By the time Green Bay takes the field against the Bears, familiarity will no longer offer comfort. January 10 will mark the third meeting between the two in the 2025–26 season, but it's the first that carries finality.
Division games in January strip everything down. Tendencies are known. Weaknesses are remembered. What remains is execution under pressure of the postseason spotlight.
For Green Bay, that pressure settles squarely on the defensive front.
Packers need Rashan Gary to end his sack drought in the worst way
The absence of Micah Parsons looms large, that's a fact that unfortunately Green Bay has to live with. Because in all, these are the matchups GM Brian Gutekunst dreamed of when they invested in a player like him -- against an explosive offense, a mobile quarterback, and a postseason stage where one defender can tilt the geometry of the field.
Without him, the Packers must manufacture disruption in other ways, and that makes Rashan Gary a central figure in the ballgame.
Even with Parsons present for a majority of the season, Gary remained a key additional heartbeat of Green Bay's pass rush all campaign long. His production tells a nuanced story.
Fifty-four pressures over the year, twelve over the last three weeks alone. The activity has been there. The finishing has not. His last sack came back in Week 8, when he posted two against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since then, quarterbacks have escaped, gotten the ball out, or simply survived.
In the playoffs, however, pressure without payoff is rarely enough, and this is the moment that demands more.
RELATED: Mason Crosby just said what every Packers fan is thinking about Rashan Gary
For Gary, he's not a young player searching for his footing. Drafted all the way back in 2019, developed entirely within this system, he has become one of the Packers' most reliable veterans. 56 career sacks. 356 career pressures. He understands the stakes, the opponent, the rivalry, and the urgency. These are the games Green Bay expects its cornerstone players to show up.
But the challenge is layered.
Caleb Williams brings a different problem than Chicago has presented in recent years. He is mobile, creative, and willing to stress structure. But this is his first taste of playoff football and his first exposure to an environment where every drop back is magnified to the umpteenth degree.
Green Bay's job is to make the game noisy for him. Muddy his reads. Crowd his launch points. Get bodies around his feet. Force throws that feel rushed, late, or overly ambitious. Put the pressure on him, and see how he reacts.
That task begins with Gary. His ability to collapse the pocket doesn't just affect Williams, it dictates how quickly the Bears can get into their rhythm, how often they can rely on designed movement, and how aggressive they feel from a play-calling perspective for HC Ben Johnson, who received public criticism of his game script the last time we saw him in a playoff setting (45-31 loss to Washington).
This third meeting will not be won by surprises. It will be won by players who show up when the game demands it. For the Packers, that responsibility rests heavily on Gary's shoulders.