Week 16: Bears vs Packers Saturday 7:20pm on FOX

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

The universe sacrificed Rome and Burden for Parsons. Because beating the Packers at least once in consecutive seasons hasn’t been legal since 04-08.

Sucks Burden is out, hopefully, he's not done for the season.  Bears will be okay with DJ, Kmet, Loveland and Zaccheaus/Duvernay guess former Aggie, Jahdae Walker, will be in the mix as well.  I firmly believe the Packers are going to pay little attention to Zaccheaus, Duvernay or Walker, one of them might come up big on Saturday.

Edited December 18, 2025 by gflore34

[Banedon]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

Sucks Burden is out, hopefully, he's not done for the season.  Bears will be okay with DJ, Kmet, Loveland and Zaccheaus/Duvernay.

Burden won't be out for the season.  Johnson had said it was more of a "day to day" situation earlier in the week.

[BigSlick]

We’ve virtually been without Rome for 3-4 weeks now and we’ve been ok, but losing Burden really sucks. He’s really developing a great chemistry with Caleb.

I suppose all things considered I’d take this situation if it means no Micah Parsons, but I ain’t happy about it. Run the ball early, run the ball often, throw to Colston Loveland.

[Banedon]

Josh Jacobs, Evan Williams and Zach Tom all didn't practice.  Jacobs keeps talking like he's gonna play but he hasn't practiced all week.

Christian Watson has practiced the last two days, so I expect he'll play.  Might not be 100% though.

[mul21]

1 hour ago, BigSlick said:

We’ve virtually been without Rome for 3-4 weeks now and we’ve been ok, but losing Burden really sucks. He’s really developing a great chemistry with Caleb.

I suppose all things considered I’d take this situation if it means no Micah Parsons, but I ain’t happy about it. Run the ball early, run the ball often, throw to Colston Loveland.

I'm concerned about the impact not having those two will have o the running game.  Both are good and willing blockers and I don't know how well OZ and Duvernay/Walker will fare in that phase of the game.  I suspect we're going to see a lot of 3 TE sets with Kmet or Loveland split out wide.

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 hours ago, mul21 said:

I'm concerned about the impact not having those two will have o the running game.  Both are good and willing blockers and I don't know how well OZ and Duvernay/Walker will fare in that phase of the game.  I suspect we're going to see a lot of 3 TE sets with Kmet or Loveland split out wide.

I wouldn’t mind a + 100 yard  game form the old man Moore

[Brian707]

Or just run up their asses for 300 yards between Swift and Monongai.  With a 40 minute time of possession similar to the Eagles game 

[minnesotacubsfan]

59 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

Or just run up their asses for 300 yards between Swift and Monongai.  With a 40 minute time of possession similar to the Eagles game 

The packers are thin on dline, I would love to grind them to dust over the course of the game

[Geographyhater8888]

14 hours ago, mul21 said:

I'm concerned about the impact not having those two will have o the running game.  Both are good and willing blockers and I don't know how well OZ and Duvernay/Walker will fare in that phase of the game.  I suspect we're going to see a lot of 3 TE sets with Kmet or Loveland split out wide.

And by extension less receiver YAC. OZ isn’t a good blocker..

 

Edited December 19, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

16 hours ago, BigSlick said:

We’ve virtually been without Rome for 3-4 weeks now and we’ve been ok, but losing Burden really sucks. He’s really developing a great chemistry with Caleb.

I suppose all things considered I’d take this situation if it means no Micah Parsons, but I ain’t happy about it. Run the ball early, run the ball often, throw to Colston Loveland.

The quantity of pass catchers is a huge strength. I don’t trust OZ or anyone else on this depth chart to beat them with only DJ to worry about. Loveland will have to step up. I’d like to see him line up in the slot.

Edited December 19, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[BigbadB]

Jahdae Walker is going to shine in this game. 

[Geographyhater8888]

19 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Jahdae Walker is going to shine in this game. 

It’d be nice if he pulls a Devin Aromashodu game out of his ass.

Edited December 19, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Soul]

34 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

It’d be nice if he pulls a Devin Aromashodu game out of his ass.

The Packers address key injuries by bringing in randos who proceed to put up the one and only good game of their careers, then fade back into the woodwork.  Maybe the Bears can do that Saturday.

[raw]

The Packers love playing a 3rd LB. Their LB3 has played 44% of the snaps. The Bears will obviously play a lot of 12 personnel. They play a lot as is and with WRs out, they'll lean even more into that. And honestly, I think our 12 vs their 3 LBs is a win for the Bears.

Their DL is not only thin, numbers wise, they are thin weight wise. The guys that are getting the snaps are undersized. So if the Bears can single block the interior, they can get guys on the LB level and have success running the ball. GB's best run stuffing safety will also miss this game, so the potential for big runs, even when the Packers match the Bears big personnel will be much greater than it was 2 weeks ago.

I also wonder if the misdirection and counter stuff will work more against GB this time. They didn't do a whole lot of it 2 weeks ago, either because of Parsons' quickness off the edge or because they had just shown that against the Eagles and Ben knew the Packers would be prepared for that. Their LBs are fast, aggressive and like to come downhill, so getting them going fast in the wrong way could lead to some gashes. The Bears had ZERO explosive runs last time (10 yards+).

In the pass game, the Packers faced a similar depleted offense on Thanksgiving when the Lions lost Amon-Ra early in that one. Jamo Williams dominated in that one with 144 of their 256 passing yards. Their group of backup TEs (with Laporta hurt) caught 6 passes. Caleb isn't really the type to rely on 1 target, but unless they completely bracket DJ, I would hope he spams the ball to him especially out of playaction. 

There will probably be very little pass rush on either side. Packers are a bottom 5 pass rush team without Parsons. Bears obviously don't rush very well with everyone healthy, and last game showed they can't afford to blitz Love. So the Bears are going to have to make some plays in coverage or pretend they are playing Cleveland again up front.

 

[Wilson A2000]

Brisker and Byard’s contracts are both up. Are the Bears re-signing both? Can they afford both or is Brisker’s concussion history too big of a red flag to give him a long-term contract?

[Brian707]

Probably a meaningless trend but teams the week after playing in Denver the week before are 1-6. Also, a short week.

[gflore34]

Will the Packers leave OZ/Duvernay/Walker and Kmet in single coverage?  Rolling all their extra attention to DJ and Loveland?

I believe they won't be concerned with OZ/Duvernay/Walker at all, daring Caleb to target them.

[Geographyhater8888]

24 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

Probably a meaningless trend but teams the week after playing in Denver the week before are 1-6. Also, a short week.

Broncos are very physical and both lines wear opponents down. Same thing happened with Detroit last season and even the bears this year. Teams are 3-10-1 or something like that the following week after playing the Bears.

Its still the Packers though so I won’t get my hopes up.

[raw]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Brisker and Byard’s contracts are both up. Are the Bears re-signing both? Can they afford both or is Brisker’s concussion history too big of a red flag to give him a long-term contract?

All 4 safeties on the roster (all 5 if you include CJ Gardner-Johnson) are free agents after this year. I would bring back Byard for sure. He takes the ball away and is a leader on the team. Probably only takes a 2 year deal. Brisker is solid, but the injury risk (even though he's been healthy this year) and lack of takeaways historically leads me elsewhere. I'd also bring back one of the backups. I'd prefer Hicks. 

Then I'd bring back CJGJ. He has the ability to fill Brisker's role, plus is a good hedge in case Kyler continues his trend of not being healthy. 

Draft another guy between rounds 2-4 to be a long-term starter and also a hedge against CJGJ wearing out his welcome for the 5th straight team. 

[UMFan83]

I think the Bears will find a way to clinch before Week 18 somehow, but interesting looking at the schedule to see which games are in contention to get flexed.  I think if it's really Bears/Lions for a playoff spot they will absolutely select that game considering the teams and the large market involved.  Not sure if they would do it if the Bears clinched and it was the Lions needing a win to make the playoffs (also its fairly unlikely as it would take a Packers collapse, they can't pass 49ers at this point)

Other possibilities:

Steelers vs Ravens - Potentially for not only a playoff spot but the division and a home playoff game

Colts vs Texas - A wild card 'winner clinches a playoff spot, loser is out' for the AFC

Seahawks vs 49ers - Both should have playoff spots clinched but Seattle might need it to clinch division and 1 seed and small chance SF could win to clinch division

Panthers vs Buccaneers - Also for a playoff spot, division and home playoff game

Basically, lots of really interesting looking games for Week 18, though a lot can obviously chance these next 2 weeks.

Edited December 19, 2025 by UMFan83

[Banedon]

[NorthsideAvenger]

Just now, Banedon said:

I want the Bears to continue to prepare for Jacobs, in case this is GB playing mind games. 

[Banedon]

38 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I want the Bears to continue to prepare for Jacobs, in case this is GB playing mind games. 

Jacobs hasn't practiced all week so if it's mind games they're really committed to the bit.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Jordan Love is 4-1 against the Bears as starter. I think it's time for Love to start stacking L's on his resume. 

Edited December 20, 2025 by NorthsideAvenger

[Derwood]

I’ve been up since 4am. If I make it to the end of this one it will be a miracle.