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Football is here. Real and competitive professional football with stakes is back in our lives, starting this Thursday night.
And what a way to start.
It's not the defending Super Bowl champions New England Patriots who are launching the 100th season of the National Football League, but two of the oldest franchises in the league that are embarking on a century-old rivalry: the 199th edition of the Bears Chicago against the Green Bay Packers.
The two pillars of the NFC opened last season in the Sunday Night Football, when Green Bay came back to defeat Chicago at Lambeau Field in a 24-23 instant classic. This year, the Packers will face the Bears at Soldier Field on Thursday night to launch their campaigns. Green Bay enters with a 97-95-6 advantage in its all time series.
Thursday 's events will bring the Bears closer to a match against the rivalry record and gain a leg up in the division, or outrun the Packers' lead and give Green Bay its first victory over the Road of the year, which corresponds to the total of last season.
We have been waiting for this opening game for months, putting every game and every detail to the extreme. But there is still a day to plan and a preview to read.
Here's what to watch for when opening the season of Thursday night at 8:20 pm. AND on NBC:
1. How will the offensive of Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay behave in their first match under Matt LaFleur?
Thursday night, Rodgers will prepare for the first time without Mike McCarthy call the shots on goal. Mike has been replaced by Matt. The first head coach assists Sean McVay in Los Angeles and directs Mike Vrabel's attack in Tennessee. At 39, he is four years older than Rodgers. The main line of scrimmage will be Thursday night and has been discussed throughout the season and, according to some information, challenged this off season.
Rodgers and LaFleur spoke to Michael Silver at NFL.com this summer. They both said there was a gap between Rodgers' freedom to hear LaFleur's sound calls. The scenario has been resumed several times throughout the summer and, despite LaFleur 's best wishes, it has not resolved, as Rodgers has not yet seen the pitch; he was supposed to play in Green Bay's second and third preseason games, but was held twice for precautionary reasons.
All of this continued to build anticipation for Thursday night, when we will surely have our first glimpse of Rodgers in the LaFleur system, although it remains to be seen what it looks like. Will there be more pre-instantaneous movement? Will Aaron Jones have a larger workload? How long will the honeymoon last? We will answer these questions Thursday night.
2. Will the Bears' defense resume where she was without Vic Fangio?
There are few holes in the Chicago line either side of the ball, but mostly in defense. The Bears lost just one of last year's top ranked defensemen against Packers (Adrian Amos) and replaced him with a former starter (Ha Ha Clinton-Dix). In fact, their biggest defeat on the defensive side of the ball came on the sidelines where Fangio was replaced by Chuck Pagano as defensive coordinator. Chicago is expected to experience a regression from the Turnover Department in relation to last year's disastrous performance and the new defensive tackle, who has not held the position of district controller for eight seasons, could be increasingly more experienced. But the Bears also found an impenetrable front to seven led by Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith and of course Khalil Mack. The linebacker of the Bears has been a threat to the edges over the past three seasons, recording 162 QB (2nd) pressures and forcing 12 (T-4th) turnovers over that period. In his first game as a bear, Mack recorded a slouch bag and a choice of six selections at Lambeau before missing out on the second half in the miraculous comeback of Rodgers. Expect Mack to play the entire game on Thursday unless injury and will be the focus of a Bears defense adapting to the new direction.
3. Is David Montgomery the real deal?
The biggest mystery Chicago on the offensive is whether Mitchell Trubisky can take the role of Next Step, but this will not be solved in a football evening late summer. Instead, Bears fans should be eager to start in the first place of Montgomery, their third round outgoing Iowa State entering the league with a lot of hype and expectations galore. In replacement of Jordan Howard, whom Chicago traded in Philadelphia prior to the draft, Montgomery will be paired with fast Tarik Cohen in the backfield and should win a significant portion of the passes. Montgomery has only played one game in pre-season, totaling six touchdowns for 46 yards and one touchdown. But it was enough to put on hold the fantastic industrial football complex and the Bears discussion forums. Faced with a team of seven renewed Packers (Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Za Darius Smith among the additions) ranked 22nd in defense in a hurry in 2018, Montgomery will be able to carry the load and Chicago to win the first victory of her career?
4. Is the kicker situation in Chicago really resolved (and will Bears fans be patient with Eddy Pineiro)?
242 days have passed since the "double match", the penultimate game of the loss to the Eagles in the wild card round. Two hundred and forty-two days with a nagging need for a kicker position. Let's recap the crazy Chicago competition: Cody Parkey, nine rookie minicamp rookie trials, almost all, Pineiro, via trade, Chris Blewitt and finally Elliott Fry. Last man in the quest for Chicago to find a punt opposed to the establishment of hog skins, Pineiro enters the first part of Thursday night as a kicker leaving the Bears … for now. He closed the preseason by scoring three of the three goals, but also scored an extra point a little more out. to win boos from the loyal soldier. If or when Pineiro misses a kick against the Packers, either in the first quarter or at the end of the fourth quarter, will Chicago fans give him a break after working hard throughout the summer season because of the agony that reigned throughout the season. Or will Pineiro fall under the control of the regular season and force the Bears back on the board once more?
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