Packer Central

16 Days Until Training Camp: Two Months Until Week 1

Two months from today, the Green Bay Packers will open the 2023 NFL season at the Chicago Bears. For once, the teams will be on equal footing at quarterback.

Bill Huber

Justin Fields (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – As quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers owned the Chicago Bears.

In 2021, there was the epic, “I still own you!”

In 2022, following a 24th win in 29 starts against Chicago, the words were toned down several notches but delivered the same stinging message.

“It has truly been a second home for me,” Rodgers said after last year’s victory at Soldier Field moved the Packers past the Bears for most wins in NFL history. “It’s fun to come back here, get a win, and let the fans know I’m still here.”

The Packers-Bears rivalry will continue in exactly two months. On Sept. 10, the Packers will kick off the 2023 season and a new era when they make their annual visit to Chicago. Rodgers won’t be there. Rather, it will be Jordan Love making his first start as Green Bay’s full-time starter.

Rodgers passed along a lot of lessons to Love during their time together. Did he hand over his office key at Soldier Field, as well?

For three decades, Brett Favre and Rodgers gave the Packers an overwhelming advantage at quarterback. Favre against Jim Miller and Cade McNown and Rex Grossman? Rodgers against Jay Cutler, Mitchell Trubisky and Matt Barkley? Mismatches, one and all.

Entering the 2023 NFL season, with Love set to face Justin Fields in the opener, the Packers and Bears appear to be on relatively equal footing at the game’s most important position.

Coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst have lauded the behind-the-scenes improvement made by Love over his first three seasons. The gains made in poise, footwork and mechanics were on display during a sharp performance in relief of an injured Rodgers at Philadelphia.

But to extrapolate practice-field outings against the No. 1 defense and nine passing attempts in a relatively lopsided defeat is a dangerous bet. Maybe Love really is the real deal, capable of tormenting the Bears twice per year and leading the Packers deep into January for the next 15 years. Or maybe he’s like so many other first-round quarterbacks who never were the sum of their parts.

Love has one NFL start under his belt. Fields has 25. Yet, he’s just as big a mystery.

As a rookie first-round pick in 2021, Fields finished 28th in passer rating, 30th in completion percentage and last in interception percentage out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks. In 2022, he finished 25th in passer rating, 31st in completion percentage and 31st in interception percentage out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks.

So much for that fabled second-year jump.

The Bears, done with the charade of Darnell Mooney being a go-to receiver, acquired D.J. Moore from the Carolina Panthers before the 2023 draft. Moore topped 1,100 receiving yards in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and set a career high with seven touchdowns in 2022.

With Moore, Mooney, Chase Claypool, Velus Jones and tight end Cole Kmet, there will be no excuses for Fields this year. Either he’s a good quarterback and a great athlete or a great athlete masquerading as a quarterback.

There will no excuses for Love, either, so long as there’s steady progress as a young quarterback growing alongside a young group of pass catchers.

If the Bears beat the Packers in Week 1, it’s because they’re supposed to win with the more experienced quarterback playing at home. If the Packers beat the Bears – if Love continues Rodgers’ astounding 11-1 run at Soldier Field – you can just imagine the here-we-go-again despair from Bears fans desperate to turn the tide in a Globetrotters vs. Generals rivalry.

Countdown to Packers Training Camp

17 days until training camp: 17 is the unmagical number

18 days until training camp: LaFleur’s magic touches?

19 days until training camp: 19 1,000-yard challenges

20 days until training camp: 20 reasons for optimism

21 days until training camp: 21 Packers rookie tight ends

22 days until training camp: Fourth of July fireworks

23 days until training camp: No. 23, Jaire Alexander

24 days until training camp: From No. 1 to No. 24 in red zone

25 days until training camp: From No. 1 to No. 25 in tackling

26 days until training camp: The key to the defense is No. 26

27 days until training camp: 27 sources of inspiration

28 days until training camp: At least they’re consistent

29 days: Keisean Nixon’s surprise stardom

30 days until training camp: 30th in key defensive stat

31 days until training camp: A killer No. 31 ranking

32 days until training camp: 32nd-ranked receivers

33 days until training camp: No. 33, Aaron Jones, is a great player

34 days until training camp: Plus-34 in turnovers

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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