Bears-Packers matchup has shades of 2010 season finale

Bears

Bears-Packers matchup has shades of 2010 season finale

The Packers have a chance to potentially keep the Bears out of the upcoming NFL playoffs. Will they take it?

“Against the Bears, [Green Bay’s starters are] going to play something,” Lance Briggs said Sunday on the Football Aftershow. “They’re going to play, whether it’s a series, a half, a quarter. They’re going to play something.”

History has a chance to repeat itself, although this time around, the roles are reversed for the Bears and Packers, and the circumstances are different.

Ten years ago, the 11-4 Bears entered a Week 17 matchup with the Packers having already clinched their division and the NFC’s No. 2 seed. Green Bay, on the other hand, was 9-6 and needed a victory to clinch the NFC’s final playoff spot.

The Bears, with a chance to keep the Packers out of the playoffs, didn’t rest their starters but lost 10-3. A few weeks later, they fell to Green Bay 21-14 in the NFC Championship Game.

This season, the Bears need to beat Green Bay in Week 17 — or for the Rams to beat the Cardinals — to clinch a playoff spot. Green Bay could rest its starters next week to avoid injuries, but a win would make things tougher on their longtime rival.

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“In 2010, we were threatened by them, but we tried to knock them out and they won the Super Bowl that year,” Olin Kreutz said. “They needed to win that game to get into the playoffs.

“So I think with the rivalry, maybe [Packers head coach Matt LaFleur] will say let’s go in there and knock them out.”

Depending on the Bears-Packers and Rams-Cardinals start times, a Green Bay win could either take Chicago’s destiny out of their hands or eliminate them from playoff contention. But further, the Packers’ easiest path to clinching the NFC’s top seed and a first-round bye is winning their final two games.

The Packers took it to the Bears in Week 12, winning 41-25 at Lambeau Field in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. So if they play their starters, they could eventually pull them, if they get a big enough lead early.

However, the Bears making the playoffs over Kyler Murray and the Cardinals may be more favorable for Green Bay, another reason how this year differs from 2010.

“I think [their starters will] play some, [but] I think they will sit them, simply because I don’t think the Packers are truly threatened by the Bears,” Brown said. “I think that’s how they think, they’re not threatened by them.

“If they get in, so what? It may keep out a pretty dangerous offense like Arizona.”