Five Packers to watch vs. Bears in Week 15 matchup
By Jesse Fry
It’s Bears week, the 200th meeting in fact. With playoffs and seeding on the line, which players will be the difference in keeping the No. 2 seed?
We are getting down to the final weeks of the 2019 season and the Green Bay Packers start a tough stretch of three divisional games that will decide the fate of their season. The good news is the Packers control their own destiny, and if they win out the worst they can do is the No. 2 seed. The bad news is they are not playing their best football heading into this stretch.
In some ways, these are two vastly different teams from their Week 1 matchup. And in some ways, there are still many similarities from those two teams.
In that Week 1 matchup, the Packers had no idea what their identity would be. It was their first game and as a team they had no idea what they would do well. Fourteen weeks later, the Packers still do not have an identity but have been winning in spite of that.
The Packers offense has been inconsistent all season. When it looked like they might be hitting their stride, they laid a dud in Los Angeles and haven’t regained the rhythm from before the loss since returning from the bye.
The defense has also been inconsistent but has at least been able to hang their hat on a good pass rush thanks to the Smith brothers, Za’Darius and Preston.
The Bears come in playing their best football of the season. They have won three in a row and four out of their last five. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has found good balance between using his legs and throwing the ball. The defense has taken a hit with the loss of Roquan Smith last weekend, but they might be getting Akiem Hicks back. The Bears have been much easier to run on with Hicks out. So, getting him back will be a big boost for the Bears.
There are playoff implications aplenty. The Bears need to win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive while the Packers have a wide array of scenarios that could play out. The Packers could go anywhere from the top overall seed to just missing the playoffs.
The Packers could hit a speed bump here and still rebound just fine, but this game almost feels like a must-win for both teams. The Vikings have a tricky matchup with the Chargers. Being able to come away with a win against the Bears allows for there to be some slack heading into next week’s matchup. But, that’s not how the Packers should be thinking.
The best chance for the Packers to have a deep playoff run is to make that road come through Green Bay. Win these next three and they will guarantee a home divisional round playoff game at worst. In order to win those three, it starts with this one against the Bears.
Here are five players who will be big factors in ensuring the Packers get that win.