THE NFL IS BACK!
In honor of the league celebrating 100 seasons, the first game will feature the rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers to open the season.
The game takes place at 8:20 PM EST at Soldier Field and will air on NBC.
To get you ready for what is to come here’s a preview of who to watch and what to watch for in tonight’s season opener.
Chicago made a huge turnaround a season ago and are looking to follow up one good season with a second.
Green Bay is starting fresh as Matt LaFleur replaces Mike McCarthy on the sidelines giving Aaron Rodgers a new offense to run.
The division foes will be meeting for the 199th time. The Packers hold a 97-95-6 edge over the previous 198 games played.
Headlining this most recent face off is Khalil Mack for the Bears and Rodgers for the Packers. Both are among the best players at their positions and are equally capable of winning the game on their own. Yet, for all of their talents the team that wins tonight’s game will be the one that gets the most out of their entire roster.
For Chicago, they are in the second year under Andy Reid protégée, Matt Nagy. Last year his offense was a big part of why the Bears jumped all the way up to third place in the NFC in 2018.
Getting Mitchell Trubisky out of the pocket and throwing on the move and scrambling down field made him an even tougher player to prepare for. Now with a full season under his belt, he should be even more comfortable which could lead to more explosive plays.
Speaking of big gains, Tarik Cohen is now join in the backfield by rookie running back David Montgomery. Those two will surely be the source of several 20-plus yard plays over the course of the season.
With Green Bay losing Clay Matthews in free agency and Oren Burks to a pectoral injury they are now forced to start seventh-round rookie draft pick Ty Summers. The TCU grad was highly impressive in the preseason but Week 1 presents a completely different set of circumstances.
This will also be LaFleur’s first test as a head coach. Granted he has arguably the most talented quarterback the NFL has ever seen as a security blanket. It’ll be interesting to see just how different the offense actually looks with a real game here.
Coming from the Sean McVay coaching tree means there will be more emphasis on the run than we have seen at any other time Rodgers has called the shots. Aaron Jones was great in short usage last season, can he answer the call as more of a core piece to the Packers offense?
Also, will another receiver besides Davante Adams step up as there will be more sets with multiple wideouts on the field together in this new system. Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are the logical choices to fill that void.
The newness of Green Bay’s offense will be put to the test by Mack and the rest of the Bears strong defense. While they lost Vic Fangio to Denver, they replace him with another respected defensive mind in Chuck Pagano.
If Chicago can bring the same intensity to defense as they had last year they’ll be a tough opponent for the new-look Packers, especially on the road.
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