Three Critical Players for Both Packers, Bears for Saturday Night Showdown

After a painful loss at the Denver Broncos that knocked the Green Bay Packers out of first place in the NFC North, they will try to recapture the division lead when they face the Chicago Bears on Saturday.

Here are three key players for both teams as the Packers look to complete a sweep of their division rivals.

Packers-Bears: Three Key Players for Chicago

1. TE Colston Loveland

With the Bears receiving corps depleted once again, playing without top receiver Rome Odunze and impressive rookie Luther Burden III, tight end Colston Loveland, the 10th pick in this year’s draft, will have to step up and take on an increased role in the passing game.

This is the third game in a row that the Bears will play without Odunze, including both games against the Packers.

The last time these two played, just two weeks ago, Caleb Williams struggled in the passing game, with a 54.3 percent completion rate for 186 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Williams was terrible in the first half, completing 6-of-14 passes for only 32 yards, before getting rolling in the second half.

Veteran receiver D.J. Moore was a nonfactor in that first matchup, bringing in just one of three targets for a 4-yard loss. If the Packers are able to key in on him again and take him out of the passing game, it will be Loveland who has to step up. He is coming off a solid game with four catches for 63 yards, a 15.8-yard average, last week against Cleveland.

2. QB Caleb Williams

“He’s a hell of a football player. He takes a lot of criticism … but sometimes some people got that ‘it’ factor and he definitely one of those guys that got the ‘it’ factor.”

That’s what cornerback Keisean Nixon said of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Two weeks ago, Williams beat Nixon for a second-half touchdown but Nixon saved the game with a fourth-down interception.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) passes the ball during a football game against the Green Bay Packers. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Williams is on a two-game streak of throwing multiple touchdown passes, and that may need to continue to avoid getting swept by the Packers and falling to 1-4 in division play. While he could struggle without Odunze and Burden, one thing he has done well in those two games is spread the ball around, targeting seven different receivers last week against the Browns and nine different receivers two weeks ago against the Packers.

If the beat-up receiving corps does struggle to get open, Williams has the added threat of being able to extend plays using his legs and make off-schedule throws, like his first touchdown pass against Nixon two weeks ago.

Williams had a good game in their win last week, completing 60 percent of his passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. While Burden led the team in receptions and yards, both touchdowns went to Moore, a good sign for the Bears.

3. DE Montez Sweat

Tied for 14th in the league with 8.5 sacks, Montez Sweat can be a problem for opposing quarterbacks and offensive linemen. In the game two weeks ago, he got the only sack of Love.

Sweat could be coming into this game with a chip on his shoulder, and not just from the fact that it is a rivalry game to possibly decide the division winner. Sweat was credited with five pressures, four hurries and one quarterback hit last week, but was not able to bring down Shedeur Sanders for a sack.

When a defensive end comes so close to bringing down the quarterback but just can not get there quick enough, they tend to take that to heart, and their next opponent feels the result of that. Moreover, Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker is coming off a four-penalty game at Denver and right tackle Zach Tom might not play because of a knee injury.

Sweat is a dangerous player and coming into such an important game feeling the pain of being held without a sack last week, he will want to pin his ears back and get after Love.

Packers-Bears: Three Key Players for Green Bay

1. DE Rashan Gary

After the huge loss of Micah Parsons to an ACL tear last week, the Packers need a next-man-up mentality going forward as they continue to fight for a playoff spot, and the next man up in terms of a proven pass rusher is Rashan Gary.

Even with Parsons taking up a lot of attention, Gary has not been able to find his way to the quarterback in quite some time. After a hot start to the season in which he had 7.5 sacks in seven games, he has been held without one for his last seven.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) is tackled by Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Rashan Gary. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

While sacks are the statistic usually used as a benchmark for edge rushers, Gary has received praise from defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley for how effective he has been stopping the run, and despite not being able to bring down the quarterback recently, Gary has totaled nine pressures, eight hurries, and a QB hit in his last two games.

With Kingsley Enagbare questionable due to an illness this week and Lukas Van Ness having only one game under his belt since returning from a foot injury, Gary will need to step up in the pass rush to throw Caleb Williams off his game.

2. WR Romeo Doubs

After starting to look like a candidate for the Packers’ top wide receiver spot, Romeo Doubs has struggled in his past few games, especially two weeks ago against the Bears, when he was held without a catch for just the fourth time in his career and the first time all season.

Somehow, Christian Watson was able to go from a hospital visit in Denver with fear that he had dislocated ribs to the practice field to poised to return to the lineup at Chicago. Despite the team dodging a bullet with another long-term injury to Watson, Watson might have range-of-motion and pain-management issues, meaning Doubs will have to step up.

Doubs is one of the only pass catchers on the Packers to play all 14 games, meaning he has received a large share of targets. Last week in Denver he was targeted only three times, bringing in two catches for 36 yards. He has been held scoreless over the last two weeks, and before that had a seven-game scoreless streak.

3. QB Jordan Love

With key injuries to both offenses, this game could come down to quarterback play, and whoever protects the ball better between Jordan Love and Caleb Williams.

In their last matchup, an interception in the end zone on the Bears’ last drive was the difference between the Bears forcing overtime or losing, and a Jordan Love interception on the Packers’ first drive was the difference between winning by seven or possibly winning by 14. Whichever quarterback can take care of the ball and lead their banged-up offenses down the field could be the difference maker.

For Love, he is coming off one of his worst games of the season in that respect, throwing two interceptions. While one of them was a tipped pass that likely could have been caught by Dontayvion Wicks, the other was a 50/50 ball against the top corner in the NFL, resulting in the interception as well as Christian Watson’s injury.

If Love can play like he did the first time against the Bears, when he completed 68 percent of his passes for 234 yards and threw three touchdown passes for the third time this season, the Packers will have a lot better chance to steal the division from the Bears at their house.

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