Packers vs. Bears: Two must-know storylines for Saturday's Week 16 game

A special edition of Saturday football hits the NFL in Week 16 with an NFC doubleheader featuring plenty of playoff implications.

The Philadelphia Eagles will look to become the first team to clinch back-to-back NFC East titles in 21 years with a win over the Commanders.

In the nightcap, the Packers and Bears square off with first place in the NFC North -- and potential playoff berths -- at stake.

Two must-know storylines

1) Bears take center stage in heated rivalry. The stars have aligned for Chicago's breakout season to potentially enter a higher realm of progress with a prime-time home game against the rival Packers. The winner of Saturday's affair, accompanied with a Lions loss or tie on Sunday, clinches a playoff berth and secures a lead in the NFC North entering Week 17. According to NFL Research, It's the latest Packers-Bears matchup by week all-time in which the winner will take the division lead -- an incredible factoid within the league's oldest rivalry (Saturday is the 212th edition of Bears vs. Packers). Chicago has been at the wrong end of these clashes in recent time and fell to Green Bay just two weeks ago. Despite throwing the game-sealing interception in the final moments, Caleb Williams led an impressive second-half comeback that exemplified the type of fortitude and togetherness the Bears have displayed in the first season of Ben Johnson's direction. While Williams and Johnson have orchestrated a well-balanced offense, the Bears' play-making defense, which has produced an NFL-high 30 takeaways so far this season, has been a major factor in Chicago getting to the 10-win mark already. That could too play a role against Jordan Love and the Packers, who hold a 9-1-1 record in games with one or fewer giveaways this season while going winless in the three games with three-plus turnovers. Saturday night presents an opportunity for the Bears to exact revenge at Soldier Field, a place where the Bears haven't beaten the Packers since 2018 -- the last season when Chicago won the NFC North and hit a double-digit win total. It can't be understated how big this one is for the Bears, who haven't played a meaningful regular-season game in late December since backpedaling into a wild-card spot with an 8-8 record in 2020. While it might not make or break the Bears season, this result against this team might certainly feels that way for Chicago.

2) Life without Parsons begins for Green Bay. Saturday's showdown in Chicago will be the first game following Micah Parsons' season-ending ACL tear, which begs a big question: How will the Packers defense adjust without one of the league's premier pass rushers? Parsons led the NFL with 83 QB pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, and led his team with 12.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 26 QB hits in 2025. With 40 more QB pressures than the next Packers pass rusher (Rashan Gary), Parsons' impact has been monumental for Green Bay's sixth-ranked overall defense, allowing an 89.1 passer rating with Parsons on the field compared to a 101.4 rating from opposing QBs when he's off the field this season, per NGS. With Gary supplying a reliable presence, Green Bay will be leaning on Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare to step up. Van Ness returned last week from a nagging foot injury that forced him out a bulk of the season but was limited in snaps played. Enagbare, meanwhile, has been hot as of late, notching a QB hit in each of the last five games while collecting 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss in that span as a rotational piece. With the Packers' pass rush is expected to take a step back, it's the Bears' rushing attack they might need to worry more about. Powered by D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai -- the only running back duo in the NFL with 650-plus rushing yards each in 2025 -- Chicago leads the league with 171.1 rushing yards per game since Week 6, and that ground attack has really balanced the Bears offense out and into one of the top units in the NFL. Bears wideouts Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III are ruled out for Saturday's game, making their rushing game a key element for Green Bay to stop -- but they will have to figure it all out without Parsons.

Packers' Week 16 injury report

Bears' Week 16 injury report