The Chicago Bears close out the 2023 season the way they started it — with a game against the Green Bay Packers.

Of course, the Bears hope for a different result Sunday at Lambeau Field after the Packers shocked them with a 38-20 win in the opener Sept. 10 at Soldier Field.

That was the Packers’ ninth straight victory in the rivalry. The Bears’ last win against the Packers was in 2018, and their last win at Lambeau Field was in 2015.

As kickoff approaches, here’s our snapshot look at the game.

Players in the spotlight

Jordan Love and Justin Fields

The stakes are high for both quarterbacks — but in different ways.

In his first season as starter replacing Aaron Rodgers, Love has led the Packers to an 8-8 record and the brink of the playoffs. If they beat the Bears, they’re in.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus and a couple of his players noted how comfortable Love has looked lately. In helping the Packers go 6-3 over their last nine games, Love has completed 67% of his passes for 2,351 yards, 19 touchdowns, three interceptions, 15 sacks and a 105.5 passer rating.

“The coaches have done a good job coaching the rhythm and timing of what they are asking him to do,” Eberflus said. “They are on the same page with the receivers. You can feel that chemistry there.”

Meanwhile, Fields isn’t playing for a postseason berth, but he can make a good final impression as the Bears decide their path at quarterback moving forward.

Fields has had success of late, too, helping the Bears to a 4-2 record since returning from a dislocated right thumb. He has completed 60% of his passes for 1,213 yards, five touchdowns and one interception (three if you count picks on Hail Marys) and also has run for 393 yards and three touchdowns. Building upon a big performance against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17 certainly would give the Bears something to consider as they plot their course.

Fields has been consistent in focusing on his weekly work rather than the future.

“I don’t even know if we’re going to get next week, so I’m just worried about the rest of the day and the rest of the night,” Fields said. “So I’ve got these meetings I’m about to head to. We’ve got a game Sunday. I’m not focused on what happens after that.”

Pressing question

Can the Bears show the Packers they’re better than the Week 1 team that flopped?

When linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi watched the film from the Bears’ season-opening loss, it seemed “like years ago.”

“We feel like we’re a completely different defense now, and we’re excited to go out there and put it on display,” Borgonzi said.

A Bears that didn’t get a takeaway against the Packers — and had only two through four games — now has 27 takeaways, including a league-leading 22 interceptions, thanks to an increased chemistry and the addition of Pro Bowl defensive end Montez Sweat. A Bears defense that gave up 31 points to the Packers — the other seven coming on a Packers pick-six — has allowed just 15.2 points per game over the last five games.

While the Bears don’t have the playoffs to motivate them, more than one player mentioned wanting to show how much the team has changed in the rematch.

“We want to go in there and get a dub, not just because it’s Green Bay but just because we owe each other that,” cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said. “Coming out Week 1, not being the prepared team we are now, and just going out there now and knowing we’re going to go play our game is just a different feeling.”

Eberflus insisted his team was “going to keep it about us” instead of making it about spoiling the Packers’ chances. But Fields did get one dig in at their rival when asked about facing a tough road test.

“It’s going to be a fun environment to walk into their home field,” Fields said. “I know their fans are going to be loud because there’s not much to do in Green Bay except watch football.”

Keep an eye on …

The Bears coaching staff

Beyond Fields’ future, Bears leaders also have decisions ahead about whether to retain Eberflus and his coaching staff, namely offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. And while Sunday is just one game, it’s also a chance for the Bears to drive home that the progress they’ve made over the last five weeks is real — and to do it against the team’s biggest rival.

Eberflus has sidestepped questions about his and others’ future, including one this week about Getsy’s job security.

“Any question like that I’m going to answer it the same way,” Eberflus said. “And it’s just going to be (wait) till next week. We’ll look at everything, all-encompassing, players, coaches, everybody. “We’ll sit down and have evaluations with everybody and we’ll do that next week.”

Getsy, whose unit will go against a defense that is 21st with 344 yards allowed per game and 28th with 131.6 rushing yards allowed, also declined to offer big-picture answers about the effectiveness of his offense this season. But he did say he believes his relationship with Fields is great.

“The going-forward part, that’s something that’s bigger than where we’re at right now, because we’re thinking about Green Bay,” Getsy said. “We’re all in that mindset. We have a great relationship, we work really well together. He inspires me daily with his mentality, his focus, his faith. We have a really good relationship, and I think Justin’s future is super bright.”

Eberflus said he believes the franchise has reason to be “optimistic” about their future with the No. 1 draft pick in hand.

“It’s an exciting team to be a Chicago Bear and be a Chicago Bear fan,” Eberflus said. “There are a lot of bright things that are coming ahead of us in the future, and we’re certainly excited about all those things.”

In the zone

After a terrific performance slicing up the Falcons defense Sunday, Fields will take a different kind of test in Green Bay. He’s 0-5 with a passer rating of 72.8 in five career starts against the Packers. And he’ll have to elevate his performance to elevate the Bears offense against a defense that uses a heavy volume of zone coverage looks.

Fields is significantly more comfortable and more effective against man-to-man defenses, which contributed to his success in the win over the Falcons. Now he’ll have to find answers against a Packers defense that gets its juice from defensive end Kenny Clark and outside linebacker Rashan Gary.

Said Getsy: “They have this elite front that makes you not be able to hold the ball very long. And then you have these zone defenders where their eyes are on you and playing your game.”

Getsy has also taken note of how effective the Packers have been at keeping the top on their defense and limiting deep passing opportunities. ”You’re not getting behind them,” he said. “You have to be detailed and you have to be in time. Timing and rhythm is critical when you play zone defenses like this.”

Injury report

Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson hasn’t practiced this week and is officially listed doubtful to play with a shoulder injury he suffered against the Falcons. Receiver Darnell Mooney, meanwhile, has been declared out with a concussion, ending the final season of his rookie contract.

In an under-the-radar development, long snapper Patrick Scales missed two practices this week with a foot issue, and the Bears signed 38-year-old veteran Matt Overton to the practice squad as their safety net. But Scales was back on the field Friday, is officially listed as questionable and should be in line to play in his 120th consecutive game.

Other Bears questionable are Kyler Gordon (calf), Lucas Patrick (calf) and Khalil Herbert (back).

For the Packers, running back A.J. Dillon (thumb/neck) and safety Rudy Ford (hamstring) will be out. The Packers have eight players listed as questionable, most notably receivers Christian Watson (hamstring), Jayden Reed (chest) and Dontayvion Wicks (chest) and outside linebacker Preston Smith (ankle).

Predictions

Brad Biggs (12-4)

Nothing is at stake for the Bears but everything is on the line for the Packers, and that makes it a great test for Matt Eberflus’ crew. At least 12 teams will be starting a backup quarterback in Week 18, but the Bears will go against emerging talent Jordan Love, who gets far less national coverage than Justin Fields even though he has thrown 30 touchdown passes in his first season as a starter. That’s because Love’s future isn’t a hot-button topic. The Bears should be able to move the ball on the ground, although the Packers’ 28th-ranked run defense has been better the last three weeks. One pressing question is how Fields will perform against a secondary that will lean heavily on zone coverage. Wide receiver DJ Moore got only two targets in the first meeting. That number should be multiplied by three or more. If Eberflus’ defense remains opportunistic, the Bears can do to the Packers what the Lions did a year ago — keep them out of the postseason.

Bears 24, Packers 21

Colleen Kane (11-5)

The Bears are 2-6 on the road this season — though two of those losses came under backup quarterback Tyson Bagent — and I imagine Lambeau Field isn’t going to be an easy place for them to play Sunday afternoon. It looks like a good opportunity for the Bears to keep their run game going strong, but the Packers defense could challenge Justin Fields and the passing game. The idea of a signature win for Matt Eberflus and Fields has come up a couple of times this season. This would be one. Whether the result sways the minds of Bears leaders one way or the other, a win up in Packers territory certainly would be a memorable way to close out the season. But the Packers and Jordan Love have the playoffs within reach, and that could give them the mental edge.

Packers 27, Bears 24

Dan Wiederer (11-5)

The Bears have a golden opportunity to punctuate their late-season surge with a road upset that would end the rival Packers’ season. Intriguing, right? The defense has been playing at a high level recently, enough to carry its weight Sunday afternoon. So ultimately, this might come down to how well Justin Fields plays. He will have to be sharp against the Packers’ zone coverages. He will have to take care of the football and avoid tide-turning sacks. In the end — and in the interest of great season finale-theater — Fields will be positioned to lead a game-winning drive in the late stages of the fourth quarter. Hold on to your seats.

Packers 24, Bears 22

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Shameka Leach has been a Chicago Bears fan since she was a little girl watching games with her father and brothers, but it’s the team’s outreach to others that has cemented the team in her heart.

“As a team, I love the Bears for the community service part of it. I’m a really big community service activist,” the Markham resident shared.

“What I love about them is they continuously — this is the part that I see and participate in — they do stuff for their community and across the state. That’s the part I love where they give back. … It’s not just the game for me. Why I love them is for the game and community service. A lot of people don’t get to see what the actual players or the organization are doing.”

Leach, who volunteers plenty of time herself both with the team and off the field, was surprised at a game when the Bears played the Las Vegas Raiders by being named the Bears’ nominee for 2023 NFL Fan of the Year.

“I’m the same person inside the game and outside the game. I love the city. I love my team. I will do anything for my team with regards to community service and the love of the game,” she said. “I’m not just a fan whether they win or lose. I’m a fan 100.”

The honor was a total surprise for Leach, who thought she was at the game to guest referee a halftime flag football game between Chicago’s Staley Da Bear and Las Vegas’ Raider Rusher.

“It definitely was a complete shock,” she said. “When they granted me the award, I was shocked, humbled and confused!”

The award “aims to honor and celebrate exceptional fans who inspire others through their passion for football,” according to a news release from the Bears. “Each NFL club has the opportunity to nominate a local fan to potentially become the ultimate 2023 NFL Fan of the Year during Super Bowl week.” This is the fourth year for the award.

The Bears nominated Leach because of her active support and volunteer efforts in the past six years at Bears Huddle events and monthly community service volunteer activities, including for the Pro Football Retired Players Association in Chicago, where she coordinates volunteers for a golf outing.

She also has attended training camp and participated in Bears watch parties. “It’s evident that Shameka is not only a passionate Bears fan but also a dedicated advocate for football, actively seeking to create opportunities within her community,” the release noted.

One of those community opportunities is a free football camp for kids she runs with former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver James Loving, a 1984 graduate of Shepard High School. Leach and Loving were neighbors at one time, although Loving now lives in Colorado.

Loving had been doing a free one-day football camp known as Loving Tomorrow’s Kids for two years before joining forces with Leach. When Loving’s fiancee, Kristine Marwitz, died from cancer in 2020, he reached out to Leach and told her he needed help. Leach told him to give her everything and she’d do it if he got former football players to show up.

More than 100 kids from Robbins showed up for the first camp, including three girls. “From then, the camp is so smooth and people have been wanting to come and help and be in it like she does,” Loving said. “She went to bat for all the kids, the coaches. She went over and beyond.”

Leach told Loving he’d just be responsible for the day of the camp in mid-July. “I come in two days before, and we run the camp. She took care of all the food, getting the donations of food, the teachers to play. Getting the coaches set up — 99% of the camp she ran,” Loving said.

Leach admitted she wasn’t sure she wanted to help Loving at first, “but he said he believed we could do it.” She asked local businesses to donate money, food and T-shirts for the kids, and Crown Trophies in Indiana donated plaques and trophies.

Although the camp initially was just for players in Robbins, where they grew up, that didn’t seem quite fair, so they expanded their reach to all of the Chicago area.

“I got players from the NFL. We have a brotherhood who want to come, but (the expenses) were coming out of my pocket to fly them in,” Loving said. “So we (invited) four players. But then we had 10 or 15 players who wanted to come and said they’d pay for their own” flights and hotel rooms.

The most recent camp, right before the COVID-19 pandemic began, had 40 to 50 kids making their way through each coach’s station for about 20 minutes. “Everybody is welcome. If somebody has their pet there doing workouts, we’ll have them,” Loving joked.

He said when Leach told him about the award, he was not very surprised, especially given her connections with many players. “When she loves something, she does it. I thought it should have come a couple of years before. She’s a die-hard Bears fan no matter what. Anything that (they ask) she’s there — no questions asked. She would never turn something down that would have something to do with kids.”

He added that he’s pleased she received the honor. “I’m really proud of her. I told her it’s well-deserved.”

Leach, who works for UPS as a revenue recovery supervisor, is also the brand ambassador for Great Lakes Credit Union and a planning and zoning commissioner for the city of Markham. She said the corporate offices of the credit union are in Bannockburn in northern Illinois. “Half the fans are Packers fans and half are Bears fans, so our game days are interesting.”

The 32 nominees are getting to know each other, including through a group chat the NFL set up, and are known as a “fanily.” She’s met the Fan of the Year nominated by the Green Bay Packers. “He said he would have to admit to having a friend who is a Bears fan,” Leach joked.

The award includes an all-expenses paid trip for two to the Super Bowl LVIII in Paradise, Nevada, including two tickets to the game and a VIP experience. The overall winner will be named during Super Bowl weekend.

Right away, people began jockeying to go with Leach, including the co-anchors of “Good Morning Chicago” who were sharing her story. But in the end an aunt earned the honor.

“It was a process of elimination,” Leach shared. “My dad can’t fully walk. I only have one son (Michael Armwood Jr.) but he’s not 21, and my mother — she loves me and the sport but she’s not a sports person. My aunt is into football in general, 100%. She’s a Bears fan.”

Leach is honored to be the Bears’ nominee. “I’m just excited to be there, but if that win comes about, it will be great.”

To vote for Leach, visit nfl.com/FanOfTheYear by Feb. 7.

As part of the Fan of the Year experience, Leach will receive a personalized, stitched jersey with No. 23 on it because it’s 2023. “Every team has a fan of the year, so we’ll all have on the same number, 23″ she said.

On game days, Leach picks her outfit carefully, always including one of her three Bears hats, a special purse, jacket, earrings, shoes and socks. “My whole game day is all Bear down,” she shared.

“I’m not as crazy as the people painting their face and their costumes. If you were going to walk into work, you’d know it was me,” she said, adding that one of her three bedrooms at home is “Bears ready,” as is one of her bathrooms, where “everything is personalized, including the toothbrush, towels, tissues, garbage pail and my pictures on the wall.”

Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

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The end of the Chicago Bears season typically brings a feeling of melancholy to fans who depend on the team for their weekly entertainment, for better or (usually) worse.

Unfortunately, there’s no technology available to deal with the affliction, like light therapy lamps or other newfangled devices invented to help fight off seasonal affective disorder.

The NFL playoffs can provide a bit of relief, but the passion is nontransferable. Even if you’ve chosen to jump on the bandwagon of the Detroit Lions or some other team, it doesn’t really matter whether they win or lose.

So for the next seven months, until the preseason schedule begins in early August, Chicagoans must learn to cope with the post-Bears blues. They can still debate Justin Fields’ future and what to do with the No. 1 pick for a few months until the draft, but otherwise it figures to be a long, hard slog until the 2024 season, thanks to the abysmal state of the Chicago sports scene.

Here’s what we have to look forward to in Chicago until the return of the Bears:

Star-free Blackhawks

The season unofficially was put on hold one week ago when Connor Bedard’s jaw was broken by a hit from Brendan Smith during a 4-2 loss in New Jersey on Jan. 5. The 18-year-old rookie was not only the Hawks’ best player and top drawing card, it could be argued he was the only reason to watch them at all during the first half of another rebuilding season.

The Hawks, who had the league’s second-lowest point total (26) as of Wednesday, announced Bedard underwent successful surgery to repair his jaw and would be out of the lineup for approximately 6-8 weeks. Few rookies have been asked to carry an entire franchise on their backs the way Bedard has, both on the ice and as a marketing tool. The United Center has mostly been filled with fans wanting to see the kid play, taking some of the sting out of a lackluster season.

If Bedard returns by March 2, the Hawks will have 10 home games left to salvage what could have been a record-setting rookie season. Until then, no one can be blamed for tuning out the Hawks.

Nonstop Bulls drama

The Ring of Honor ceremony Friday night at the United Center could be the highlight of the season, at least if everyone invited shows up.

The Bulls once again are a sub-.500 team fighting for a play-in spot for the second straight season, with an 18-21 record after Wednesday’s overtime win over the Houston Rockets. It looks like a repeat of last season, albeit with more drama.

The Bulls have played better since Coby White replaced Zach LaVine as one of the go-to scorers, but now that LaVine has returned from the injured list and is gradually getting his legs back, it’s only a matter of time before he’s back to taking 18-20 shots per night.

How will the Bulls adjust when LaVine is once again the focus of the offense?

The Feb. 8 trade deadline could be the end of the LaVine era in Chicago, or it could be a continuation of an awkward relationship that neither side seems interested in continuing.

The Bulls never lack for drama, though at this point it’s getting old.

Cubs being Cubs

Almost two months after changing managers, the Cubs finally made a meaningful roster addition with the reported signing of 30-year-old Japanese left-hander Shōta Imanaga.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but president Jed Hoyer’s meticulous approach to roster construction has tested the patience of most Cubs fans, who expected more when Craig Counsell was brought on.

Will they or won’t they sign Cody Bellinger? And even if they do, will it still be enough to put the Cubs in playoff contention by the time the Bears start back up?

One way or another, Counsell will have a lineup card ready to hand out when the Cactus League season begins Feb. 23 against the White Sox. The only certainty is that Wrigley Field will be a drawing card on hot summer days, whether Hoyer gets it right this winter or not.

It has always been the Cubs’ security blanket.

Vanishing White Sox fans

The biggest difference between the Blackhawks and the White Sox is Hawks fans will come out to watch an awful team if they have someone like Bedard to focus on. The Sox have no such player on the current roster, and the minimal spending this offseason by general manager Chris Getz suggests they don’t intend to obtain one any time soon.

Top prospect Colson Montgomery is considered the next big thing, but the Sox don’t want to rush the shortstop, even on a rebuilding team that could use a gate attraction. Luis Robert Jr. is a superstar in the making, but he’s not good enough yet to convince Sox fans to buy tickets just to watch him play on a losing team.

In short, it could be a lonely season in the bleachers at Sox Park, which at least would make it more difficult to get hit by a wayward bullet. By August the Sox could be playing out the string and Pedro Grifol could be on the hot seat.

But by then we’ll already be looking forward to a new Bears season, and the angst starts all over again.

Can hardly wait.

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