 on the road
  • The Bears are 3-6 ATS in their last nine against NFC North teams

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Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.