Packers will face Bears in rivalry rematch following Week 18 exhibition loss to Vikings
The Green Bay Packers team that played in Week 18 will hardly resemble the one in the playoffs agains the Chicago Bears, but that doesn't mean we learned nothing.
Good morning!
The Green Bay Packers fell 16-3 to the Minnesota Vikings in the Week 18 finale of the 2025 regular season, but that was hardly the headline. Matt LaFleur sat nearly every starter on offense and defense in preparation for a playoff date with the NFC’s No. 2 seed, whomever they may be.
Bring on the Bears. Chicago will host Green Bay after a loss at home to the Detroit Lions, who themselves had been eliminated from postseason contention the week before by the aforementioned Vikings in Detroit!
The Bears have lost their last two games, despite playing for playoff seeding, and as has been the case all season, have been lucky not to lose ground.
This weekend, the Packers will get their chance to change that luck and win the rubber match. We dive into that storyline, revisit the few noteworthy things that happened at U.S. Bank Stadium, and more.
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Does anything that happened Sunday for the Packers matter for the playoffs?
Peter Bukowski: The backup pass rush stepped up against a real NFL offensive line, something they’ll have to do without Micah Parsons against Caleb Williams. In the first matchup, Parsons almost single-handedly shut down the Bears for two quarters. He was everywhere.
In the second matchup, Jeff Hafley had to resort to his most blitz-heavy game plan of the season. That also worked, holding the Bears to 16 points in regulation, and it would have been nine had Romeo Doubs held onto an onside kick.
Brenton Cox earned five pressures with a sack against the Vikings, according to NextGen Stats. Collin Oliver managed to grab four in only 15 pass rush snaps, and Barryn Sorrell had three to go along with several key run stops, including an impressive third-and-1 stuff where he won his matchup cold at the snap and flowed to the ball. He also recovered the fumble on the Max Brosmer self-sack.
Oliver likely won’t see many reps in a playoff game after making his NFL debut, but Cox enters the playoffs firmly as DE4 for the Packers and likely gets the nod on designated passing downs. Sorrell’s ability to play the run effectively makes him a candidate to spell Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, or Kingsley Enagbare on early downs as the team’s run defense shakes off the Derrick Henry performance.
Gary had four pressures, two hits, and two hurries against Williams in the last matchup despite an uneven season overall. Williams has proven himself a dangerous scrambler, so the more bodies to throw at Williams, the better, particularly with the left tackle position in flux for Chicago.
Oh, and one more thing might matter: Trevon Diggs could be starting for the Packers against the Bears.
PB: Even before LaFleur refused to rule out starting Diggs in the playoffs, a curious thing happened: late in the game, Evan Williams and Javon Bullard were still rotating at safety, while Diggs’ day was long done.
LaFleur and Hafley were telling us something: Diggs is very important to this football team right now. And in limited reps, it was easy to see why. On a play J.J. McCarthy missed a slant by a good five yards, Diggs closed down space with burst to Justin Jefferson. Even if the pass had been on target, Diggs would have at least contested the play.
He tackled well in space, including on a receiver screen, something Carrington Valentine has been allergic to most of his career.
The Packers brought Diggs here to play. They gave him a chance to get his feet wet against the Vikings, but expect him to be in a rotation at the very least to start the game against the Bears.
One more note here: Bullard went down late in the game with a knee injury and appeared to be in considerable pain. For a moment, it looked like a galaxy-brained decision to protect Diggs, who looked potentially washed up in Dallas, over Bullard and Williams, who have been extremely productive players for the Packers this season.
Luckily, Bullard and LaFleur confirmed he was OK and would likely be good to go for the Bears.
Speaking of the Bears … the Packers don’t care about their record. They know they have been better than Chicago for nearly all of the two games they played.
PB: When Bullard was asked which team he wanted, Philly or Chicago, he said both. Of course, each would represent revenge of a kind. The Eagles knocked the Packers out of last year’s playoffs, and the Bears’ miraculous comeback win all but ended the Pack’s chances at the NFC North. It was a meltdown of Green Bay’s own making.
Now, none of it matters.
“It’s playoffs, man. We’re all starting off zero, zero,” Bullard said after the game.
“All that record sh*t’s out the window. We [are] in the dance; that’s all we need. We got our foot in the door. And no matter what nobody’s record was in the regular season, that sh*t don’t matter now … our mind’s on one thing, and that’s beat the hell out whoever we play on the road.”
When asked how much he wanted to beat the Bears, rookie Warren Brinson pushed up his sunglasses to reveal his eyes and said, “Bad.”
This is personal for this team. They know how good they are, and that’s been the problem at times. They haven’t always taken their opponents seriously. When it was time to kick their season into gear, they went on an impressive run, beating the Lions and Bears in successive weeks. When Love reared back to fire deep in Denver, already up two scores, Packers fans across the country were making Super Bowl plans.
That was the last game Love started and finished. Had Zach Tom and Christian Watson not gotten hurt in that game, Love was on track to cook one of the best defenses in the NFL in their building. When Tom went out in particular, the pass protection went to hell, and Love suddenly had no shot.
LaFleur said all the inactive players from Sunday have a good chance to play Saturday night against the Bears. That would include Tom, along with Josh Jacobs, Xavier McKinney, Quay Walker, and Dontayvion Wicks.
“I believe in that locker room. I believe in the talent we have, the players we have, how committed they are, how together they are. I know the type of fight we have as a football team,” LaFleur said.
The oddsmakers believe in them, too. The Packers are just 1.5-point underdogs in Chicago as the 7-seed, and a so-inclined gambler would have to lay juice to take them on the moneyline.
Parting Shot
PB: The best quote from the Packers post-game locker room came, fittingly, from the best player on the field for Green Bay: Daniel Whelan. When asked why he believes his team can be dangerous in the postseason, he said, “Because we’re the Green Bay Packers, man. That's why. We’re a good team. I think we can win it all this year.”
I like our chances in the first two rounds. The only team that really scares me is Seattle in their house.