Three keys to a Chicago Bears victory over the Packers in Week 6
By Ryan Olson
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are set up for the biggest games of their respective young seasons, with the leader of the NFC North hanging in the looms for the winner of this week’s matchup. The Bears will be hosting the Packers at home with fans for the first time since the season opener of the NFL’s 100th season back in September of 2019.
The Bears come into this matchup at 3-2, after a statement road win against a Raiders team that came out of the gates firing, starting their season off with a 3-0 start. The Packers on the other hand come into this game at 4-1, looking to continue their tradition of tearing the hearts out of Bears fans — which has been happening especially a lot since Aaron Rodgers took over.
Chicago Bears Key No. 1: The offense needs to go into second gear
If the Bears want a chance at flipping the script and beating Green Bay for the first time since 2018, they need to have trust in Justin Fields and let him cook. Justin Fields has the potential to elevate this offense to something we haven’t seen in a very long time if the play-calling could just let him off the chains for this one game.
The Chicago Bears have been the number one offense in Weeks 4 and 5, outside of garbage time, which is determined by when the Bears have a win probability over 20% and under 80%. Which was found in a graph by Twitter user Jacob Infante who posted this tidbit and brought the issue to light.
For what it's worth, the #Bears have been super efficient the last two weeks on both sides of the ball.
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) October 14, 2021
Outside of garbage time, they had the best offense and the second-best defense in terms of EPA. Even factoring in Week 3, they've been a top-10 offense starting Justin Fields. pic.twitter.com/EVOlIHlWxM
Ever since Bill Lazor took over the play-calling duties for Matt Nagy, the Bears offense has improved drastically, however, there is still room to improve. Especially with letting his young quarterback play, as well as making sure to not take your foot off the gas which we have seen almost come back to bite the Bears two games in a row.