There are some interesting 1-on-1 match-ups going on in this game that might just settle the final score.
Clifton versus Peppers is one of the most important ones. If Clifton has a good day, he obviously won't shut down Peppers, but he's capable of containing him. Something that'd be a huge plus for us, as he carries that 4-man rush.
Our WRs against their secondary is an intersting one, as well. Those safeties are beatable. Easily. The corners, not so much. They play a lot of cover 2 and I reckon that, when the CB lets him go, Jennings might just fly by those safeties one or two times.
And as good as the Bears CBs have played, they're not deep enough to consistently cover a 4 or 5 man wide set. Hope to see some of that today.
On defense it's going to be interesting to see how we contain that speed at the WR position. We usually have Shields on the guy with blazing speed, but they have two WRs who fall into that category. I think we'll see a lot of Shields on Hester. I vividly remember a shot of Knox absolutely blazing right by Woodson, so I reckon we might play a bit with deep safety help. You have to respect that speed.
Secondly, the pass rush. Walden looked great against the Eagles and Bears, but not so much against Atlanta. If there's ever a time he has to step up his play, it's today. We have to take advantage of some average tackle play by the Bears. Especially since Cutler likes to either hold on to the ball or throw an ill-advised pass.
There's no doubt in my mind that Matthews will handle Webb again. Let's hope that the officiating crew actually calls some holds this time.
Packers @ Bears 24 - 14