No Parsons, No Excuses: Bears prepare for Packers again

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 2 hours ago

CHICAGO - For the second time in three weeks, the Chicago Bears are set to play the Green Bay Packers, this time on their home turf at Soldier Field on Sat. Dec. 20 (7:20 p.m. / FOX).

“Really excited about this weekend. I know our guys have been looking for another opportunity to compete against this team,” head coach Ben Johnson said. “So, looking forward to being at home field and great atmosphere.”

Green Bay will look much different defensively this time around. In Chicago’s first game against the Packers, they had to contend with defensive end Micah Parsons. However, in Green Bay’s game against the Denver Broncos this past Sunday, Parsons tore his ACL and is out for the season.

With the change in personnel on the defensive line, the Bears will have to adjust how they deal with this defense.

“Anytime you play a team in the division, there’s certainly elements you look at from the first game of what you did well, what you didn’t do well and you try to make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes and try to continue to attack them in a certain fashion and so, there are things that I thought we did well that first game, particularly in the second half. We played a lot better on offense in that regard,” Johnson said. “So, they’re changing. Micah’s out, and so you’re trying to forecast what they might do to match certain personnel groups or slow down our run game, and that’s a difficult thing to do when that injury happened last game. So, we got to be prepared to adjust and play accordingly.”

One aspect the Bears will need to get straightened out is improving the run game. The Bears have relied on their running back duo - D’Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai. However, neither back was able to find the end zone against Green Bay, marking the first time since Chicago’s November game against the Minnesota Vikings that the Bears did not have a rushing touchdown.

Swift got back on track against the Cleveland Browns with 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

He only needs 65 rushing yards in the next three games to have the second 1,000-rushing-yard season of his career, and with 71.9 rushing yards per game, he is on track to have the best season of his career.

“He’s really embraced what we’re trying to do. He’s got some familiarity with the running style that we need from that running back position. It’s taken a little bit of time just for the o-line and the backs to all get on the same page, but since the bye week, I feel like we’ve been unified and everyone understands what the intent is and so, that’s a starting point for him. I think (running backs coach) Eric Bieniemy is doing a phenomenal job with all those backs. He takes a lot of pride in finishing. He takes a lot of pride in playing physical football, takes a lot of pride in pass protection, all the things that I think a good running back coach (embodies). That’s what Eric Bieniemy’s about and so, that certainly augments the rest of those guys in that room and so, I think Swifty’s taken to that. He’s very disciplined on his landmarks, probably the most disciplined I’ve seen him be since he’s been in his career now, just staying right on the track and trusting the blocking up front and helping set up some of those blocks. I think we saw last week him take that game to the next level where he’s able to make some of those tackles on the second and third level miss and become really explosive, big gains for us and so, that’s what he’s always had in his body and that’s what we’ll continue to need from here on out.”

With a win against the Packers and a loss by the Detroit Lions against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sun. Dec. 21 (3:25 p.m. / CBS), the Chicago Bears would clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2020.