Ben Johnson has left the door cracked on a possible Caleb Williams return for Sunday’s trip to Green Bay, and that alone makes Week 5 a little messier for the Packers.
The Chicago Bears are headed to Lambeau Field for another NFC North battle with plenty hanging over it. Both head coaches enter the matchup with very different vibes, too. Matt LaFleur appears to be under pressure from Packers fans after a sluggish start, while Johnson has already guided Chicago to wins with three different starting quarterbacks over the first month of the season.
At the center of the uncertainty is the Bears’ quarterback plan. Johnson said Tyson Bagent would start again on Sunday, but the final injury report still lists Caleb Williams as “questionable.” That leaves open at least some possibility that the former No. 1 pick could be available after all.
If Williams does suit up, it changes the conversation for Green Bay immediately. Chicago’s offense has held together with Bagent and Case Keenum, but Williams brings a different kind of problem: he can move, improvise, and turn broken plays into something dangerous. The Packers know him well enough by now, but they may have spent the week preparing for a very different style of quarterback.
Williams also has the edge in the matchup history. He owns a 3-2 career record against the Packers, including that comeback win in the Wild Card round last season. In those five games, he has completed 59.9 percent of his passes for 1,176 yards, seven touchdowns, three interceptions, and an 85.8 passer rating.
His lone game against a Jonathan Gannon-coached defense was far less productive. In that 29-9 loss, Williams went 22 of 41 for 217 yards with no touchdowns and no turnovers, and he was sacked six times.
But that came in his rookie season, when he was running an offense under Matt Eberflus and playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in football. Things are different now, and that means Gannon may need a new approach if Williams is indeed part of the plan.
It could still all be semantics. Chicago may simply have tagged Williams as questionable for procedural reasons while Johnson has already been clear that Bagent would start if Williams can’t go.
Still, Johnson has not exactly hidden how he feels about LaFleur or the Packers, and that leaves room for one more layer of gamesmanship. If this is meant to keep Green Bay guessing, it may be doing the job.
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Jordan Love Faces A Pressure Game The Packers Can't Afford
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The next test comes with the Packers needing him to be steadier in the pocket against a Bears defense that figures to bring pressure, all while working behind a patched-together offensive line. Green Bay also knows it has to help him out with the right structure, and the expectation is that the coaching staff will need to lean into a quicker passing plan to keep the game on schedule and give Love a cleaner path to answering the pressure game ahead. [Read more 🡒]