Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears

Sunday 23rd, 8:00pm UK Time

When these teams both from the same division there is a lot of history and many stories to draw on. It also means that they know each other very well and this one will mean even more than you’d imagine a Conference Championship will.

These two teams have only met once before in the post-season and that was back in December 1941 (7 days after the attack on Pearl Harbour). But with 182 previous meetings between these teams, this is the NFL’s longest rivalry. Chicago currently leads the series 92–83–6, but Green Bay have had the edge in recent meetings.

Soldier Field

Let’s take a quick look at the last two years:

Week 17, 2010: Chicago Bears 3 – 10 Green Bay Packers

The Bears had already booked their playoff place, and couldn’t improve their seeding. You’d imagine a team would rest its starters in that situation, but it wasn’t to be the case as they fielded the first teamers for most of the game. If ever a game has been dominated by the defences then this was it, but finally a late TD from Rodgers to Lee secured the win and a post-season place for the Packers

Week 3, 2010:  Green Bay Packers 17 – 20 Chicago Bears

For the Packers this game was defined by penalties and mistakes. 18 penalties meant they were always struggling and when Urlacher forced the ball out of James Jones’ hand to give the Bears the ball at midfield with under 3 minutes and the game tied there was a pass interference call that put the Bears in FG range to take the win.

Week 14, 2009: Green Bay Packers 21 -14 Chicago Bears

In 2009 the Packers had a running game that could pick up the slack when the passing game wasn’t working. That was the case this game with Ryan Grant averaging nearly 7 yards on his 20 carries and two touchdowns. Conversely the Bears couldn’t get going on the ground. Although Rodgers was sacked an awful lot in 2009, the Bears only got to him twice in this game, but they did play good coverage.

Bears Line Up

Week 1, 2009: Chicago Bears 15 – 21 Green Bay Packers

This was a good close game, but it was Cutler’s debut as a Bear and he struggled at times (as his four interceptions shows). One of those picks was just terrible, but can be put down to growing pains. The Bears pestered Rodgers all night, including sacking him for a safety at one point but they also suffered some injruies and lost Urlacher for the season

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The Packers absolutely dismantled the Falcons last weekend. It was one of those performances where everything worked, it all came together, and they looked unbeatable more or less from opening kick. The defense was strong, Rodgers was tearing it up, the running game was going and the defence made Matt Ryan look like a rookie. If they show up and play like that again, this one could be over by the half.

However, rivalries are rarely like that.

The Bears have had a good season overall. Once the new offence was bedded in, all involved have looked a lot more comfortable (and of course, Cutler isn’t getting sacked as much). Matt Forte has kept the ball moving on the ground and that has kept the offence balanced. Defensively they’ve been a typical Bears team – very strong against the run, pressure on the QB. Julius Peppers at DE was an inspired signing and has made a real difference. But they’ve not been as good against the pass.

The Packers have also been very strong on defence and although they’ve been alright against the run, they’ve been great against the pass. With Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams on fire they’ve arguably the strongest pair of corners in the league right now.

Aaron Rodgers Scrambles

Looking at the matchups across the field, and considering the form I have to go with the Packers for this game. You’ll have noticed my man-crush on Aaron Rodgers already, but if asked to win the game he can do that. I’m not sure the same can be said of Jay Cutler (not against the Packers). Defensively though, the Bears can force the Packers to become one-dimensional, but I’m not sure that’s going to help them much.

I’m expecting a close game, but one the Packers will win.

Craig says:

There’s nothing like a good old rivalry to decide who will be heading to the Superbowl from the NFC side of the league!

As Andrew has covered - the Packers and The Bears are no strangers to each other, and this year’s matches were both were close encounters. Each team has done very well to reach this far with the Pack have defeated the Eagles and the high-flying Falcons (no pun intended) to reach the Conference Championship, whereas the Bears did enough in the season to win their division resulting in a bye-week followed by a match against the Seattle Seahawks (which the Bears won quite comfortably).

I have a feeling it will be a one sided match-up rather than a close, scrappy game that we come to expect from rivalries. Based on last weeks performance and their current form I’m going to have to go for the Packers. Rodgers is playing exceptionally well, they even have some form of a running game going on with Starks settling in. The defence is as tight as ever and Clay Matthews seems to have hit top form again. Cutler will probably be seeing a lot of him this weekend.

Packers to win.

Soldier Field

Graham Says:

This should be a nice close game, which will make great TV. While the Packers are hot favourites with the bookies, I see the game going the other way.  The Bears are getting better as they go along and I just feel they have what it takes to edge this one.

Not a hot bet for me, more an opportunity to watch what should be a great footballing spectacle.

	Andrew	Graham	Craig		Offical MAC Prediction
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears

Image Credits:
Soldier Field Entrance- dgphilli
Soldier Field Panoramic – the extinction blues
Aaron Rodgers – nstaeck
Bears Line Up – tyle_r

This week I’ll be taking a look at the game between undefeated divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Generally we get a great game between these two sides, and if you’re staying up late in the UK to watch the Monday Night NFL, then you should be in for a good one. It’s a cliché, but this game is all about the quarterbacks.

Soldier Field

Green Bay have been a dominate force in the NFC North for a good few years, but they always fall short at the final hurdle. Most years a lot of people tout them as potential Super Bowl winners and yet they never seem to fulfill the potential everyone thinks they have. Aaron Rodgers takes the helm for his 3rd successive season. Rodgers is a fantastic talent and regularly runs with the ball with great effect, something that not many quarterbacks do.

Packers and Bears in 2008

Clay Matthews is one to watch this week, he’s already started the first 2 games and finished with 10 tackles and a massive 6 sacks, one of them forcing Kevin Kolb to leave the game. Cutler has been under pressure a lot these first 2 games, so he needs to keep one eye on the field and one eye on Matthews if he wants to see out this game.

Jay Cutler

Many people will remember that Cutler threw 6 interceptions against Green Bay last year, no doubt that will be playing on his mind but the way he’s looked so far, composed, confident, I don’t see him throwing 6 this year. The Bears are looking stacked on defence at the moment. Brian Urlacher is back and healthy, Julius Peppers was picked up for a big contract – and we all know he likes to get to the QB quickly – Lance Briggs and Harris have looked solid, all in all I think they will give a good game to the Packers, however I just think the Pack have that edge in what will be a close contest.

If you’re skimming this: Packers to win.

Check out our other predictions for this week by clicking here.

Image Credits:
Jay Cutler – Mike Shadle
Soldier Field – dgphilli
Matchup – Karen Eckberg

Nate Burleson to the Lions. This is either a stroke of genius or a real stretch, but Stafford needs receiving options. They’ve also added Kyle Vanden Bosch to their defensive line.

Karlos Dansby is now a Dolphin. Miami have made several changes already on the defensive side but Dansby would be a good addition in any case. They’ve also signed Chad Pennington for another year who is a good option as a backup.

In New York, the Jets and Giants have both improved their secondaries with Antrel Rolle joining the Giants and Antonio Cromartie heading to the Jets. Rolle becomes the highest paid safety in NFL history in the process.

The Ravens have signed Anquan Boldin, adding much needed depth to their passing game.

But Off-Season Champions so far (the ‘Skins haven’t got going yet ) are the Bears, who are making waves like they did last year. As well as snagging Julius Peppers to a monster contract, they’ve picked up Chester Taylor and Brandon Manumaleuna.

A number of teams have resigned players and made tenders, and we’ll be watching what happens with a lot of those. A good number have also been released and we’ll be talking about them seperately later on.

He’s 29 now, and I’m sure wanted a longer deal. But with one of the largest single-season paychecks coming his way, he can’t be that unhappy.
I said back in my first look at the NFC South that the Panthers needed to avoid too much drama here, and it looks like that’s mission accomplished. They get their major threat at DE back for another year, and he’ll surely be hungry with the prospect of a longer term contract (in Carolina or elsewhere) being offered no further than 8 months away.

The Panthers look strong again. If they can avoid too much drama with Peppers then the D is going to be one to watch with Ron Meeks as the new coordinator. Offensively it’s largely as you were, and they’re a talented bunch. I’d put them up as a serious contender. It’s hard to look beyond them as divisional champions. The Falcons could run them close again, but not close enough.

The Bucs are facing a tough season because of how the schedule plays out. They have a very tough first half of the season, including a “home” game in London. I always like to cheer the nominal home team but I think they’re going to get turned over something terrible by the Pats. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bucs leaving Wembley and heading to their bye with a 2-5 record.

The Falcons were a bit of a surprise package last year. Firstly Michael Turner started to look like a game-winning back and then Matt Ryan was… well, he was impressive. But hands up who’d be surprised at a sophomore slump for last season’s Rookie Of The Year? Their offense hasn’t changed much from last season, but the D has. Last year was a solid “bend but don’t break” unit (24th in yards allowed but 10th in points) and it’ll be interesting to watch how they start the season.

I loved seeing the Saints last year, and there are still 3 ‘Be A Saint’ flags kicking around the house. Brees was on awesome form last year, and it was fantastic to see a QB as good as he was in action. Despite that, they fell short of post-season with a disappointing 8-8. This year, I can possibly see them improving on that… slightly. A Wild Card spot is a possibility, but not a strong one.

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