The oldest rivalry in the National Football League will renew its battles on Saturday as the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers meet for the third time in six weeks. The Packers haven’t won a game since they edged Chicago at Lambeau Field last month. A game saved by an endzone interception while the Bears were in position to send the game into overtime or go for a two-point conversion to win or lose the contest by a point.
Two weeks later, the Bears got quick revenge at Soldier Field when they handed the Packers a 22-16 setback. The Bears haven’t won since, holding onto the second seed despite season ending defeats to the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions.
The Packers come into this meeting on a four game losing run suffered against the Denver Broncos, Bears, Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings. The Packers haven’t won a game since they lost Micah Parsons to a season ending injury.
Does that mean both these teams are in decline entering the playoffs or something else?
Something else.
A kiss of death for a team entering the postseason is to win a game at the end of the year that they don’t need. Losing meaningless games is usually a good thing.