The Chicago Bears are in an interesting spot heading into Sunday's divisional matchup playing with house money as Caleb Williams nears his return. While beating the Green Bay Packers is clearly always something the fanbase craves there is a bit more understanding if things don't fall their way after winning two straight with Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent starting.
While the Bears are clearly underdogs with Bagent remaining in the lineup, there is hope that recent defensive momentum can continue. Helping this effort is last week's game, when the New York Jets allowed the Bears offense to continually stay on the field. Devin Bush summed up the feeling after the game, offering that “One of the easiest NFL games I ever played in. I’m not sore at all.”
It is understandable that Bush isn't sore when you realize the Bears held the ball for over 40 minutes and were dominant in both phases when it came to controlling the game. Chicago's defense should be incredibly well rested and have its best chance to give a Green Bay offense a hard time that has already been slowed in recent weeks.
Combined against the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Bucs, Green Bay managed a grand total of 31 points over these two weeks. Averaging 15.5 gives the Bears hope that if the defense is performing at the expected level that all Bagent needs to do is be able to get the offense above 20 to maintain a grip on the game just as he did a week ago.
Bears have clear advantage over Packers when it comes to rested defense
Green Bay only allowed 14 points last week, but this was against a backup rookie quarterback who previously had zero reps. It was still a stressful game as well for the Packer defense as they were unable to stay off the field due to Green Bay's offensive struggles. No question, the Packers are at a disadvantage when it comes to a rested defense.
It isn't surprising to hear Bush so openly talking about the level of rest the Bears enjoyed last week when you consider the domination and how well Dennis Allen has this unit playing. It will be interesting to watch how aggressive the pass rush is early in the game attempting to push Jordan Love out of his comfort zone.
This is yet another reason the Bears cannot be written off in this game as Chicago has watched through the 2026 season that all you need to do to have a great chance of beating this Green Bay squad is getting Love off his spot and rattled early, something that is all the more possible thanks to last week's extra rest.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google