The Green Bay Packers face the Chicago Bears on Sunday to finish off the 2024 regular season. To be honest, there’s not much at play. The Packers are already in the playoffs and don’t control their own destiny to be better than the seventh seed. The Bears are already eliminated, and the only goal is to end the 11-game win streak in the rivalry against Green Bay.

As the Packers try to keep the positive sequence versus Chicago (the Bears haven’t won a game at Lambeau Field since 2015), Kole Noble, who covers the Bears for A to Z Sports, helps us understand the moment of the franchise heading into the game.

Caleb Williams had a pretty solid game against the Packers in Week 11, but a lot has changed in Chicago since then. How is he playing, and how is the team in general playing?

Outside of a rainy performance in Week 17, Williams has been playing strong football statistically since his last game vs. Green Bay. From Weeks 12-16, Williams had two games with 300+ passing yards and four games with 2+ touchdown passes with no interceptions in that span. However, a bulk of that has come in the second half of games with his team playing from behind, and the numbers could be considered garbage time stats in three of those games. Overall, Williams has been on his A-game when his team needs it in the second half, but has struggled to find any consistency to start the game, which has been a major problem for the offense all season long.

Individually, what do you make of Caleb's rookie season?

Caleb Williams' season has been historic for any Bears' quarterback, much less a rookie one. However, there's still some things Williams would admit he needs to improve on, including his footwork and pocket awareness. From a qualitative standpoint, it's hard to assess Williams' rookie season because of what's been going on around him, whether it's the play of the other 10 offensive players or the coaching changes. Quantitatively, Williams' rookie season has been fantastic in terms of the numbers he's been putting up all season, some of which have broken numerous franchise records.

How has the defense performed without Matt Eberflus?

Since Matt Eberflus was fired after Week 13, the Bears have ranked among the bottom of the league in EPA/play on defense. Being forced to hand defensive play-calling duties to Eric Washington had a major impact, especially on the secondary. However, not all of it goes on Washington. The Bears offense has struggled to stay on the field early in games, which puts a major strain on the defense having to come back on the field so quickly. Since Week 13, the Bears are allowing 17.5 PPG in the first half alone.

If the Packers play their starters, do you foresee a winning path for the Bears in this game?

In Week 11, the Bears were able to keep things close against the Packers, who were playing all of their starters. If that is indeed the case in Week 18, for all four quarters, I wouldn't count out Chicago. Last time, it literally came down to the fingertips of Karl Brooks. For a game that doesn't mean much to either team, everyone will be hoping to see this one be just as competitive to end the regular season.

Will everyone play?

For teams already eliminated from playoff contention, you rarely see starters sit in the final weeks of the season. No one in Chicago wants to end the season on an 11-game losing streak, especially interim head coach Thomas Brown. Brown noted prior to Week 17's game that he will continue to play the best players that give the team the best opportunity to win, and that includes Williams. For Brown, the reasoning is simple, he's fighting to prove he can be a coach in this league and right now, Week 18 is the last opportunity for him to do so. A win in Green Bay for the first time since 2015 won't mean much for the Bears, but it will for Brown's future coaching career after this season.

NFL makes a final call on when the Packers and the Bears will play in Week 18

Packers backups might play a lot