The oldest rivalry in the league is renewed, as the Green Bay Packers take on the Chicago Bears in Week 11. Since 1921, these two teams have been in the NFL together.
Overall, the Packers and Bears rivalry has been played 208 times, which includes a couple of post-season appearances. Green Bay has the edge 107-95-6 with a current win streak of 10 victories in a row.
At one point in 2024, all four NFC North teams had winning records. However, since then, Chicago has lost three straight contests. Can the Bears bounce back, or will the Packers emerge with the win?
Key Players for the Packers
This is a matchup of historic NFL teams, both with young signal-callers leading the way.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love found some success last season, even helping his team get to he playoffs. And while Green Bay is winning games, Love has some low-light moments. Most notably, Love is tied for the NFL lead in interceptions. This in spite of the fact that he has missed two complete games.
The reason for that absence was originally a knee injury. Recently, Love also suffered a groin ailment. Dealing with two injuries may have impacted Love’s decision making, leading to that mass amount of turnovers. The Packers offense needs to clean things up, and that starts with their franchise quarterback cutting out these interceptions.
Historically, defensive tackle Kenny Clark has had some of his best games against the Bears. So far this season, Clark has failed to live up to, admittingly, high expectations. With new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Clark was expected to continue to dominate. However, the opposite occurred, and Clark might be having the worst season of his stellar career.
So far in 2024, Clark has zero sacks. However, as an interior defensive lineman, it is unfair to measure success just in sacks, but Clark also only has six total pressures, and two QB hits. He also has a career-high in missed tackle rate at 16.7 percent, a full 3 percent more than the previous worst mark of his career.
All to say, Clark has had a down year in 2024. Is this a new permanent version of Clark? Or is this simply a slump that he needs to work his way out of? Either way, if the Packers want to maintain a double-digit winning streak against Chicago, they may need Clark to regain some semblance of his dominant form.
Key Players for the Bears
This season marks the first of the Caleb Williams era in Chicago. Has it been the complete franchise turnaround that Bears fans have been hoping for? Well, they have won games, but sometimes, in spite of their quarterback.
Many of the problems that plagued the previous passer are still present. Justin Fields was traded, in part, because he held on to the football too lang, and took too many sacks. So far, Chicago has the second-most sacks allowed in the NFL this season.
Yes, the offensive line does play some part, but a lack of decisiveness became of Fields’ downfall. Now, Williams may be going through the same problem.
Sacks are one thing, but if an offense can score enough points, they can overcome that. So far this season, the Bears have produced 19.4 points-per-game. That is less than the 21.2 point-per-game mark that Chicago had in 2023.
It appears that one of the players most negatively affected by the quarterback change is D.J. Moore. Everything was clicking for him last year, as Moore experienced career-highs in yards, receptions, touchdowns, first-downs, and catch rate. The connection between Moore and Williams does not seem to exist, at least not to the same extend that it did with Fields.
To credit the Bears’ front office, wide receiver Moore was not the only trade they made last year. Just before the deadline, Chicago acquired edge rusher Montez Sweat.
Up to that point, the pass-rush was sorely lacking. Sweat said “no sweat” and his transition from Washington to Chicago looked easy. He actually made NFL history, by being the only player to ever lead two teams in sacks during the same season. While it is an impressive feat, that speaks more to the lack of pass-rush depth on the Bears than anything else.
Keys to Win the Game
Most football games are won in the trenches. This contest should be no exception.
As mentioned just above, the Bears have a lack of pass-rush depth. So if the Green Bay offensive line can slow down Montez Sweat, it could make a world of difference for the offense. It is on the offensive tackles to block the edge rushers, like Sweat, one-on-one.
The same has to be said about Chicago’s offense. The Packers’ pass-rush could prevent plays before they even get started. This is where a game-wrecker like Kenny Clark has to show up. He will be needed to stop the running backs in the backfield, but also to put pressure up the middle on the young Caleb Williams.
Both quarterbacks have been prone to make mistakes this year. Williams has taken far too many sacks. And while sub-par offensive line is to blame to a certain extent, Williams creates sacks on his own by holding on to the ball too long. Jordan Love’s main mistake, meanwhile, is interceptions.
The defense that can force the most mistakes out of the opposing offense will stand a good chance at winning the game. Turnovers were key in previous Packers articles.
That Week 8 victory for Green Bay was a perfect example. Even when Love threw an interception, the Packers defense took the ball right back. A similar situation may need to occur again for another Packers win over the Bears,
