Chicago Bears aren't taking 2-2 Packers lightly, starting with their QB and DBs

It's officially Packers week in Chicago.

The Chicago Bears know this. The coach and the team want nothing more than to beat up their NFC North rivals across the state lines to the north.

Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III has beaten them twice, and helped set the tone early on for the Bears on Monday.

"What's done in the past doesn't matter. We're ready to get down there Sunday and come back home with a dub," Burden said on Monday. "We just want to beat them really bad and make them quit."

This starts with understanding the opponent they want to beat.

What they're saying:

Johnson's Wednesday press conference talked about the players the Bears know will cause them problems on Sunday.

Namely, the Packers' quarterback and defensive secondary.

The quarterback is 4-3 against the Bears, with all three of those losses coming since the start of the 2025 calendar year and continuing into 2026.

"Jordan Love is one of the better quarterbacks in this league," Johnson said.

Specifically, Johnson lauded the way Love moves the ball with a precise arm. So far in 2026, Love has been a little below his average.

Love has a 56.5 completion percentage through four games in 2026. His career completion percentage is 63.6 percent. That's what Johnson is expecting on Sunday.

"He is as accurate as anybody," Johnson said. "Really big challenge for us on the road."

On the defensive side of the ball, Johnson lauded how quick the secondary is. Namely, Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney.

"Defensively, lot of speed," Johnson said. "I have a ton of respect for these safeties."

The Bears have one open spot on their 53-man roster this week. Johnson said the Bears will go through practice this week to determine what position he uses to fill that final spot on the 53-man roster.

Perhaps a player that can help affect Love or the Packers' safeties might be in play? It remains to be seen, especially with Ozzy Trapilo's recovery progressing and after Marcus Davenport's retirement.

Or, the Bears could activate one of the three players in the process of coming off the Physically Unable to Perform list: pass rusher Shemar Turner, linebacker Noah Sewell or defensive back Kyler Gordon.

"We'll let this thing play out," Johnson said. "That's kind of been the thought throughout is let's utilize the time that we have and we're given and we'll make a decision at the end of the week if one of those three are ready to go, so we'll see."

Dig deeper:

Johnson said after Sunday's win that running back Kyle Monangai injured his thumb against the Jets. On Wednesday, Johnson said Monangai's thumb won't be an issue, but he’s still feeling the 30 carries from Sunday.

He and plenty others on the offense are still sore from Sunday's win over the Jets where they possessed the ball constantly and finished the game with a time of possession mark of over 42 minutes of game time.

That was the case for everyone on the Bears' offense.

"I'm gonna feel tomorrow or I'll feel it Tuesday, but that's what we love on the O-line," Bears left tackle Theo Benedet said. "That's when you feel like you're controlling the game and it wasn't always pretty. It's a good front, so it was tough sledding. We had to make tough yards, but got it done."

Recovery will be an ongoing process this week.

"We had a long discussion there with our guys and we're trying to do the best we can to balance it out," Johnson said. "Like I said before, we are still in improvement mode. We're just starting the second quarter of the season. It's all about how do we improve as a team. It's not like we can go full-fledged walkthrough. We don't believe in that. And yet, it'll be a little bit different practice here today to make sure that we're smart about the number of reps that we got on Sunday."

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