The Chicago Bears got the last laugh over the Green Bay Packers, and, for lack of a better word, it's pretty clear that Ben Johnson despises Matt LaFleur and everything his team stands for. Needless to say, this rivalry just got even more heated.
That's why watching them fail to address their obvious needs ahead of this season is such a laughable thought for the fan base. Not only does that guarantee they'll fall short again, but it will also help the Bears by executing the exact same blueprint that beat them last season.
While the Bears got objectively better — even though they also have some flaws of their own — the Packers are virtually the same team from last season. And, in this line of business, that equals being a worse team.
The Packers can't hold their ground against the Bears
LaFleur's team lost Micah Parsons for at least the first six weeks of the regular season. That means he won't take the field for the first matchup between these two teams. Despite knowing that, and even with Parsons likely to be on a snap count for a while, they didn't bolster their pass rush.
Of course, they can argue that they added Javon Hargrave and Dani Dennis-Sutton, but one is an aging veteran on the sunset of his career, and the other is a mid-round rookie who might not be able to contribute at all this season.
Their wide receiver corps got significantly thinner, now that Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks are gone. Instead, they gave the perennially hurt Christian Watson a multi-year extension, and they're about to do the same with Tucker Kraft, who's coming off a season-ending injury.
To make matters even better, Brandon Cisse, their flamboyant reinforcement at cornerback, is also a second-round pick who's only listed as a starter because Carrington Valentine has been pretty banged up.
Last but not least, the Packers let Elgton Jenkins go in free agency, replacing him with Sean Rhyan, who drew mixed reviews as a plug-in injury replacement last season. They're unlikely to get a compensatory pick for Rasheed Walker's departure, and the interior of the line should be a revolving door with Aaron Banks and Jacob Monk.
The Bears exposed the Packers' main flaws in the Wild Card round, yet they deliberately decided to run it back with virtually the same team — perhaps even thinner. The Bears are on the rise, and after so many years of living in their shadow, it looks like the tides are finally about to shift again.
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