The 2026 NFL Playoffs have arrived and Saturday evening brings us a fun rivalry matchup in the Wild Card Round. The Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers in only the third playoff matchup between these two teams. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and Adrian Hill will be the referee leading the officiating crew at Soldier Field.
Packers-Bears referees: Who is officiating the 2026 Wild Card game
The Packers and Bears renew their divisional rivalry on Saturday, this time in a Wild Card matchup. Adrian Hill will lead the officiating crew for the Wild Card game. We break down what that means.
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The last time these two faced off in the playoffs was the 2011 NFC Championship Game. After splitting their regular season matchups, the Packers beat the Bears 21-14 to advance to Super Bowl 45 where they would beat the Steelers to take home the Lombardi Trophy. Their prior playoff meeting was a Divisional Round matchup in 1941 and came a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Bears won that game 33-14 en route to winning the NFL Championship that year. So, I guess the winner of this will win the Super Bowl?
The Bears finished 11-6 and won the NFC North title while the Packers finishing 9-7-1, which was good for second place in the division. They face each other in their two regular season contests in Week 14 and Week 16. The Packers won the first game at Lambeau while the Bears won the second in overtime at Soldier Field. The Packers are slim 1.5-point road favorites on Saturday.
This is Hill’s sixth playoff assignment. He has five Wild Card appearances and one Divisional appearance with two of those prior games as head referee. He’ll be leading a mixed crew. It’s not an All Star crew as those are saved for the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. But it’s not the same crew Hill led in the regular season.
The mixed crew means regular season stats hold a little less value. But for those interested, Sharp Football Analysis offered a breakdown of Hill’s crew history. Notably, Hill led a crew that ranked No. 1 during the regular season in most offensive holding penalties per game. Sharp noted that the presence of three officials from John Hussey’s crew suggests they could be “quicker than most to enforce discipline-related offenses like taunting and unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Hill officiated two Bears games this season (at the Raiders, vs. the Giants) and Chicago’s least penalized game was the Giants game. Sharp offered up a few additional notable betting stats:
- Home teams are 53-46 ATS in true home games with Adrian Hill officiating
- Adrian Hill is 52-45-1 under in his career
- In Divisional games, Hill is 16-11-1 Under in his career
Here’s a look at the full crew for Saturday’s Packers-Bears game.
Packers-Bears officiating crew
Referee: Adrian Hill
Umpire: Duane Heydt
Down judge: Brian Sakowski
Line judge: Carl Johnson
Field judge: Jeff Shears
Side judge: Allen Baynes
Back judge: Todd Prukop
Replay official: Denise Crudup
Replay assistant: Brian Smith
Alternate Referee: Clay Martin
Alternate umpire: Barry Anderson
Alternate down judge: Brian Bolinger
Alternate field judge: Eugene Hall
Alternate back judge: Martin Hankins
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