A Few Notes and Sleepers for Thursday Night Football
Bears at Packers
This is the 183rd regular season meeting between the Bears and Packers dating back to November 27, 1921…the Bears, then known as the Chicago Staleys, were sponsored by Staley Starchworks and led by player/coach George Halas….The Green Bay Packers, who in 1921 were also a company owned team, owned by the Acme Meat Packing Company, and led by player coach Curley Lambeau….Staleys won 20-0 on their way to winning their first championship for the team
that would become the Chicago Bears…
The Packers were trampled by the 49ers last week on the ground, they allowed 5.9 yards a carry and 186 yards rushing for the game…The Bears will continue to use the running tandem of Matt Forte and Michael Bush… Bush will get the goal line carries, although Forte complained about that after Week 1… after getting two rushing touchdowns last Sunday Bush remains a good play…TE sleeper of the week is Kellen Davis, he had four receptions, 53 yards and scored against the Packers week three and week 16 last year… Jay Cutler should have him open in play action at the goal line….Bears rookie WR Alshon Jeffrey, who had 5 targets and touchdown against the Colts, makes for a good flex start against Packer cornerbacks that will be tested all night and that will be paying more attention to WR Brandon Marshall…WR Greg Jennings probably will not play, even if he gets on field he will be slowed, making WR’s James Jones and Randall Cobb solid starts against a Bear pass defense that was 28th in the league in 2011…the good news for RB Cedric Benson is that he was the only Packer running back to carry the ball last week…the bad news is that quarterback Aaron Rodgers led the Packers last week in rushing…the Bears are solid against the run, the Packers are content to pass on 65% of their snaps anyway…if you can sit Benson and dust him off for next Monday.
