Thursday Night Football: Do the Bears Have a Chance Against Packers

I love Chicago. I write for the greatest sports city in America and I’m not afraid to defend my words regarding how strongly I feel about the Windy City. I have a soft spot for the Bears because of this — and because a large part of my family is from Chicago. It’s for those reasons that it saddens me to point out that the Chicago Bears are hopeless tonight as they do battle with the Green Bay Packers.

Bears vs. Packers – 7:30pm ET on NFL Network

Let’s face it, the Bears didn’t really have a tall order in stoping Andrew Luck on Sunday. Sure, he’s the No. 1 overall pick and you can point to RGIII’s performance against the Saints as proof the Bears defense looked sharp — but they didn’t play RGIII they played Andrew Luck and as was made very clear on Sunday, he’s got some work to do.

And if you’re even remotely close to comparing Andrew Luck to Aaron Rodgers, then please go directly to jail, do not pass Go, exit left, leave, get out of town and just stop it.

That’s not to say this Bears defense isn’t stout. Brian Urlacher is expected to be on the field tonight and anytime that happens, you have to acknowledge that a Hall of Famer is going to work.

But we’re all going to to have to start actively acknowledging that about another guy suiting up tonight, one Aaron Rodgers.

I know Chicago, which means I know Derrick Rose. Rose is a fierce competitor and when the Bulls get beat up by a lowly team, Rose comes out with a fiery vengeance. He doesn’t care about commercials, he doesn’t care about money he doesn’t even care about his name — Derrick Rose plays to win the game and when that doesn’t happen he considers himself a failure.

When I look at Rodgers, I see that same fiery competitiveness — that blind ambition to win and only win.  And when he loses and he loses bad, watch out if you’re the next in line to face him.

This is an NFC North opener tonight and both teams have a ton at stake. On paper it appears the Packers have the most at stake, as they’re hopes of repeating last year’s 1-loss success is seriously in danger in just the second week. A loss by the Packers also means not only are they 0-2, but they’re 0-1 on the division and can only split with the Bears, who are favored by some to be a dark horse to win the NFC North.

But the Bears have the most to lose tonight and all this has to do with hype. The Packers have hype, this is true. But they’ve won a Super Bowl with this current roster, they’ve reached the peak of greatness and they’re simply trying to get back. The Bears — not so much.

Jay Cutler finally has offensive weapons, that’s been the excuse in Chicago as of late: Jay Cutler needs receiving targets and big ones at that. Well they don’t come bigger in Chicago than Brandon Marshall and to boot, they spent a second round draft pick on Alshon Jeffery. Not only that but the Bears have something the Packers haven’t had — a Pro Bowl running back at the top of his game.

This combined with the always noticeable defense in Chicago places the Bears in a must-win situation every time they’re in a big spot.

Like tonight.

Was last week a fluke for the Packers? Did the refs really beat Green Bay like Jarrett Bush claims, or are there flaws on this team for once? Can the Bears actually get a two game lead on the Packers? Is this finally the year Jay Cutler breaks out and becomes the quarterback now two teams have hoped he’d become?

It’s only week 2 in the NFL and already we’ll have some big questions answered. But with every answered question in football, another ten million are raised.

Ahhh, don’t you love the NFL?