The stage is set for the No. 2 seed Chicago Bears to host the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field for the NFC Wild Card round.
Chicago's matchup with its NFC North rival will be the Bears' first playoff game at Soldier Field since 2018. The Bears and Packers split in the regular season, each winning at home.
It goes without saying that there will be plenty of anticipation for this third installment between the two teams. That goes for the fan bases and the players, including Bears running back D'Andre Swift.
D'Andre Swift has his sights on Packers in Wild Card
The 5-foot-8, 204-pound running back finished with 40 rushing yards on 10 carries in the 19-16 loss to the Detroit Lions in the regular-season finale at Soldier Field and set a new career high in rushing yards with 1,087.
Swift is in his sixth NFL season and has only been to the playoffs once, during the Eagles’ 2023 season, when the team lost 32-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Swift ran for just 34 yards on 10 carries in that game.
After the Week 18 loss to the Lions, Swift was asked about his thoughts on facing the Packers in the opening round of the 2025 playoffs.
“Looking forward to it, no matter who came in, no matter what seed, how it played out, another opportunity, a great one,” Swift said.
A great opportunity that can easily be wasted if the Bears play as they did in the loss to the Lions. Chicago's offense scored zero points through the first three quarters and ran for just 65 total rushing yards.
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If the Bears want to win their first playoff game since the 2010 season, when Chicago defeated the Seattle Seahawks 35-24 before falling to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game, Swift and the running game must set the tone against Green Bay to help create opportunities for Caleb Williams and the rest of the offense.