3 reasons Green Bay Packers will beat Bears in Week 12
The Green Bay Packers take on the Chicago Bears in Week 12 and are favorites to walk away with the victory because of these three reasons.
The oldest rivalry in the NFL kicks off again as the Green Bay Packers take on the Chicago Bears in front of a national television audience on Sunday Night Football. With the Bears looking to close the gap in the NFC North, Green Bay is trying to recover from an embarrassing second-half collapse to the Indianapolis Colts. Let’s check out three reasons why the Packers will be able to take home the victory in this contest.
Third downs
The Packers are at their best when they can get move the rock on first and second downs and get into manageable third downs. With the whole playbook open, they’ve converted a whopping 47.9 percent of third downs–good enough for fourth in the league. At the other end of the spectrum, the Bears struggle mightily at converting third downs; coming in dead last at 31.1 percent. That means the Packers should hold the advantage on both sides of the ball and dominate in the all-important third down category.
Lack of rushing game
Everyone and their mom knows the Packers struggle to stop the run–they rank 21st by allowing 4.4 yards per rush. Fortunately for the good guys, the Bears aren’t equipped to take advantage of that weakness, as they rank 31st by only racking up 3.6 yards per rush. Yuck. The Bears won’t be able to run the ball down the Packers’ throats which means Green Bay will be well-positioned to rely on their strength in the passing game.
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Mitchell Trubisky
Ahh, Mitchell Trubisky will be starting in place of the injured Nick Foles–a great sign for the Packers’ defense. In three games this season, Trubisky has completed just 59.3 percent of his passes for only 560 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. Green Bay should be able to take advantage of his incompetency and force him into a turnover or two or three. If that’s the case, they will set their offense up in a great position against the Bears’ stingy defense.