After the Bears’ upset of the 49ers in The Rain Bowl and the Packers’ listless defeat at the hands of the Vikings last Sunday, Bears-Packers on Sunday Night Football is a lot more interesting all of a sudden.
Chicago has lost six straight to their rivals up North and hasn’t beaten Green Bay (-10) since a matchup late in the 2018 season. But if Justin Fields can continue to play hero, and the Bears’ defense can get a few timely stops, then perhaps the “Baby Bears” can pull off the upset.
One of the players who will undoubtedly be critical for Chicago to leave Lambeau Field with the win is Roquan Smith. And for a while during this past training camp, it was unclear whether the star linebacker would still be a factor in this game amidst reportedly heated contract negotiations. While it was never apparent the Bears actually aimed to trade Smith; he ended up staying in Chicago.
On Wednesday, Aaron Rodgers said he was kind of hoping the strange Smith situation would’ve ended differently in Chicago:
Aaron Rodgers said today that he wouldn’t have minded if the Bears traded Roquan Smith during training camp.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 14, 2022
There you have it. If the star quarterback who has tormented the Bears for the better part of 15 years says he was hoping a field-tilting linebacker like Smith would’ve left, then Chicago has one of the best possible endorsements to keep Smith around for the long run.
