Packers-Bears: Two Must-Win Matchups
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have owned the Chicago Bears for the past three decades. They’ll need to beat their rivals again in what’s practically a must-win game following last week’s loss at the Vikings.
What are the matchups the Packers must win if they’re going to even their record at 1-1 on Sunday night?
Green Bay’s Offense: Must Run the Ball
If there’s one thing the Packers did well last week, it’s run the football. The Packers exited Week 1 ranked fifth in yards per carry. Aside from the doomed fourth-and-goal at the 1, there generally was movement and room to roam for Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon.
“I think you’ve got to stick with the run a little bit more,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said this week. “Matt (LaFleur) probably said the same thing, but we maybe reacted to the score a little bit and we were running the ball well. I think we ran it about 6 a clip, so we’ve just got to stick with the run, make sure we get our attempts where we want them to be because that means one of those guys is touching the ball probably. We have a lot of different packages where they’re in the game in different spots and just finding ways to get them the football a few more times.”
After LaFleur and Rodgers both spoke with regret about Jones getting only eight touches vs. the Vikings, expect him to be front and center in this week’s game plan. He had 49 yards on five attempts at Minnesota, a lofty 9.8-yard average.
For Chicago, linebacker Roquan Smith is a stud but there should be opportunities against the defensive line, especially if the Green Bay line gets some of its top performers in the lineup after everybody practiced on Friday.
“He can do it all,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said of Smith. “He’s one of the top guys at his position. Wouldn’t have minded if he’d gotten traded in training camp, but lot of respect for him.”
Jones and Dillon will test a defense that ranks 20th with 4.76 yards allowed per carry and gave up five runs of at least 11 yards vs. San Francisco.
“Those guys are good players, they really are,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said of Jones and Dillon. “They both have great contact balance. They both have great cut ability. They have vision. They both have shown as of late to be great receivers out of the backfield. They had, what, 11 targets last week? And they were talking about upping those targets. So, those guys are dynamic players.”
Green Bay’s Defense: Cover Mooney
Bears receiver Darnell Mooney isn’t Justin Jefferson. But he’s pretty darned good. In 2021, his second NFL season, he caught 81 passes for 1,055 yards and four touchdowns.
In Chicago’s victory over the 49ers in the Soldier Field Swimming Pool, Mooney caught one pass for 8 yards. Expect offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who knows just a little bit about Green Bay’s defensive personnel, to try to get Mooney involved.
“He’s a really versatile guy,” LaFleur said. “He can line up outside and take the top off the coverage or you can put him inside. He’s got great transition in and out of his breaks. I just think there’s nothing this guy can’t do. He’s got great hands. He’s not the biggest guy but he gets away with his speed and his quickness. I think he’s going to be a guy that we’re going to have to make sure we understand where he is at all times.”
With 4.38 speed, he can get behind the defense, but he’s more than just a spindly deep threat. Because he’s a quality run-after-catch threat, he caught 17 passes behind the line of scrimmage last season. He had only four drops last year and is as likely to line up on the perimeter as the slot.
“I don’t think it was miscommunication,” defensive backs coach Jerry Gray said on Thursday of Jefferson catching nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. “We’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of getting those guys ready for game speed. And it’s a little bit different when you’re doing it in practice and you do it out on the football field. And I think that’s the thing, just getting them to understand that, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got it under our belt. Don’t look back. Let’s move forward.’”
