Why Bears Need to Remember It's Only Week 1

Analysis: The bad thing about building up hope and hype in the opener for the Bears is what losing could mean when there are still 16 more games.

The thing about the ultimate game coming in Week 1 is there will still be a Week 2.

It's easy to look at the Bears and hear how much they want to beat Green Bay, how it's their time now with Aaron Rodgers gone, and see how they could be digging themselves their own bottomless pit if they get too caught up in the entirety of an eight-game losing streak in the series.

If they can't do what they believe they can do now and beat Jordan Love in only his second career start following a full off-season of build-up, what does it leave them for the next 16 games?

"This rivalry here has been going on for a long time, and we're about to be on the other side of that now," defensive tackle Justin Jones told reporters Thursday at Halas Hall. "We're going to be the ones to give the beatdown.

"We're not getting beat by them anymore. It's going to be us from now on. So that's kind of how I see it and it starts Sunday."

The Bears have grown so weary of losing to Green Bay. This happened long before Jones arrived last year. But Rodgers was always there. He was both an antagonist but also a built-in excuse for the Bears.

If they lost to the Packers, they could always reason how they didn't have that quarterback who is headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They wouldn't say this, but after the losses started stacking up to where it reached 25 Packer wins and only five losses, and the Bears were putting Jay Cutler, Mike Glennon, Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton and Justin Fields out there without turning the tide, it's an easy thought to have it in the back of their heads.

Now, it's Jordan Love they face and his complete inexperience.

What if he does what Rodgers did and administers a 37-3 win in his first game against the Bears. Rodgers threw for 227 yards and two TDs against the Bears defense that day in 2008 after the Bears had to be thinking they finally did not have to worry about Brett Favre anymore.

Making it tougher on the Bears heading into the opener is how they've been wallowing in a 10-game losing streak overall. They can wipe out two big problems with one swipe. 

The 10-game slide is what tight end Cole Kmet thinks builds the overall anticipation for this game.

"I think part of it is because it kind of got to a point (last year) where we were already starting to gear up towards next year and things like that, so that kind of extends that time," Kmet said. "When you're out of the (race) as early as we were last year in your mind it's hard not to go there and start thinking about what's to come.

"Yeah, we've been preparing for this for a long time. It's been a long time coming."

It's been a long march to this point in terms of the effort given.

"There's no other team in the league that's worked harder than us this offeason," Jones said. "There's no other team in the league that's put in the hours and the extra field work that guys on this team are putting in.

"Nobody is watching film like this team is putting in. Nobody is doing it to what we're doing tere. Our guys' confidence is through the roof. That's how I feel."

Still, it's a long march and great effort they need to push to the rear.

Where will this leave their confidence if they don't come away with a win in Game Aramageddon? In 2019, a year after winning the division, they came into the opener convinced they were on even footing with the Packers finally, that they had a viable offense at last, and they came away 10-3 losers. It no doubt delivered a jolt to their confidence.

Maybe quarterback Justin Fields has the right view, which is good considering he is leading the team. He expressed a view that was quite a bit more appropriate than former Bears quarterback Erik Kramer once did when he once called Bears-Packers "just another game." 

"I'm looking toward now," Fields said. "Like I said before, we've got a different team this year. Last year, that was last year. So it's a different year.

"But yeah, I mean, we don't really care what happened in the past. That doesn't affect what's gonna happen on Sunday. We're just looking to go out there, play our best and put our best foot forward."

When they do, they have to hope it's toward a win and not into that bottomless pit. Remembering it's only Week 1 can place a bridge over the pit.

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