The 7-9 Chicago Bears will close the season with a trip to Lambeau Field to take on the 8-8 Green Bay Packers. While this game carries no ramifications for the Bears, the Packers are playing for everything. Green Bay is in a win-and-in situation. This gives an upstart Bears team the perfect opportunity to play spoiler and finally defeat their bitter rivals for the first time since 2018. The Packers hope to avoid Deja-vu from last season, where they were dumped from the playoffs in a similar fashion by the Detroit Lions.
Given the circumstances of this week 18 matchup, it'll feel like a playoff game for both sides despite the Bears being eliminated from playoff contention. The fans and the immense amount of noise they will make are the most significant aspects that will make it feel as such. The 81,000+ seat Lambeau Field will likely be packed full of people eager to watch the highly anticipated matchup.
One player who knows about the atmosphere at Lambeau is Bears quarterback Justin Fields. He's played two games, both being on primetime, at Lambeau in his career. He knows how loud it can get in there. However, the 24-year-old had a hilarious explanation for why it can get so loud in there.
When at the podium for his press conference on Wednesday, Fields dropped a hilarious and already viral quote about playing at Lambeau Field in week 18.
"I know their fans are going to be loud because there's not much to do in Green Bay except watch football."Justin Fields
This shot from Fields at Packers fans has lit the fire and headlined a week of trash-talking from both sides of the historic and intense rivalry between both teams. Despite an 0-2 record at the Packers' stadium, Fields feels confident in a victory and turns the heat up in a rivalry that's been one-sided for a while.
Confidence. That's something the Bears didn't have at the beginning of the season when they sat at 1-5. As the sea of reporters burst into laughter from Fields' hilarious shot at the Packers, it also served as a reminder of how much things have changed in Halas Hall. The Bears went from a team waiting for the season to end to one that can't wait to walk into the home of their biggest tormenter f the past two decades and beat them.
The Bears are a different team than the one that lost 38-20 against the Packers in week one. Riding a 5-2 record in their past seven games, Chicago is playing with house money as they head into Green Bay, hoping to ruin the Packers' season. Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears are ready. They're ready to flip the script.