The Monday Night Football matchup this week is as classic as they come with the Chicago Bears travelling to play the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and the game will start up on ESPN at 8:30 pm and streaming live on the WatchESPN website and is a huge NFC North matchup.
The Bears are slumping and the Packers are soaring and these two teams meet on the highway going in different directions and without Jay Cutler at the helm, Marc Trestman will have to find a way to turn things around and that likely means a heavy work load for Matt Forte in the game. The Packers have found a rushing attack this season with rookies Eddie Lacy and Jonathan Franklin as well as James Starks and the team will likely go to that as well while they deal with some serious injuries. The division rests on this week for the Bears, as any chance they have of getting back into it starts the next two games against the Packers and the at home against the Detroit Lions and that comes after a loss to the Lions already this season on the road.
Check here for the Monday night football live stream coverage for the Packers and the Bears.
The Bears have had a mediocre defense this season apart from turnovers and now they have added some depth to the line after dealing with some injuries, as Jay Ratliff was signed to the team this past week. Ratliff will likely not be playing this week, but he will be in the lineup going forward and the Cowboys are ion the schedule for the Bears in a few weeks in another Monday night matchup for the team. Ratliff should add a boost to the defense for the Bears and while he has been banged up and old, he is another body on the line and the team needs more on the defensive front end this season. The team is ranked 23rd against the run in yards per game and 26th against the pass and they will have to be better against the Packers.
The Bears have lost three games while allowing over 40 points twice and last game they scored 41, but gave up even more to the Redskins in a disappointing loss that saw some nice performances from Matt Forte and Josh McCown. The Bears now have the chance to try and turn things around and they will try to avoid another two game losing streak after dropping to the Lions and Saints earlier in the season. The Packers are hoping to get James Jones back in the lineup and that would be a big deal, as they have already lost Randall Cobb for a while this season and while Jarrett Boykin has stepped up, adding James to the lineup would be a huge move for Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers have won their last four while scoring over 30 in the past two and after playing against the Bears they host the very hot Eagles and then hit the road for a rematch with the New York Giants after the team defeated them in the playoffs a couple years ago on the way to the Super Bowl. The back stretch of the season has tough road games against the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys, but the team has the Atlanta Falcons at home as well as a divisional matchup with the Vikings, while the Lions are on the road. The MNF game in Week 9 will be at Lambeau Field and will be between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.