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We've seen this game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears before. In fact, and to be exact, we've seen it 209 times. It started with a 1921 game between the “Chicago Staleys” and the Packers and there have been many renditions in between. There were epic coaching matchups between Curly Lambeau and George Halas followed by matchups between Halas and Vince Lombardi.
There's Mike Ditka and Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — the unofficial owner of the Bears. There's Green Bay's current winning streak against Chicago, which stretches back 11 games to December of 2018, which is when the Bears last beat the Packers.
And then there's this game. The Packers are 11-5 and locked into the playoffs. They're currently the seventh seed but can move up to the sixth seed if they beat the Bears and the 11-5 Washington Commanders lose to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 18.
The Bears, in the meantime, are trying to finish up a season from hell that saw everything from a badly botched Hail Mary coverage to head coach Matt Eberflus getting fired. Throw in plenty of heat on rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams and it's safe to say the Bears will be looking to survive this one against the Packers and try to slink into the offseason unscathed.
Does that mean the Bears are going to lay down for this Packers team? Absolutely not. There is pride on the line, after all, and there are players on this current Chicago roster who will be around next season. If they can go into the offseason minus the pressure of this losing streak against the Packers on their shoulders that would actually be considered a huge win for Chicago.
Throw in the fact that a win over Green Bay would make the playoff path for the Packers that much harder — with a wild card game against the Philadelphia Eagles rather than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Los Angeles Rams — and the Bears are absolutely going to be ready to go for this one.
They have plenty to play for, with pride being at the top of the list, but the Packers also have a ton to play for as well.
First of all is the question of seeding. The Eagles are the NFC's second seed and they've won 11 out of their 12 games. They just beat the Dallas Cowboys, 41-7, with their backup quarterback Kenny Pickett leading the way. Jalen Hurts missed that game with a concussion and he's going to miss Week 18 as well, but that's a meaningless game for the Eagles and it's likely that Hurts will be ready to go by the time the playoffs officially kick off.
Playing the Eagles in Philly would be much tougher for the Packers than going up against the Rams (though they are hot) or Buccaneers, so beating Chicago and controlling what they can control in a sense should be priority No. 1 for Matt LaFleur and his team.
Getting a win is the most important thing for the Packers, but they should also head into this game with the expectation that they'll blow out the Bears. Yes, a win is a win in the NFL whether it's by 31 or 12, but this is a Packers team that needs to cleanse some of its “mediocre juju” from this second half of the season.
Matt LaFleur and the Packers must prove they can be dominant
The Packers have looked good against teams they should have beaten, but they at no time ever looked like a dominant team and they certainly haven't looked like a team capable of beating the likes of the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings or the Eagles for that matter. All five of Green Bay's losses came against those aforementioned teams.
They've been in this spot where the Packers have been good enough to beat the bad to average teams but not good enough to beat the great teams. Strictly speaking, that would make them an average team themselves, but they can at least build some momentum heading into the playoffs by really sticking it to their biggest rival in front of the home crowd at Lambeau.
The other reason the Packers need to be pushing hard for a blowout against the Bears is that it will give LaFleur and his staff the option to rest important players once the game is clearly out of hand.
Josh Jacobs has been a workhorse for the Packers all season with 295 carries to his name for 1,285 yards and 14 touchdowns, but there's no reason for the Packers to pound Jacobs into the ground in this one unless they really have to. Sure, get him his snaps and keep him loose, but if the Packers can build a lead early on in this game, why not let Emmanuel Wilson or Chris Brooks get some carries? That would take the load of Jacobs and help him stay fresh for the wild card round.
LaFleur could play that game up and down his roster. Let Jordan Love get some reps in and allow him to build some momentum heading into the playoffs, but then get him out in the second half in favor of Malik Willis — who is more than capable of running the show in a blowout.
Green Bay's defense has been opportunistic and dangerous for much of this season but they've also been banged up at places like linebacker and cornerback.
Edgerrin Cooper is quickly becoming a star, but he's dealt with injuries this season. Getting him some play against Chicago but then putting him right back on the bench to keep him healthy for the playoffs would be a huge win for the Packers. The same could be said for Rashan Gary or Kenny Clark, and heaven forbid someone in the Packers' secondary gets injured. It just came out that Jaire Alexander is most likely out for the season, which is a huge blow.
They've been banged up all season in the secondary, but going into the playoffs with at least Carrington Valentine, Eric Stokes and Keisean Nixon healthy would be a plus, so getting them plus Xavier McKinney in and out of the game against Chicago rather quickly only bodes well for the Packers.
LaFleur and his team need to adopt the “all gas, no breaks” mantra for this game, because getting into a close battle or even worse, a shootout, with the Bears will only lead to issues for Green Bay as it relates to the playoffs.