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Packers who can cause Bears more problems in Week 11 matchup
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Packers who can cause Bears more problems in Week 11 matchup

The Bears usually don’t need coaching turbulence or falling off the NFL cliff with three-game losing streaks to cause problems when facing the Green Bay Packers.

They have everything anyway.

What an opponent the embattled Matt Eberflus would face a week after his offense suffered DOA against the putrid New England Patriots at Soldier Field. Ten consecutive defeats by their rivals tell the story.

The Bears’ recent collapse this week reminded some veteran Bears reporters of Marc Trestman’s 2014 collapse, except there was no crying offensive coordinator apologizing to the team after turning Jay Cutler into a sympathetic figure.

If this is where they’ve fallen, look for some sort of crushing loss like the 55-14 midseason loss they suffered against the Packers in 2014, several weeks before Trestman’s firing.

“When your team doesn’t play complementary football, you don’t like it,” Bears coach Matt Eberfus said. “You don’t like it. When you play complementary football, it’s something to see because you play against each other. It’s complementary. You can see the guys and their passion for each other to achieve those things.” and (Sunday) it wasn’t that. “It’s not something you like to look at.”

It really could be a reason to cover your eyes if they play a similar game against Green Bay.

Here are the Packers who can do the most damage to the Bears in the renewal of their primary rivalry on Sunday, although they generally don’t need help hurting their own cause.

1. Quarterback Jordan Love

Sure, he’s having a bad season compared to all the high hopes Packer fans had, but last year he didn’t enjoy what could be considered a banner season until the last four or five games. Then it had a rebound. The previous knee injury, followed by another injury and he’s currently not even a top 20 QB ranked by Pro Football Focus, behind Daniel Jones and 12 spots on their list behind Aaron Rodgers. He still has the confidence that comes from going to Soldier Field and winning there, and then again in Green Bay last year against the Bears.

2. RB Josh Jacobs

He’s probably not the type of player the Bears want to deal with considering their defensive issues. Jacobs is ranked sixth in PFF’s rankings right now. James Conner is ranked just below him at No. 7 and destroyed the Bears. Having lost defensive tackle Andrew Billings for the year, the Bears are still trying to find a run combo that works at defensive tackle. Jacobs had a great early game with the Colts, then slowed down and didn’t top 76 yards for five games before losing for 127 against the Jaguars and 95 in Green Bay’s final game against Detroit.

He will also do damage in the screen game and has 19 receptions for 128 yards.

3. Xavier McKinney

McKinney, a crafty and rare free agent signing for the Packers, has provided exactly what they need deep in the new defense they are running. It will give Caleb Williams pause to think about throwing deep. McKinney was coming off a tremendous season for the Giants and how many players can say that? McKinney has six interceptions, but only one in the last four games after starting well. The 6-foot, 201-pounder has a 42.4 passer rating when targeted and has allowed just 50% completions (9 of 18). He has only missed two of 44 tackle attempts.

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4. WR Jayden Reed

The former Naperville Central and Metea Valley player has three 100-yard games and broke out of a mini-slump in the last game with five catches for 113 yards against Detroit. He previously had a seven-catch, 139-yard game against the Vikings. At 5-11, 187, he’s speed and route in the slot, a goal that will keep Kyler Gordon busy.

5. RT Zach Tom

Rated second-best among all Packers offensive players by Pro Football Focus, the third-year tackle last year had little trouble handling Montez Sweat in what was a meaningless end to the season for the Bears. Sweat’s recent shin injury seems to have slowed him down, but Tom doesn’t need any help. The 6-foot-4, 304-pound fourth-round pick out of Wake Forest has allowed one sack and committed five penalties. PFF ranks him ninth among all tackles.

6. Manager Kenny Clark

He may not really fit into this scheme and hasn’t made much of an impact with no sacks, two tackles for loss and 20 total tackles. But the 6-3, 314-pound defensive tackle is playing against the Bears now and that usually changes everything. He has six sacks, 15 quarterback hits and eight tackles for loss against the Bears in 15 games.

7. D Rashan Gary

Despite converting this scheme to a different way of attacking an offense, he has maintained a strong pass rush with 2 1/2 sacks and 17 pressures, along with three tackles for loss. The Bears have done a relatively solid job of keeping Gary in check, as he has had two sacks and five tackles for loss against them in 10 games.

8. CB Jaire Alejandro

After a down year in which he didn’t make an interception, he was injured much of the year and allowed a career-worst 66.7% completion rate and a 113.4 passer rating when targeted, according to Stathead/Pro Football Reference, Alexander is back in shape with an 86.9 passer rating against and 56.7% completion rate. He’s showing he can be a big threat in this zone-heavy scheme and has two interceptions with seven pass deflections.

9. KR/PR Keisean Nixon

Nixon seems to like the new return rule averaging 27.9 yards and has been producing returns consistently, but none longer than 37 yards. He has also averaged 12 yards per punt return.

Twitter: BearsOnSI