6 Big Questions Facing Green Bay Packers v. Bears
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers are back off their much-needed bye week to face their division rival, the Chicago Bears, on Sunday Night Football. Admittedly, this is a game that the Packers should control from start to finish, but oftentimes, it’s not that simple–as they say, “any given Sunday.”
As I do each week as part of my game preview, I have my big questions facing the Packers as they head into their matchup. And instead of the usual five, this week we have six.
Can the Green Bay Packers clinch a playoff spot?
With the Minnesota Vikings win on Thursday, the Green Bay Packers’ magic number remains at two, which means that they cannot clinch the NFC North this week. However, they can still clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Chicago Bears and some help.
In addition to taking care of their own business, if the New York Jets beat New Orleans and the Cincinnati Bengals take down San Francisco, then the Packers will have officially locked up a playoff spot.
Clinching a playoff spot is the first box every team wants to check off, but for the Green Bay Packers, they have much larger aspirations. They are currently the NFC’s No. 2 seed behind 10-2 Arizona and tied with 9-3 Tampa Bay–although Green Bay holds the tie-breaker because of a better in-conference record.
While scoreboard watching this time of the year is common, as Matt LaFleur told reporters, Green Bay needs to focus on themselves and controlling what they can control.
"”I think if you start focusing on things outside of your control or outside of your football team, you’re not 100 percent focused on the challenges that lie ahead for your team,” said LaFleur on Monday. “We just gotta take care of our business and whatever happens in those other games, that’s the way it roles. We have many tough challenges in front of us, starting with Chicago, and just gotta make sure that we continually get better each week prior to whatever lies at the end of this thing.”"