Green Bay prepares to travel to Chicago for what will be the first of two Saturday night games in a row.
Packers’ offense vs. Bears’ defense
Chicago’s defense has struggled this season on a play-to-play basis, but they did get some reinforcements back this month.
Jaylon Johnson recently returned from injury and intercepted a pass from Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders at Soldier Field last week. Kyler Gordon returned briefly from an injury but hurt his groin in warm-ups at Lambeau Field two weeks ago. He was placed on injured reserve and will miss Sunday’s game.
Up front, their leader in sacks is Montez Sweat, and they’ve received contributions from a plethora of other guys including second-year player Austin Booker, who has seen his role increase in recent weeks. He sacked Sanders twice on Sunday. Gervon Dexter was another big player for the Bears against the Browns with one sack in a dominant defensive performance.
Where the Bears make their living is on taking the ball away. Safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Nahshon Wright are both on the leader board for most interceptions in football, which includes Byard leading the league with six interceptions. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson had some difficult moments against Green Bay, notably giving up a touchdown against Christian Watson.
He did, however, intercept a pass from Jordan Love on the first series of the game two weeks ago in Green Bay.
The Bears lead the league in takeaways but only had one at Lambeau Field two weeks ago.
Green Bay’s offense is coming off a game where Love threw two interceptions against Denver’s ball-hawking secondary.
Jayden Reed has made his return to the lineup and further integrated himself into Green Bay’s offense last week against Denver.
They are going to need Reed to be a big part of their offense now with Christian Watson leaving Sunday’s game with a chest injury. His status is unclear, and it would be devastating if he can not play.
Matthew Golden has worked his way back from his wrist and shoulder injuries, and made a couple of plays against the Broncos. The Packers might need the rookie to take a step in the last three games with Watson nursing an injury.
Green Bay’s offensive line is beat up following Sunday’s game. Zach Tom left Sunday’s game with a knee injury, and it’s unclear what his status will be for this week’s game. If he cannot go, Darian Kinnard was his replacement at right tackle, keeping former first-round pick Jordan Morgan on the bench.
The run game is still finding its way, but Josh Jacobs did have his best run as a Packer last week, a 40-yard-touchdown which gave the Packers a 23-14 lead before everything unraveled.
Packers’ defense vs. Bears’ offense
To state the obvious, the Packers’ defense suffered a devastating injury last week. In a case of losing the battle and the war, Micah Parsons was lost for the rest of the season with a torn ACL that will end his season and potentially spill into next year.
Parsons was the team’s best player and part of a seismic move made before the season. He was a huge part of why their defense had been as good as it had been during the season.
Now, they are just one big question mark.
Outside of Parsons, Green Bay’s defense was not making a lot of plays individually, and now they’re starting to lose some of their best players.
Devonte Wyatt and Parsons are both done for the season. Rashan Gary has been largely ineffective. Lukas Van Ness is working his way back from an injury but has not ascended into the player the team hoped he would be since using a first-round pick on him.
Their secondary was picked to pieces by Bo Nix and Denver’s passing game. Nix had a quarterback rating higher than 130, and threw four touchdown passes. Xavier McKinney dropped an interception. Edgerrin Cooper and Carrington Valentine had a chance at interceptions that went off their hands as well. Those are the types of game-changing plays that Parsons had been making during the season.
Now, they’ll need someone else to start making those plays.
Across from Green Bay will be an ascending offense, specifically on the line and run game. For all the discussion surrounding Ben Johnson’s creativity in the passing game, he has built a physical ground game, which is led by the right side of their offensive line. Drew Dallman, Jonah Jackson and specifically Darnell Wright have grown into a group of bullies.
The last time these two teams played, Green Bay did well against Chicago’s run game. They did not have a single run total more than nine yards. That’s a good day at the office against Chicago’s run game, which is one of the best in football.
Both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai are hard runners who makes some hay after contact is made.
In the passing game, Caleb Williams has been up and down all season, and that was on display against Green Bay as well. He struggled early before finding his way as the game went along.
Had he seen Cole Kmet earlier on the game’s final play, he had a chance to throw a game-tying touchdown, which would have been his third TD of the day.
His receiver trio of D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and Luther Burden gives him options to try and find some opportunities in Green Bay’s secondary. Oduzne missed the first matchup between the two teams but did return last week against the Browns.
Keeping Williams in the pocket is key for Green Bay’s defense this week. The last time these two teams met, the Bears did a good job of rolling Williams away from pressure and getting him on the move. When that happens, he can make some of his biggest plays.
Special Teams
Green Bay had been playing better on special teams coming into Sunday’s game against the Denver
Broncos, but they had a rough day at the office in the mile high city.
Kingsley Enagbare and Karl Brooks were each tagged with personal fouls. Enagbare took a shot at the punter on Denver’s first punt of the game, while Brooks was flagged on an extra point. Emanuel Wilson bobbled a kickoff return late in the first half, which lost the Packers 21 yards of field position.
The good news is that Brandon McManus made all of his kicks and looks to be healthy after a midseason slump had some wondering if he could lose his job to Lukas Havrisik. In a game like this one, where the margins are going to be slim, whether or not McManus is on his game could be the difference between winning and losing.
The first time these two teams met, special teams was virtually non-descript. Green Bay shut down Chicago’s return game, which could be a big key in Sunday’s game.
