Game Overview ::
By HILOW >>
- The Packers had a slew of players listed as questionable on their first practice report out of their bye week, with only DL Colby Wooden listed as a non-participant.
- Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd was limited Wednesday after having his 21-day practice window opened during the bye.
- The Bears are a bit banged up, with three offensive linemen, two members of the secondary, and EDGE Montez Sweat listed on the team’s first injury report to start Week 11 preparation.
HOW green bay WILL TRY TO WIN ::
The Packers hit their bye week at the perfect time to avoid the “losses after you play the Lions” streak found around the league this season, also allowing quarterback Jordan Love to rest up from his strained groin suffered against the Jaguars in Week 8. We know the drill with the Packers under Matt LaFleur – expect a balanced offense that typically utilizes slow pace of play, with an emphasis on outmaneuvering their opponent through game plan and in-game adjustments. As such, the Packers can never really be counted on to push a game environment on their own. And nothing really changes here against an opponent that is looking to force teams into that approach to begin with, setting this side of the game up as a pure chess match between LaFleur and Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, both looking to outduel and outmaneuver the other.
Running back Josh Jacobs continues to nurse a quad injury coming out of the team’s bye week, while Lloyd has put together consecutive limited practices as he attempts to return from injured reserve. As things currently stand, expect Jacobs to continue forward in a lead-back role while Emanuel Wilson handles primary change-of-pace duties. In that setup, Jacobs has just three games with 20 or more running back opportunities and just two games over three targets, leaving him with fewer paths to GPP goodness considering he is not typically seeing enough pass-game involvement to remove the need for him to burst through 100 yards on the ground and score multiple touchdowns. The Packers rank seventh in yards before contact per attempt and the Bears have regressed on the ground to allow the most yards before contact in the league (2.73), making the ground game a path of least resistance for the Packers here. Even so, it comes with the caveat that Jacobs is never overly likely to see a spike in volume and still requires multiple touchdowns to return GPP viability.
Love has appeared in six fully healthy games this season, averaging 36.33 pass attempts per game in those appearances. That said, that number is ballooned by the 54-pass-attempt loss to the Vikings and the 39-pass-attempt loss to the Lions. In his three fully healthy wins this year, Love has averaged 30.33 pass attempts per game, giving us a clear idea of how LaFleur and the Packers would prefer to approach games. Green Bay pass catchers have a total combined two games of double-digit targets this season, one each by Romeo Doubs (10 in Week 7) and Dontayvion Wicks (13 in Week 4 against the Vikings in a game without Christian Watson). This offense is just never going to amass a ton of pass volume and there are no fewer than five primary skill-position players that see consistent usage on a weekly basis now. After it seemed like Watson took over the primary downfield option following he and Wicks sharing the role (Week 8), the two returned to a near-even split in snaps a week later. Jayden Reed has as many games under 70% of the offensive snaps played as he does over 70%. Tight end Tucker Kraft is a clear every-down tight end but has just three games over a modest four targets all season. This offense is simply content spreading things around, and the Packers have the depth and talent to do just that. Finally, the matchup is a poor one against a Bears defense allowing the second-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers.
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