Ask Chicago Bears fans everywhere you find them this week. Do you think this team will go into Lambeau Field this weekend and beat the Green Bay Packers? If they're being honest with themselves, the majority will say no. The Packers are fighting for a playoff spot. They have the more effective quarterback and the more proven head coach. It is an advantage they've enjoyed for the past 30 years. Chicago hasn't beaten them since 2018. Matt Lafleur is undefeated against them. It is beyond clear that the Bears are genuinely spooked whenever they play the Packers.
Does this team have the mental toughness to go into that hostile stadium and take it? Not based on recent evidence. Two men sitting at the heart of this issue are Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus. Both are uncertain of their job statuses beyond this season. Both also are winless against the Packers. Fields is 0-5, with four touchdown passes and seven interceptions. As seems to be tradition, Green Bay brings out the worst in Bears quarterbacks. Eberflus is 0-3, with the Packers scoring at least 27 points in each meeting.
There is no evidence to suggest this game will be any different, and that's the problem.
The Chicago Bears know the Packers are the gatekeepers.
George Halas understood this as far back as 1963. If the Bears wanted to be champions that year, he told them they'd have to beat Green Bay twice. That is a lesson the organization seems to have forgotten over the years. They talk about wanting to win the Super Bowl. Well, that will never happen until they learn how to beat the Packers. They aren't going away. They've been the measuring stick in the NFC North for decades. It requires lots of mental toughness to beat them. While this team may have exciting talent emerging, not much has changed.
Green Bay still has the advantages where it counts—the only two people who can change that are Fields and Eberflus. People will say this final game shouldn't dictate the Chicago Bears' decision on both men. With all due respect, yes it should. Beating the Packers matters. They have tortured this fanbase for too long. If Fields and Eberflus can't beat them again, why should anybody believe the duo is capable of leading this team to a championship? No more excuses.
If they can't get it done again, team management must seriously consider finding guys who can.
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