2018 NFL Playoff Watch: Week 15 preview on 6 key games
By Ian Wharton
Packers at Bears
It’s been a disastrous year for the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers has played more like Alex Smith than the transcendent Hall of Famer we’ve grown to know, Mike McCarthy is gone, and there’s just not a consistent spark and effectiveness within this team on a weekly basis. And yet they still have a shot to make the playoffs as the final NFC Wild Card spot.
While FiveThirtyEight gives them just a three-percent chance to make it, the actual process of what must happen isn’t inconceivable. The Panthers, Redskins, and Eagles must each lose one game, and the Vikings must lose two of their final three. The first three are near-locks to happen considering that Cam Newton is playing hurt and the Panthers have dropped five straight games, and neither the Redskins nor Eagles have any reliability with their own backup quarterback issues.
The Vikings face Miami, Detroit, and then Chicago. Losing two of those is certainly feasible.
Of course, it doesn’t matter if the Packers don’t win out, and that means winning in Chicago just one week after the Bears were the first team to stop the Rams’ offense. The Packers won 24-23 Week 1, but these two teams have gone in opposite directions since.
What gives the Packers a real chance is their secondary against Mitch Trubisky, which was a major factor in their earlier matchup as well. Trubisky’s accuracy continues to be brutally bad, and they’re often winning in spite of or with very little from him.
The Bears can manufacture some offense through their pre-snap motions and combination routes, but will likely be counting on a close, low-scoring game.
Rodgers will need to let loose again this week as he showed more of this past week. Davante Adams is one of the very few receivers who can consistently beat Bears star corner Kyle Fuller, and Aaron Jones must become more of a factor than he’s been over the last month for them to win.
I’m not optimistic.
Prediction: Bears 27-17