NFL Does Packers a Favor, Though They’ll Have to Beat History to Beat Bears

The Green Bay Packers will have one advantage for Saturday’s playoff game at the Chicago Bears. Can they take advantage?

The Packers will play at the Bears on Saturday night in an NFC wild-card game. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – While the Green Bay Packers took their foot off the gas on Sunday at Minnesota, the Chicago Bears were pedal to the metal against Detroit.

While it will be up to the Packers to take advantage, the NFL threw them a scheduling bone when they released the playoff schedule on Sunday night. The teams’ wild-card matchup will be played on Saturday night, meaning the Packers will be well rested and the Bears will have a short week to get ready.

Locked into the No. 7 seed and a wild-card game at the No. 2 seed, the Packers had nothing to play for in their 16-3 loss to the Vikings. Coach Matt LaFleur took advantage. In resting most of his top players, LaFleur discarded the potential meaning of some momentum in favor of getting his roster as healthy as possible after not getting a break since the Week 5 bye.

“For the guys that we were trying to rest, they did get a lot of reps” at practice, he said after the game. “We ran a lot of good on good, or our one offense vs. our one defense. I think we’re physically in a better place.”

Bears coach Ben Johnson, on the other hand, used his top players for all 60 minutes of a 19-16 loss to the Lions. His team got the No. 2 seed, anyway, because the Eagles rested their top players and lost to the Commanders, setting up Round 3 between the ancient rivals.

“We’re turning the page,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “We’ve got the No. 2 seed. We’ve got a home game next week, and we’ve got a new season on the horizon. Our guys should be reinvigorated by that. I know I certainly am.”

History Working Against Packers

The NFL expanded the playoffs to seven teams per conference in 2021. The home team is 8-0 in Saturday games, with six of the eight wins by at least 14 points.

That history is as irrelevant as the teams’ final records and season-ending streaks, defensive back Javon Bullard said.

“We’re starting out 0-0. You win, you keep going. You lose, you out,” he said. “That confidence is instilled in us. We’ve been having that confidence. We’ve been coming up a little short the past three games but that sh** a clean slate now. Our mind is on one thing and that’s to beat the hell out of whoever we’re playing on the road. That’s what we focused on.”

The No. 7 seed is 1-7 against the No. 2 seed. The Packers’ blowout win over Dallas in 2023 is the only exception. Otherwise, the closest win by the No. 2 was the Eagles’ 22-10 victory over Green Bay last year.

“It’s win or go home,” said safety Evan Williams, who with Bullard was one of the few front-line players to get extensive playing time. “We all know how we felt last year in this locker room, having those same conversations about play style or discipline or all of that. And I feel like when we come together and when we put our best [foot forward] again, I have the utmost confidence in everybody in this locker room.”

No Momentum for Either Team

The Packers have lost four consecutive games, with the second game in that skid being 22-16 at Chicago in Week 16.

After blowing leads against the Broncos and Bears, the Packers were clobbered by the Ravens and treated the Minnesota game like it was the preseason.

“It’s just about finding a way at this point,” Williams said. “Of course, you want to hit the ground running coming into the playoffs, end up on a good foot, but we all understand we’re in the dance and, regardless of anything that’s happened in the past, we’re here now.

“Regardless of if we won the last 10 or lost the last 10, we’re in the dance. We’re playing who we want to play. That’s all you can really ask for is a shot. I feel like we understand the gravity of these games that are to come.”

The Bears will enter the playoffs with back-to-back narrow defeats. At San Francisco, the Bears lost 42-38 in Week 17. The teams went touchdown for touchdown for most of the game. Finally, on the final play of the game, Caleb Williams threw incomplete with a chance to win on fourth-and-goal at the 2. Against Detroit, the Bears rallied from a 16-0 deficit in the fourth quarter and had a chance to drive to the go-ahead touchdown but instead lost on the final play.

“Obviously having two back-to-back losses, but use this frustration and find a way to get better,” Caleb Williams said after the game. “It doesn’t matter if we win the game by one next week or whatever the case may be, but find a way to give ourselves a way to win the game and do that.”

The Packers and Bears will meet for the third time in playoff history. In 2010, the teams split their regular-season games. In the NFC Championship Game, the last-seeded Packers beat the second-seeded Bears at Soldier Field to get to – and win – the Super Bowl. 

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER