The Green Bay Packers will attempt to come out of the bye week and score another victory over the rival Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Matt LaFleur’s team is healthy after a week off and should be ready to go on a second-half run. The Bears are riding a three-game losing streak and just made a big change at offensive coordinator. This should be a game where the contender imposes its will against a reeling opponent.
Can the Packers go down to Chicago and win the team’s 11th straight game over the Bears on Sunday?
Here are five keys to the Packers beating the Bears in Week 11:
Win the ball
The Bears don’t do a lot right offensively, but the group has only eight giveaways this season, including just two since Week 4. The Bears defense also has 16 takeaways, so Matt Eberflus’ team is winning the ball most weeks this season. In fact, the Bears are 4-2 when producing two or more takeaways in 2024. Can Jordan Love — now with two healthy legs — protect the football coming out of the bye? And can Jeff Hafley’s defense get rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to make a mistake or two? It’s hard to imagine the Packers winning the turnover battle and losing the game on Sunday.
Pound the rock
While the Bears defense is stingy against the pass, teams have run successfully on Chicago this season. In fact, during the Bears’ current three-game losing streak, opponents are averaging 175 rushing yards and a success rate over 50 percent in the run game. This could be a game where the Packers employ a lot of under center calls in an effort to win the line of scrimmage early and set up the play-action pass. In last year’s season finale, Love completed eight passes for 148 yards and a touchdown off play-action passes. Don’t be surprised if Josh Jacobs handles 20 or more carries and the Packers take a few shots down the field off run action.
Put the game on the rookie’s shoulders
A big part of Chicago’s issues on offense has been an inability to get consistency out of the run game, which is averaging 4.0 yards per carry and a success rate under 50.0 percent this season. This reality has put immense pressure on rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to find answers in tough down-and-distances. Can the Packers stop the run early, keep the Bears behind the sticks and force Williams into obvious passing situations? An improvisor at heart, Williams is trying to make every play on every dropback. If the Packers can keep him in second-and-long and third-and-long, pressures and sacks will be likely. Keep in mind, the Bears are averaging just over 10 points per game when rushing for under 80 yards this season (41 points in four games).
Red zone challenge
The Packers were one of the NFL’s worst red-zone offenses through the first nine weeks. The test coming out of the bye week? The NFL’s No. 1 red-zone defense. The Bears have allowed only 10 touchdowns on 27 trips inside the 20-yard line this season. Can the Packers take advantage of touchdown opportunities? It’s not difficult to envision the Packers consistently moving the ball but also settling for field goals and not taking control of the game. Sunday will help show if Matt LaFleur and the Packers found any answers for the issues inside the red zone. Against a top red-zone defense, the Packers can’t afford penalties or drops in the scoring area.
Love’s accuracy and mobility
The bye week came at a good time for Jordan Love, who had a sprained MCL early in the season and an injured groin to start November. Now, Love should be as close to 100 percent as he’s been all season. Two things to watch: Is Love more accurate with two healthy legs, and can he move around and extend plays better? While hurt by drops, Love wasn’t nearly accurate enough during the first half of the season. A healthy throwing base should help. And while Love isn’t a dangerous scrambler, he can — when healthy — break contain of the pocket and create off-schedule plays. The LaFleur offense has movement for the quarterback baked into the playbook, especially on run action. Expect to see Love make more plays with his legs, starting Sunday.
