Top 10 Packers for Rematch in Chicago

Nixon’s confidence is a requirement for the position he plays. One other thing to note, is Nixon’s motor, which we noted the last time these two teams met. Nixon’s motor runs hot, and sometimes that leads to penalties. Matt LaFleur lamented the number of personal fouls his team took last week, and they can ill afford to give up free yards as the games become more important.

“Just be a pro. Just got to have controlled aggression and don’t put yourself before the team,” Nixon said.

“It’s a team game, at the end of the day, so sometimes I put myself before the team and that’s the hard thing about being on an island and playing football. You deal with a lot at corner. Just got to hone in on the penalties and lock in, for real.”

7. Javon Bullard

Javon Bullard is one of the most improved players on the roster this season, but there is some question about where he is going to line up. Last year, Bullard split time between safety and slot corner.

Bullard struggled, understandably as a rookie trying to learn two positions essentially on the fly.

This year has been different. With Evan Williams taking most of the reps at safety, Bullard has been able to focus on his position in the slot.

This week could be different with Williams likely to be out of the lineup. Bullard has been banged up in recent weeks, but was splitting time in the slot with cornerback Nate Hobbs.

With Chicago missing two of its top receivers, Green Bay’s alignments against what will likely be more formations against bigger personnel will be interesting. Does Bullard play safety when the Packers go to their base defense to match Chicago’s personnel?

If he doesn’t, he likely won’t be on the field. If he does, he’ll likely be flipping between two positions during the game.

Bullard is another player who plays with emotion. Last week, he was given a personal foul penalty. The merit of the foul can be debated, but it did happen, and the Packers need to clean up the personal fouls this week.

““I think that was one of those plays, I think it was more or less the position the player was in,” Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday.

“You can’t dump a guy when his feet are off the ground. I didn’t think it was a crazy, egregious penalty.”

6. Isaiah McDuffie

Speaking of bigger formations and how the Packers will match personnel, Isaiah McDuffie is another player who is affected by how Jeff Hafley decides to have his team line up.

With the Bears missing two of their top receivers, the educated guess here is that Chicago will want to lean into heavier formations with its tight end tandem of Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland.

Both of those players are threats in the passing game, while also proving to be good blockers.

McDuffie is the Packers’ linebacker in base, and could get more snaps than what he is used to if the Bears try and play that way.

To further that point, McDuffie is one of their better run defenders, and there’s no question that Chicago wants to run the football regardless of who they have active or not. McDuffie and the rest of the defense need to buckle up its chinstraps to keep Chicago behind the sticks when they decide to run the ball.

5. Darian Kinnard

Green Bay’s offense moved the ball almost at will last week against the Broncos before Josh Jacobs’ 14-yard touchdown at the end of the first half. While the Packers celebrated a scoring play, Zach Tom was hobbling off the field with a knee injury.

Tom did not practice this week and it’s hard to envision him suiting up on Saturday night. If he cannot go, the next man up at right tackle was Darian Kinnard against the Broncos. Kinnard did a good job before Denver took the lead and their vicious pass rush could pin their ears back.

Kinnard and recently-benched first round pick Jordan Morgan both repped at right tackle in practice this week. If Kinnard gets the nod, he’ll likely be tested from Dennis Allen’s blitz packages, which he frequently used against the Packers in their first matchup.

Allen may change his strategy after Jordan Love ripped apart Chicago’s secondary against the blitz, but perhaps he’ll see a backup tackle as an opportunity at redemption. Green Bay’s protection against Chicago’s blitz was perfect.

If Allen brings pressure, they’ll need to ensure Love is protected.

One other note about Kinnard is he has taken the role of the team’s sixth offensive lineman when they put six on the field at one time. If Tom cannot play, it’s unclear if the Packers would allow Jordan Morgan to handle that role.

“Yeah, that just plays a part in it, just like you said,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.

“If you think you can find other people to handle that role then that’s what you’ll do. You’re going to get your best five out there.”

4. Lukas Van Ness

Micah Parsons is not going to play this week. You might have heard that by now. The next man up cliché is old and tired, but it is the reality. There are players who are going to be asked to do things in a post-Parsons world they would have gotten away with when Parsons was playing.

One of the next men up at defensive end is Lukas Van Ness. The Packers envisioned stardom for Van Ness when they drafted him with the 13th overall pick in 2023. Van Ness looked like an ascending player before hurting his foot in October against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Now, he’s fighting through an injury while being asked to start to live up to some of his potential.

Van Ness’ versatility could also help on the interior of the defensive line when it comes to pushing the pocket. Keeping Williams in the pocket and not allowing him to escape is one of the keys for Green Bay’s defense. It’s easier to keep Williams trapped if the interior is being pushed into his lap.

“I thought Van Ness was definitely a boost for us,” Matt LaFleur said on Tuesday.  

“It was great to see him back out there the energy that he played with. I thought he was running to the ball, running hard to the ball. I thought he was playing pretty well so, hopefully, we can continue to amp him up.”

3. Matt LaFleur

It’s no secret that the two people who get the most attention on any given team are the Head Coach and the quarterback. Matt LaFleur is the former, and there is a spotlight on him for this game.

The Packers are trying to rebound from a tough loss where they also exited the game with an injury list as long as a CVS receipt.

The Packers are likely going to be missing other key contributors in addition to its best defensive player. The other reality of this is, the show must go on, and LaFleur is one of the men at the controls who makes things work.

The Packers have enough talent to still beat anyone in front of them. On paper, they’re better than the Chicago Bears.

Situation also dictates the challenge this game represents. Teams that played the Broncos in Denver are 0-7 in their next game.

Couple that with the fact the Packers are playing on a short week after back-to-back physical games.

A win on Saturday night, and putting his team in position to win their first division title since 2021 would be one of the best regular season wins of his coaching career.

“Yeah, but just like I told the guys, we’ve got, we feel like we’re very capable,” LaFleur said.

“But we’ve just got to all work together and kind of roll up our sleeves and take this challenge on and what an opportunity for other guys to get an opportunity to go out there and perform. So there’s a lot of excitement around that as well.”

2. Rashan Gary

After Sunday’s game in Denver, Rashan Gary was asked about how the defense was going to respond without Micah Parsons.

Gary paused for a long period of time before giving some thoughts, but the key takeaway was a bold proclamation.

“This what I say. For the rest of the season, what we got? Three more opportunities? Watch how the front play." Gary said.

His statement implied confidence that they would be fine without their best player. If that’s going to be true, they need more from one of their defensive captains.

Gary is a good run defender, but has not been nearly disruptive enough in the passing game. Pass rushers are not judged by how many run stops they have, but rather the impact plays they make.

Gary does not have a sack or TFL since October 26, when he sacked Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers twice.

Gary can no longer afford to fade into the background with Parsons out of the lineup. Big plays win these big games.

Gary has made those big plays in the past, but the past isn’t going to help him now. Following Sunday’s loss in Denver, Gary called a meeting with the defense.

“Just understanding, you know, we had a tough loss, but understanding we’ve still got everything in front of us,” Gary said.

“And you know, the guys that I pulled aside are going to be a big reason why, where we’re going to end up being in the end of the season. So everybody’s got to keep their head. Everybody’s got to stay focused and make sure that we’re doing our 1/11th.”

The reality is that meetings and talk are not going to make plays on the field. Only Gary himself can do that, and Saturday night would be an excellent time for him to start making more impact plays.

1.      Jordan Love

Life as a professional quarterback is not fair. That’s what comes with all of the attention, mega millions, and prestige that comes with playing the position.

The reality is that Love could step onto the field Saturday night without his best offensive lineman, his best receiver, and his leading rusher.

Unfortunately, nobody will care about that when this game is looked at when the season ends.

The only thing that will matter is whether the Packers won or lost.

Fair or not, that’s the price that is paid with being looked at as an elite quarterback.

Love has certainly played like one of those in the past, and did the last time these two teams met.

Love torched the Bears’ ball-hawking secondary for three touchdown passes of more than 20 yards, and piled up a passer rating of 120.7.

The wind will be whipping. The crowd will be roaring. Soldier Field has not seen a game with stakes this high since the infamous double-doink playoff game in January of 2019.

It’s up to Love to render all of the injuries meaningless, and silence Love’s crowd.

Perhaps that’s not fair, but fair is a place where they judge pigs.

“It’s an interesting week,” Love said.

We literally just game planned for these guys. Just played them two weeks ago. I think everything’s still fresh on your mind with what they’re doing schematically on defense, and kind of see what we did in that game and what our game plan was going into it, obviously, be able to carry over some of the plays we didn’t even end up running in the game. Yeah, it’s weird playing a team twice in three weeks, but it’s a big game so we’re treating it just like another one, but everything’s still fresh on your mind.”