Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears: 5 Matchups to Watch

3. Aaron Rodgers vs Roquan Smith

It was announced on Monday that Rodgers would still have the ability to change the called play at the line of scrimmage. After an offseason of speculation, that was a positive development with all of the question marks regarding the relationship between he and new head coach Matt LaFleur. Rodgers has done some special things against the Bears during his time in the NFL, and he’ll be looking to do that again.

Across from him, you’ll see one of the brightest young linebackers in football. Roquan Smith was the top linebacker taken during the 2018 draft, and he looked the part for much of last season. He’s a freak athlete that can cover sideline to sideline. Despite not starting for the entire season, he still managed to total 121 tackles on the year. He calls the shots in the middle of this ferocious defense.

Rodgers will be reading and playing chess against Smith all night long. It’s not going to be one guy consistently outdueling the other guy unless one of them just has a ton of rust that they need to knock off. The odds on this game are that it will be a close one, so, whoever ends up making the one right call at just the right time, could easily win this game for their team to start them off at 1-0.