The Chicago Bears will face their divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football where a familiar face awaits them.
It’s no secret that Aaron Rodgers has dominated this rivalry with a 23-5 record against Chicago in his career. And despite a rough outing in the Week 1 opener against the Minnesota Vikings, the Bears aren’t underestimating the future Hall-of-Famer.
“We try to tell the guys, ‘Don’t drink the Kool Aid of what the media is trying to sell that there’s gloom and doom in Green Bay. Don’t fall into that trap,'” said defensive coordinator Alan Williams. “So that is the first message, and then the quarterback, don’t underestimate the power of great leadership. He is a great leader, and he will get those guys into shape.
“What we’re trying to do is to block out everything else and focus in on the task at hand, which is improving each week, follow the process, stay the course, keep worrying about, ‘Hey, this is the next football game, not necessarily the Super Bowl or anything like that.’ We need to take care of ourselves and our business and what we need to do than more so who they are and what they’re doing.”
Rodgers had a very uncharacteristic performance against the Vikings last week, where he completed 22-of-34 passes for 195 yards with no touchdowns and one interception for a 67.7 passer rating.
Following the departure of Davante Adams, there’s some struggles with Rodgers and his new receiving corp, which was evident in his frustration in last Sunday’s game. But, again, the Bears aren’t expecting that to limit him.
“Aaron Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers regardless of who he has,” said defensive end Robert Quinn. “He’s bound to make something happen. I’m not in that locker room, but I think he’s going to bring everyone up to his standards. I’m sure he’s a future Hall of Famer, and I’m sure he wants everyone to rise up to his level.”
The Bears are looking to pull off their second straight upset when they face the Packers on Sunday night. But it’s not going to be easy, especially with Rodgers on the other side.
“It’s going to start with the D-line,” said defensive end Trevis Gipson. “(Rodgers) knows how to hard-count, catch some guys in substitutions. We’re going to have to be clean on that, and just disciplined. No offsides, no roughing the passer, no dumb penalties. It’s a rivalry game, so we’re going to have to keep our poise. He’s a vet; he knows how to play this game. We’re just going to have to keep our poise and disrupt him as much as possible.”
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