The NFL’s oldest rivals will face off on Saturday night in their most consequential game in 15 years.
The Green Bay Packers will go on the road to take on the Chicago Bears in the NFL Playoffs for just the third time in the century-old rivalry. The team that wins this weekend will continue their season for at least one more week, while the loser’s season will end.
The Packers are 1-1 against the division champion Bears this season, winning the first matchup at Lambeau Field and losing the second at Soldier Field.
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Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love was knocked out of the second game against Chicago with a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit. Saturday will mark his first in-game action since.
Love told reporters this week that he isn’t worried about being rusty after missing two games, and he’s “excited” for the matchup. He said big games like this one are “what you want as a player.”
“It’s win or go home. Everybody knows what’s at stake,” he said. “The intensity will be there. The emotions will be there. It’s a rivalry game and a playoff game.”
Love has led Green Bay to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons as the team’s starting signal-caller. But this year’s Packers team is coming into the matchup with more than a dozen players on injured reserve, including star pass rusher Micah Parsons.
The Packers traded two first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark for Parsons at the start of the season. Parsons tore his ACL in mid-December, after becoming the first player in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons on Thanksgiving Day.
Green Bay rested most of its starters last week in a 16-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings to end the regular season on a four-game losing streak.
Running back Josh Jacobs, who has dealt with a lingering knee injury for much of the latter part of the season, did not play in Minnesota. He told reporters this week he feels “pretty good” after the week off.
“I’m not gonna say I like not playing, but obviously these moments and these types of games (are) where it really matters the most,” he said of Saturday’s contest. “It’s going to be fun, and I like that I’m going to be able to hit the ground running.”
Green Bay faces a resurgent Chicago team led by first-year head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams, a former first overall draft pick. Under Johnson, the Bears ranked 6th in total offense this season.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters this week that Williams is a “dynamic” player who’s difficult to defend.
“He is dynamic back there (with) his ability to make people miss, get out of the pocket (and) make throws from in the pocket,” LaFleur said. “I think he’s playing really, really good football right now.”
Chicago won the NFC North division title with a record of 11-6. Green Bay secured a wild card playoff spot with its record of 9-7-1. The Packers haven’t won the NFC North since 2021.
Green Bay last faced the Bears in the playoffs in 2011. The Packers won that matchup 21-14 en route to winning Super Bowl 45. Before that, the Bears won the lone playoff matchup between the rivals in 1941, one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
At a press conference this week, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley acknowledged the added weight of facing the Bears in the postseason.
“This is one of the biggest rivalries in all of football, one that I have watched for a very long time,” he said. “(It) did not end the way we wanted the last time we played there. I am going to do everything in my power to focus on every minute that I have to give this organization and our players everything I got to go win this game.”
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