GB/CHI
Time: 1 PM ET
Spread: GB -1.5
Total: 50.5
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
Aaron Rodgers is looking to help get Green Bay back on track after a 1-2 start. Some are wondering if the Packers may fail to make the postseason for the first time in five years, but it is a bit early to speculate on that, and the Packers are 1.5 point favorites in Chicago this week.
The Packers were outscored 19-7 last week by the Detroit Lions and didn’t score in the final three quarters. Green Bay finished with just 223 yards, which was its second-fewest in the last six seasons. Rodgers had just 162 yards, the second worst of any game he hasn’t played injured in.
Green Bay lost the game by virtue of giving the Lions a 40-yard fumble TD and a safety. Rodgers simply said, “We haven’t been a sharp offense.” That may be quite an understatement. He’ll face a Bears defense that is better, but still bad. The Bears held on to beat the Jets 27-19 on Monday night, though, signaling the improvement may not be a fluke at all. Ryan Mundy returned an interception for a 45 yard TD and he said it the credit goes to the coaches, “We get coached hard day in and day out…”
The Bears have lost seven of eight in the rivalry between the teams, and that includes the NFC championship game in Jan. 2011. Rodgers broke his collar bone on the opening drive of that game and didn’t return. He’s averaged 282 yards and also thrown 14 TDs to 4 INTs in his last five full games against the Bears. Jay Cutler has 18 INTs and 11 TDs in 10 career matchups against the Bears. The QB battle definitely goes to Green Bay.
Cutler has been marginally better this season, having thrown 53 yards more than Rodgers, while also besting his completion ratio, 62 percent to 66.
Chicago is counting on better production from No. 1 back Matt Forte. He had just 54 yards over the last two games, but he is second on the team in receptions with 19 for 145 yards. The Bears just haven’t been able to generate much of anything on the ground, and has a league low 192 yards while having been held to just 106 over the last two games.
Eddy Lacy of the Packers has 113 rushing yards after racking up nearly 1,200 last season. He had 216 yards in the two matchups against the Bears last year. The Packers haven’t been over 80 rushing yards this season after doing reaching triple digits in 12 of 16 games last season. The Packers also haven’t begun a season 0-3 on the road since losing its first four in 2005.
Chicago hasn’t opened with back-to-back home defeats since going 0-3 in 2004. Julius Peppers will return to Solider Field as a foe in this game, and he had 37.5 sacks in 2010-13 playing for the Bears. He’s managed just one thus far this season, and his replacement in Chicago (Jared Allen) has zilch.
