Green Bay Packers: 3 Bold predictions for Week 17 vs. Bears

Bold predictions for the Green Bay Packers in Week 17 against the Bears.

The Green Bay Packers faced plenty of doubters entering this season. After a 13-3 showing last year, talk of regression was persistent throughout the offseason. Yet, as they travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears in Week 17, head coach Matt LaFleur’s team is just a win away from matching their record from last season. More importantly, a win would lock up the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Everything has gone swimmingly for the Packers this season, at least up until the news that David Bakhtiari suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for Week 17 and the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers has been performing at an MVP level and his connection with Davante Adams has been absolutely deadly. Moreover, the pass defense has been one of the league’s best down the stretch.

In the first meeting between the Packers and Bears in Week 12, Green Bay rolled to a 41-25 victory. Now with even bigger stakes on the line, they’ll look to replicate that effort. As such, let’s offer three bold predictions for the Packers in this matchup as they aim to lock up home-field advantage in the NFC.

Green Bay Packers bold prediction No. 3: Alexander picks off Trubisky twice

There has been plenty of talk about the Bears potentially re-signing Mitchell Trubisky as the fourth-year quarterback has helped guide his team back into the playoff picture. But the truth of the matter is that he’s played slightly above-average football against three awful pass defenses.

When he was forced to start against the Packers in Week 12, however, he struggled. Darnell Savage picked off the former No. 2 overall pick twice on the day while Trubisky went just 26-of-46 for 242 yard, even if he did also throw three touchdowns — though two came in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach.

Green Bay’s pass defense has been playing lights out. The pass rush has been forceful and the secondary has been performing at an extremely high level. With Trubisky looking to pepper Allen Robinson, he’ll have trouble finding his mark and Jaire Alexander will make his presence felt, taking Savage’s place by picking off the Bears quarterback twice on the day.

Green Bay Packers bold prediction No. 2: Adams goes for 150 yards, 2 TDs

The Packers were so dominant offensively in the first meeting between the two NFC North rivals that the passing attack wasn’t all that necessary. Rodgers only threw 29 passing attempts on the day, so it stands to reason that Davante Adams had only six catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.

With the Week 17 matchup at Soldier Field and with the Bears competing for a playoff berth, though, the Packers can’t let off the gas in this one. Moreover, Green Bay should be looking to establish dominance. That means a hefty workload for Adams.

Rodgers is going to look his favorite target’s way often and the Fresno State product will deliver. He’ll cap off the regular season with another monstrous game, going off for 150 yards and two scores on the day.

Green Bay Packers bold prediction No. 1: Rodgers locks up MVP with 4 TD outing

While Rodgers was pedestrian by design in the first matchup against Chicago, he did throw four touchdowns on the day to guide the way for the offense. And that’s all part of a season that has him entering the regular-season finale as the NFL MVP favorite. He’ll leave no doubt that he should win the award with his Week 17 performance, though.

Though we could see the absence of Bakhtiari felt against a good Bears defensive front, Rodgers is more than capable of making plays and dicing up a Chicago secondary that isn’t equipped to defend all of the Green Bay weapons on the field.

Rodgers will throw for four touchdowns yet again against the Bears but will top 300 yards this time as well. As that will give him over 4,300 yards, 48 touchdowns and only five interceptions on the year, that should lock up the MVP award for the future Hall-of-Famer.