The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears kick off with the oldest rivalry in the NFL with a Week 1 game at Soldier Field and the matchup starts at 1 pm ET with Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers. The matchup is on FOX and starts things with these teams in a divisional game and is the debut for John Fox with the Bears.
The Packers are coming into the season as one of the favorites in the NFC despite losing Jordy Nelson to an injury and they are a team to watch. The Bears had a tough 2014, but they have a new coach and a new outlook in 2015. The team success could depend on whether Jay Cutler can handle the new offense from Adam Gase, but he will have to start off without top 10 pick Kevin White on the field.
Matt Forte could be the most important player in this game and if he gets the chance to move around, he could be dangerous for the Packers defense. Forte has been used as a wide receiver a bit in training camp and that could play out with some of the injuries that the team has been dealing with. Alshon Jeffery is expected to play, but he likely isn't 100 percent and that could give Forte and Eddie Royal the chance to get some work with Cutler.
Forte has great hands and is a great receiver out of the backfield and the Bears may try and push that matchup this weekend. The Packers have their own issues at wide receiver with Nelson out, but the team avoided a bit scare when Randall Cobb only suffered a minor injury in the preseason. ESPN's NFL Live team debated that the Packers could run the ball more this season with Mike McCarthy not calling play for the first time in a decade and that means Eddie Lacy could have a huge season.
Davante Adams was expected to have a big season even when Nelson was healthy and now that Nelson is out, Adams could be a sleeper player for the Packers. Adams had a solid rookie season last year and Aaron Rodgers has praised the receiver through the summer for his work ethic and improvement from last year. James Jones was signed to help the depth at receiver and he has a good rapport with Rogers from his previous time in Green Bay.
Cobb is an explosive player and he obviously will be a big part of things, as he is now the number one receiver for the Packers. Last season Cobb had some great numbers with nearly 1300 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns and he is going to be a major factor as well.
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