Five Keys Packers Must Absolutely Accomplish to Beat Bears in Playoffs

CHICAGO – The wait is almost over. The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears will play on Saturday night for the right to advance to the divisional round.

Saturday night’s game is the highest the stakes have been between these two rivals since they played for the right to go to the Super Bowl on January 23, 2011.

The two teams split the first two games this season, with each game coming down to the game’s final play.

The first iteration at Lambeau Field saw Keisean Nixon pick off Caleb Williams in the end zone to secure a 28-21 win that moved the Packers to 9-3-1.

That is the last time the Packers have won a game.

The second time the two teams met was on December 20. The Bears mounted a furious comeback in the final two minutes and overtime capped off by a touchdown pass from Caleb Williams to DJ Moore to give Chicago a thrilling 22-16 victory.

That is also the last time the Bears have won a game. Both teams are entering the playoffs scuffling. The Packers are on a four game losing streak. Chicago has lost three of its last five games.

None of that will matter tonight, as each team is now 0-0 on the season.

“When you get to the postseason, everybody is 0-0,” Matt LaFleur said.

“It’s a clean slate, so we have an opportunity and that’s all you can ask for.”

For the Packers’ slate to remain clean in the loss column, here are five things they absolutely need to do.

1.) Turnovers

Chicago’s defense isn’t good. That’s not news to anyone at this point of the season. They’re near the bottom of the league in almost any major statistical category with one glaring exception.

The Bears take the ball away, and they do it at an extremely high rate. They led the NFL in takeaways with 33. They’re plus-22 in turnover margin. For comparison's sake, Green Bay is just plus-1 after a rough year trying to generate takeaways.

Those turnovers have had a huge correlation on Chicago’s record this season.

Chicago is 2-6 this year when they do not get multiple takeaways.

The good news for Green Bay is that when Jordan Love is healthy, they have not really given the ball away.

Green Bay turned the ball over just once in the team’s 28-21 win over Chicago in early December. Love shook off an early interception and lit up Chicago’s secondary from there.

The last time these two teams met, Green Bay fumbled twice, failed on a fourth down in the red zone, another fourth down in overtime, and botched an onside kick. That only goes down as two turnovers on the stat sheet, but it was essentially five giveaways.

If Green Bay gives the ball away five times on Saturday night, there will be a very quiet flight back to Wisconsin.

2.) The Gold Zone

Nathaniel Hackett was spotted at practice in Green Bay on Thursday. Hackett of course, was the one who helped make Green Bay’s red zone offense the best in the NFL in 2020, referring to it as “The gold zone.”

Green Bay’s red zone offense has struggled mightily in recent weeks, including when they lost to Chicago in late December.

The Packers turned the ball over on fourth down deep in Chicago territory on the first series of the game.

Josh Jacobs fumbled with the Packers in prime scoring position looking to potentially put the game away.

Ultimately, the Packers had five trips into the red zone, and did not score one touchdown as a result of them.

They moved the ball at will, but these are the games where missing out on points almost always come back to bite you.

Conversely, Chicago should be able to move the ball against Green Bay’s defense. Green Bay’s defense has been dreadful since the loss of Micah Parsons, even with Chicago only scoring nine points in the first 58 minutes against them.

When the Bears get in the red zone, the Packers may need to ensure the Bears are kicking field goals, or forcing do-or-die plays on fourth downs.

3.) Jordan Love

Love likely could have been listed as the first key on this list, because the NFL is simple. The game more often than not comes down to quarterback play. Love is the better quarterback in this game. Caleb Williams may be great one day, but he’s not there yet.

Love might have been the better quarterback in last year’s playoff loss in Philadelphia, but certainly did not play like it. He threw three interceptions and the offense was largely anemic against the eventual Super Bowl champions.

The first time the Packers faced Chicago, Love diced up Dennis Allen’s blitz packages. He was 9-12, and three all of his touchdowns against Allen’s pressure looks.

The second time around, however, Allen was forcing Love to be more patient, pressuring him on just two of his dropbacks.

Christian Watson with the 40 yard touchdown.

Jordan Love has now thrown two TD’s so far today, GB looking good so far vs Bears 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hGoTD0QZAz
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) December 7, 2025

The caveat here is that Love exited the game early with a concussion, so perhaps the game plan would have changed.

Regardless of what the game plan is, the Packers have the personnel to beat up Chicago’s defense.

They cannot do that if Love is not at his best. Green Bay likely cannot win Saturday night’s game without Love being in top form.

If he is, Green Bay can restore order in a rivalry they’ve largely dominated since 1992.

If he’s not, and Green Bay loses, Saturday’s game likely is viewed as a changing of the guard with Caleb Williams and the Bears taking hold of both the rivalry and the NFC North.

4.) Run Game

With all the discussion about quarterbacks, neither of them might matter if one of the most basic fundamentals of football is ignored.

Under George Halas, Curly Lambeau, and Vince Lombardi, football was a running game. Every yard is earned the hard way.

The fundamentals have not changed in 100 years. Football is still about blocking and tackling.

The Packers have not been tackling opposing ball carriers that well since Micah Parsons was lost for the season. That includes getting rolled up for more than 300 yards by the Baltimore Ravens the last time we saw the Packers in a game they took seriously.

Chicago has one of the best run games in football, and Jeff Hafley knows it.

ZZ Top sang about legs. The Packers have fresh legs, and their ability to use them is one of three reasons why they'll beat the Bears tonight. ⬇️https://t.co/drOVCPO87Z
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 10, 2026

“I think we played the run pretty well for a majority of the year,” Hafley said.

“Obviously, we talked about the Baltimore game. It starts with lining up and doing our jobs consistently, which we failed to do that night, but I’m excited to get another shot at Chicago and do it.”

If they are unable to stop Chicago’s run game, it won’t matter how uncomfortable or erratic Caleb Williams might be in his first playoff start. Ben Johnson might be content to just hand the ball to his two running backs over and over again.

5.) The Devil in the Details

It’s easy to point to the first two games and conclude that the Packers have proven they were the better team for the vast majority of both games.

They have never trailed in regulation against Chicago this season. They were largely in control for 118 of 120 minutes of regulation time across two games.

So how have both games been close?

Details. The Packers have had small issues that turned into big problems against the Bears.

The first time around it was the offense sputtering coming out of halftime, and allowing the Bears to go on long drives on offense. That would subsequently tire the Packers’ defense out.

In the second game, the collapse in the fourth quarter was devastating, but the Packers likely never should have been in position.

Xavier McKinney dropped an interception. Josh Jacobs fumbled in the red zone. Malik Willis completed a chunk play to Luke Musgrave, but could have had a touchdown to Christian Watson on the same play. Warren Brinson had a sack wiped out by a facemask penalty.

Romeo Doubs bobbled an onside kick, and Malik Willis fumbled a snap in overtime to give the Bears the ball with a chance to win the game.

Playoff games often come down to the details, and the Packers must be focused on those in this rubber match against their oldest rival.

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1.) Turnovers

2.) The Gold Zone

3.) Jordan Love

4.) Run Game

5.) The Devil in the Details

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