4 bold predictions for Bears-Packers Wild Card showdown

It all comes down to this. After a full NFL season that included splitting the season series with the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears will face their division rival in the Wild Card round on Saturday. Bears-Packers III has been on the players' minds since Week 18 ended, and fans, players, and even former players have been talking trash, with one Bears legend putting the Packers on blast as a 'lackluster' team.

There's really not much left to be said about these two teams at this point. They've both beaten each other once in the last month, and they match up well with each other, with each team's biggest strength running into the other side's biggest weakness. This one is going to come down to the finest of margins, and if the Bears are to emerge victorious, they'll likely need another clutch performance from their quarterback.

With that in mind, here are four bold predictions for Saturday's Wild Card game.

1. Rome Odunze leads both teams in catches, yards, and touchdowns

The Bears got a huge injury update on Thursday when wide receiver Rome Odunze cleared the injury report and was labeled good to go for Saturday. He's missed the last five games, including the Bears' sensational comeback victory over the Packers in Week 16, and you have to believe that he's itching to remind everyone of what he can do for this offense.

Rookies Colston Loveland and Luther Burden will have their roles to play, but Odunze will be a target vacuum. Plus, Green Bay likes to spread the ball around. I don't see any of their receivers coming close to Odunze's production as individuals.

2. Neither quarterback gets sacked

If there's one thing holding the Bears back from being considered true title contenders, it's the defense. Sure, they get takeaways in bunches, but they're bad in just about every other facet of their game, especially when it comes to the pass rush. I don't expect them to get a single sack on Jordan Love.

Luckily for Bears fans, I think the same will be true for Green Bay's defense. Without Micah Parsons, their pass rush is nearly as anemic as Chicago's, and Caleb Williams is too good at evading pressure. Both quarterbacks should leave Soldier Field with a clean jersey.

Caleb William — Matt Marton-Imagn Images

3. Ben Johnson calls two plays we haven't seen before

Has Ben Johnson been holding out on us? For one day back in training camp, Bears fans got to see offensive linemen catching passes from Caleb Williams, suggesting that Johnson was going to have a trick play that ended with a 'big man' touchdown catch up his sleeve, but a play like that hasn't been called all year.

I think Johnson has been saving that for just the right occasion, and a Wild Card game against the Bears' ancient foe is perfect. That, plus one more trick play we haven't seen yet, should be on Johnson's play sheet on Saturday.

4. Brandon McManus misses a late field goal

Having spent all but the last two years of his career in the AFC, McManus has an extremely limited sample size of kicks in Soldier Field. He's only attempted four, and though he connected on all of them, none were longer than 28 yards. That's a chip shot.

In what is expected to be a tight game with a trip to the Divisional Round on the line, and with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur potentially coaching for his job, I predict that McManus will be called on late in the game on a stalled drive to attempt a field goal from roughly 50 yards away, and he will miss.

Brandon McManu — David Banks-Imagn Images

Final Prediction: Bears win 34-30

This is going to be a tight game, and the NFL experts appear to be pretty evenly split on their predictions. I'm not even confident in my own pick, but I have to give the Bears a slight edge for home-field advantage. Additionally, I think the Packers are facing far more pressure to win than the Bears are, and that will lead to mistakes and mismanagement.

With that in mind, following that miss from McManus in my fourth prediction, Caleb Williams will drive the Bears down the field and connect on yet another walk-off touchdown pass to send the Bears on to the Divisional Round, cementing his status as Chicago's franchise quarterback.

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