The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears will play in December for first place in the NFC North.
It’s the first time these two teams have played a game with stakes this high since Aaron Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for a touchdown pass in the regular season finale in 2013. The Packers won the NFC North that day.
The winner of Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field will not automatically win the NFC North, but they’ll take a big step toward doing so.
The Packers are coming off their biggest win of the season, and the Bears have won nine of their last 10 games. Both teams are playing well.
Here are our keys to the Packers walking away from Lambeau Field with another big victory.
1. Takeaways
The Packers’ defense does a lot of things well, but they do not take the ball away.
They’ve done a better job since the bye week but were shut out in the turnover department in last Thursday’s win over Detroit.
Chicago, on the other hand, makes their living on taking the ball away. The Bears lead the league in takeaways and took the ball away three times from an Eagles offense that only had six giveaways going into their matchup Friday.
As the stakes rise in December football, taking care of the ball becomes even more important. Green Bay will have to protect the football first. Then they’ll need to find a way to make a play or two against Caleb Williams, who has done a good job of avoiding interceptions this season as well.
2. Chicago’s run game
Coming into the 2024 season, a lot of the attention in Chicago was placed on starting quarterback Williams. Williams has been better in 2025 after a dismal rookie season saw his head coach get fired at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, two of his draft classmates, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, have outperformed him thus far in their young careers. Ultimately, Ben Johnson was hired to get the most out of Williams, but this Bears team gets off the bus running the football.
For as much focus as there was on Green Bay’s ability to take Jahmyr Gibbs away in their Thanksgiving game against Detroit, Chicago’s run game is very good. They bludgeoned the Philadelphia Eagles on the legs of Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift. Both of the members of Chicago’s backfield topped 100 yards rushing against a tough Eagles defense.
Green Bay will be playing their first game without Devonte Wyatt, who was lost for the season with an ankle injury in their win over Detroit.
3. Stay the course
Green Bay’s offense found its identity during the team’s 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions, which begs the question whether Matt LaFleur realizes it. Jordan Love took a starring role, tossing four scoring strikes as LaFleur remained aggressive throughout the game.
Josh Jacobs, who looked fresh as the game progressed, played a complementary role.
There will be a temptation in this game for LaFleur to turn back to his smashmouth philosophy, which has taken over as the team’s identity over the last year and spilled into this year.
Chicago will be missing at least one of their starting linebackers with Tremaine Edmunds on injured reserve.
Despite that, the identity that LaFleur needs to lean into is allowing his quarterback to lead the team to victory and use Jacobs as a means to salt the game away after the Packers have built a lead on the arm of Love.
