Green Bay Packers (12-3) at Chicago Bears (8-7)

When these two teams met for the first time this season in week 12, it was Mitch Trubisky’s first start of his second stint as the starter, taking over for Nick Foles, who was nursing an injury. The Packers won that game 41-25, but the Bears lost the first down rate battle by just 1.19%, losing primarily because of 3 turnovers, including one returned for a touchdown. Trubisky threw two interceptions, but otherwise led the Bears to 26 first downs on 66 plays (39.39%), which was more than could be said about Foles. Trubisky continued to be an upgrade on Foles and has kept the starting job even with Foles healthy again, leading the Bears to a 3-2 stretch (including the loss to Green Bay) that has them on the cusp of a playoff berth, including 4 straight games of 30 points or more since their first matchup with the Packers.

I’m not sold on this new version of Trubisky though. Not only is it a short 5-game starting stretch for a quarterback who has been inconsistent throughout his career, but he’s faced a very easy schedule, as the Packers are by far the toughest team he’s faced defensively. In fact, Trubisky’s four other starts came against teams that rank 24th (Minnesota), 29th (Jacksonville), 31st (Houston), and 32nd (Detroit) in first down rate allowed over expected and the best of the bunch, Minnesota, was without their best defensive player Eric Kendricks. 

Trubisky has been an upgrade over Foles, even with level of competition factored in, but Foles was playing so badly that being an upgrade isn’t necessarily an accomplishment. Trubisky did move the ball well against the Packers, but his two interceptions against them in the first matchup raises further concerns about how he’ll perform against tougher competition, both this week in the rematch and possibly in the post-season next week, which they would qualify for even with a loss if the Cardinals lose to the Rams.

The Packers aren’t a great defensive team, but they’ve gotten better as the season has gone on, as would be expected from a team whose defense underachieves early in the season, and now they rank 13th in first down rate allowed over expected at +0.16%, complementing an offense that ranks 8th in first down rate over expected at +1.69%. Also one of the most talented teams in the league on paper, I was considering a bet on the Packers as 5.5-point favorites earlier in the week, as my calculated line was about -7. 

Unfortunately, the Packers lost stud left tackle David Bakhtiari for the season with a torn ACL in practice this week and I don’t think this line compensated enough, going down to Green Bay -4, as 5 is not a key number. My calculated line is now Green Bay -5, so I would need this line to go down to at least -3 to be bettable, which doesn’t seem likely. Even if Trubisky is a shaky quarterback option, he is supported by a strong defense and the Bears rank 14th in my roster rankings, so they can be competitive in this one with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense missing their key blindside protector. The Packers are still the pick for pick ‘em purposes, but I’m not confident in them.

Green Bay Packers 28 Chicago Bears 23

Pick against the spread: Green Bay -4

Confidence: Low