Packer/Bear Preview
Everything is on the line for the Packers in this weekends match up against the Chicago Bears. I hesitate to say that this weeks game is as big as the win last week over the Giants, only because the Packers NEEDED to win the game last week to stay alive in the playoff chase. If the green and gold lose this week they still have a way to back into the playoffs. Not the position a team wants to be in.
The Packers are fortunate at this point, they have what other teams wish they could have. No, not a playoff spot...yet. The Packers control their own destiny which is about as much as you can ask with a 9-6 record.
The Bears come in at 11-4, winners of the NFC North. People have been waiting all season to try and point to something to say that the Bears are not real, that their record is somehow "unfair". When your 11-4 nothing is slanted about it. They may have had the ball bounce their way a few times, but in the end they will finish with at least 11 wins and a division crown.
Now back to the game at hand...A must win for the Packers. Do I have faith that the Packers can have a really solid game plan two weeks in a row? No, not really. It wouldn't surprise me if the Packers offense came out looking bad for 2 quarters or more. (how about the normal, bad first quarter, good second and third, and bad fourth). The word for the Packers this year is inconsistent. The Bears will sit back in the Tampa 2 defense just playing a little lose, letting the Packers take short gains(if they want them) and wait for the offense to mess up.
Its going to be a chilly one in Green Bay. 16 degrees, a temperature that favors the Bears and not the Packers. Its going to be tough for Aaron Rodgers to throw 35 plus times and with no run game that could spell a long day for the Packer offense. The Bears on the other hand will run the football. How successful will they be? That remains to be seen. Again like last week when the Packers faced Eli Manning, Jay Cutler has a tendency to turn the ball over. Dom Capers is going to have to put pressure on Cutler and force him to react very quickly. Its the best way for turnovers.
If the Bears have nothing to play for, and they plan on putting reserve players in, I would suspect that will change their mentality. I think that will be the biggest factor in this one. The Packers have everything to play for and the Bears not so much. All in all I think the Packers will be able to hold on for a victory and clinch the 6 seed in the NFC and qualify for the playoffs.
INJURY REPORT:
Packers- OUT: S Atari Bigby (groin), RB Korey Hall (knee), DE Cullen Jenkins (calf), LB Frank Zombo (knee).
PROBABLE: LB Diyral Briggs (ankle), T Chad Clifton (knees), S Nick Collins (ribs), LB Clay Matthews (shin), DE Ryan Pickett (ankle), CB Sam Shields (knees), LB Erik Walden (quadriceps), C Scott Wells (back), CB Charles Woodson (toe).
Bears- QUESTIONABLE: WR Earl Bennett (ankle)
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