Game Day Capsule: Packers at Bears
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
Kickoff: 3:25 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago.
TV: Fox (Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews)
Radio: ESPN AM-1000 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Jason McKie)
Spanish Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 FM (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)
Streaming: fubo (watch with free trial)
The Series: The 207th overall meeting, 205th in the regular season for the NFL's most-played series. Green Bay leads 104-94-6 in the regular season, 105-95-6 overall. The Packers have won eight straight and 13 of the last 14.
FanDuel Betting Line: Bears by 1 (over/under 41 1/2).
The Coaches: Packers coach Matt LaFleur is 47-19 in his fifth season, including 8-0 against the Bears. Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 3-14 in his second season and 0-2 against Green Bay.
The Matchup: The Bears face Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers for the first time since Nov. 12, 2017, a game the Packers won 23-16 with Brett Hundley at quarterback. Green Bay is 6-12-1 when it hasn't had Rodgers starting a game since his first start in 2008. Packers QB Jordan Love makes his second career start, the other a 13-7 loss to Kansas City in 2021. For his career, Love is 50 of 83 (60.2%) for three TDs with three interceptions and a passer rating of 79.7. For the Bears, Justin Fields starts for the 26th time. The Bears are 5-20 in games he has started. The Bears have different players at six starting positions than last year on defense—DE Yannick Ngakoue, NT Andrew Billings, DE DeMarcus Walker, MLB Tremaine Edmunds, WLB T.J. Edwards, LCB Tyrique Stevenson, and seven counting strongside LB where former middle linebacker starter Jack Sanborn now lines up. The offense has four new starters in WR DJ Moore, C Lucas Patrick, RG Nate Davis and RT Darnell Wright. Fields has a 70.75 passer rating on 61 of 96 for 722 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions. He has run 28 times for 208 yards and two TDs. His best passing game last year was 254 yards against the Packers in a 28-19 loss. Moore has 15 receptions for 251 yards in two games against the Packers but hasn't faced them since 2020. For Green Bay, S Rudy Ford is a new starter. LB Kingsley Enagbare and CB Keisean Nixon both were part-time starters last year and now are likely starters. WR Jayden Reed and TE Luke Musgrave are new on offense.
Bears Notes: The Bears have lost nine straight NFC North games, and Fields is 1-8 in starts against divisional opponents. They have lost 12 of their last 13 at home to the Packers. ... The Bears own a 24-29-4 record, including 8-11 in season openers. ... Last year the Bears led the NFL in getting first-year players experience. First-year players had 6,721 plays. Seattle had the second most (5,898). ... The Bears are without starting left guard Teven Jenkins, who is on injured reserve with leg injuries. ... Fields had more 60-yard-plus rushes last year (3) than all other quarterbacks combined in the past five years.
Packers Notes: This is the fifth straight season the Packers have opened on the road. ... Although left tackle David Bakhtiari didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday (knee), he intends to play. CB Eric Stokes is unavailable and is on the physically unable to perform list (foot). ... The Packers are 22-11 under LaFleur in one-score games and he is the only coach in NFL history with 13-plus wins in three straight seasons. ... Kick returner Keisean Nixon is the first Packers return man to be All-Pro since 1976. ... RB Aaron Jones has had three 1,000 rushing seasons, all on 250 carries or less. The only other player in NFL history to do this more was former Packers back Jim Taylor. ... The Packers are coming off a season when they were fourth in interceptions (17) and second in interception rate (3.56%).
Injury Report
Packers: WR Christian Watson (hamstring) is out; WR Romeo Doubs (hamstring) is questionable.
Bears: TE Robert Tonyan Jr. (back) is questionable. Tonyan was a Saturday add to the injury report.
Betting Trends
- Green Bay was 8-9 against the spread last year.
- The Bears were 5-10-1 against the spread last year.
- The Bears haven't covered the spread against Green Bay since Dece. 16, 2018, the last time they beat the Packers.
Key Individual Matchups
Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Packers CB Jaire Alexander
Alexander isn't the biggest cornerback but wins with technique, speed and instinct. He's 5-10, 196 pounds and twice has made the NFC Pro Bowl team in five seasons. Moore has had three 1,100-yard receiving seasons and could be found anywhere in the formation. At 6-foot, 210 pounds, Moore doesn't win by outleaping people as often in jump ball situations like some X-receivers, but definitely can use his strength and speed against Alexander.
Bears CB Jaylon Johnson vs. Packers WR Romeo Doubs
With Doubs essentially the only Packers receiver who has experience, it would seem likely the Bears will shift Johnson to cover him all over the field as they have done in the past with many top opposing receivers. In fact, because there is so little experience on the rest of the receiver corps, it would only make sense so that rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is covering an inexperienced pass target. Doubs has good speed but also has a hamstring injury and came into the game questionable on the injury report.
Bears DE Yannick Ngakoue vs. Packers T David Bakhtiari
Although the Packers' best lineman missed practice time with a knee injury, he is very experienced at playing on no or little practice and shouldn't be affected much as he has had knee issues over the past several years. Ngakoue's strength is the pass rush and he has traditionally contributed nothing to his teams as a run defender. It wouldn't be surprising to see him off the field on likely running downs with Rasheem Green coming on the field.
Bears WR Chase Claypool vs. Packers S Darnell Savage
It's very likely the Bears will send Claypool deep to match up one on one with a safety, with Moore likely to command double-team type attention. Savage is 5-11, 198 and can jump nearly as high as Claypool can, a 39 1/2-inch vertical leap to Claypool's 40 1/2. However, Claypool is 6-foot-4, 238 pounds with a longer reach. Look for some jump ball passes to the former Steelers receiver.
Bears RG Nate Davis vs. Packers DE Kenny Clark
Clark is 6-foot-3, 314-pounds and attacks the way Akiem Hicks used to do in the old Bears 3-4. It causes problems. Clark has 4 1/2 of his 26 1/2 career sacks and seven tackles for loss against the Bears. Davis is a player the Bears believe can make a big difference in their running game but he has missed much of training camp and preseason with injuries. His strength with Tennessee was run blocking and not pass blocking.
Bears T Darnell Wright vs. Packers OLB Preston Smith
Wright makes his first career start and will run up against both Smith and probably Rashan Gary. Smith is a Bears nemesis and has 6 1/2 sacks against them with the Packers from 2019-22. He also had one for Washington against them. Wright's strength could eventually make this a mismatch in future seasons but in his first NFL game it's going to be a tense matchup for the Bears all day.
Next Week
- The Packers are at Atlanta in a noon game.
- The Bears are at Tampa Bay in a noon game.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
