The NFL's oldest rivalry is renewed on Sunday Night Football in a key NFC North battle between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. This will be game No. 190 between the two teams, with the Bears holding a slight 93-90-6 advantage in the series. However, the Packers have owned the rivalry in recent years, winning eight of the last nine matchups.
‘Sunday Night Football,’ Bears vs. Packers 2014: NFL’s oldest rivalry renewed in primetime
The Packers look to remain undefeated at home and keep pace in the division race, while the Bears are trying to save their season after losing four of their last five games.
Jonathan Daniel
Ever since Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told fans to "R-E-L-A-X" following a Week 3 loss that dropped them to 1-2, Green Bay has been one of the league's hottest teams. It had won four straight games before falling to the New Orleans Saints on the road in Week 8, and sits just a game back of the Detroit Lions in the NFC North.
The Packers have a chance to regain control of the division this month, however, as they face a much more favorable schedule than the Lions in the next three weeks. Including the Bears, Green Bay’s three upcoming opponents have a combined record of 13-12; the Lions in that span face a slate of teams that are 19-6 this season.
Chicago is in complete free fall, having lost four of its last five contests to fall into last place in the division. The team is coming off a much-needed bye after getting throttled by the New England Patriots, 51-23, in Week 8, and desperately needs a win if it wants to make a playoff push and save their season.
Digits
Though Jay Cutler’s poor decision-making and ill-timed mistakes are what frustrate fans the most about the enigmatic quarterback, his struggles in this rivalry certainly don’t help his standing among the Bears’ faithful.
Cutler is 1-9 as a starter against the Packers since joining Chicago in 2009 (including playoffs), completing just 56 percent of his passes with 20 interceptions and 12 touchdowns in those 10 games. The numbers are even uglier at Lambeau Field, where he has never won in three tries -- a 48 percent completion rate, 2-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and a microscopic 32.4 passer rating.
The Packers’ prolific offense is probably good enough to keep the team in playoff contention, but if they are going to make a deep postseason run, they need to fix their porous rush defense. Green Bay has given up the most yards on the ground (1,228) of any team in the NFL, and ranks third-to-last in yards per rush allowed (4.8) this season.
The low point came in Week 4 against these same Bears, who gashed the Packers for 235 rush yards on 41 carries. Chicago has run for over 100 yards in just two other games this season, but will look to exploit this weakness in Green Bay’s defense as it tries to pull off the upset.
If the Packers are going to go on another extended win streak this season, now is the time to do it. Starting on Sunday night, the Packers play four of their next five games at Lambeau Field, where they are 3-0 this season and averaging a league-best 37 points per game. Aaron Rodgers brings the league’s best passer rating at home this season (135.7) into this prime time game, and has lost just three regular-season matchups in Green Bay over the last five years.
Who to watch
Matt Forte - The lone bright spot in the Bears' offense this year has been Forte, who leads the team in receptions (58), rushes (130) and rushing yards (562). Forte, one of the more underrated dual-threat backs in the league, is also poised to break several NFL records for running backs.
He is on pace for 116 receptions, which would easily shatter the mark set by Cardinals fullback Larry Centers in 1995. With 496 receiving yards and 562 rushing yards, he is also nearly halfway to joining Roger Craig (1985) and Marshall Faulk (1999) as the only players in NFL history to gain 1,000 yards both receiving and rushing in the same season.
Eddie Lacy - After a rookie campaign in which he became the first Packers running back in five years to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark, Lacy's production has fallen off in his sophomore season. Much of his drop-off in yardage can be attributed to his reduced role in the offense. Lacy is averaging five fewer touches per game, and has yet to carry the ball 20 times in a game this season.
Lacy is still running the ball efficiently (4.1 yards per attempt) and has proven to be one of the more elusive, yet powerful, backs in the league. His 25 missed tackles are the fifth-most by any tailback this season, and his 2.6 yards after contact per rush ranks among the top 15 in the NFL. Lacy has shown that he can be a workhorse running back, and there is no reason he shouldn’t be a significant part of the Packers’ offensive gameplan in the second half of the season.
The venue
Lambeau Field is arguably the NFL’s most historic stadium, home to the Packers for more than five decades. Built in 1957, it is the third-oldest stadium in all of North American major professional sports, behind only Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Although it has undergone renovations and expansions in recent years, the 80,00-seat stadium still retains its original seating bowl. No visit to Lambeau would be complete without a trip to the Packers Hall of Fame and Curly’s Pub, a legendary restaurant and brewhouse named after the team’s first head coach, Curly Lambeau.
How to watch
Where: Lambeau Field, Green Bay
When: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Announcers: Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth
Online streaming: Verizon NFL Mobile, NBC Sports Live Extra
Odds
The Packers are 7.5-point favorites over the Bears at Lambeau. The over/under is set at 53.5, according to OddsShark.
Preliminary Judgment
The Packers are a unanimous pick to beat the Bears by every expert at SB Nation, CBS Sports and ESPN. It’s not a different story when factoring in the Vegas odds, either. Only one guy at CBS thinks the Bears will cover the spread on the road in this perceived prime time mismatch.
Further reading
For more on the Bears, be sure to check out Windy City Gridiron
For more on the Packers, visit Acme Packing Company.
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