Here’s who the experts are picking to win the Bears vs. Packers Week 1 game

Stop if you’ve heard this before: NFL experts are picking the Green Bay Packers to defeat the Chicago Bears.

It’s a narrative that’s surrounded the league’s oldest rivalry since the emergence of Brett Favre, which transitioned into Aaron Rodgers. Three decades of quarterback superiority have led media analysts to instinctively pick Green Bay to beat the Bears.

The gap is closing, however.

According to NFL Pick Watch, 55% of experts polled picked the Packers to win Week 1’s opener at Soldier Field. It’s nearly a 50-50 split, which isn’t something Bears fans are used to during Packer Week. Instead, the storyline is usually about how many points the Packers will win by.

There’s an obvious reason why this year’s Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers matchup is different. Rodgers is a New York Jet, and he’s been replaced by a former first-round quarterback who’s entering his fourth year without any meaningful regular-season action. There are big questions surrounding Jordan Love and whether he’ll continue the string of Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks who’ve filtered through Titletown over the last three decades.

Call it a hunch, but I don’t think he will. And it’s not even because I don’t think he can be a decent quarterback. But, come on. The odds are simply stacked against him. One team can’t possibly hit on three quarterbacks in a row, can they? Let’s hope not.

Meanwhile, the Bears are considered a franchise on the rise. Justin Fields is expected to take a big step forward in his third season, much like Jalen Hurts (Eagles) and Josh Allen (Bills) did after they were gifted go-to wide receivers in the preceding offseason.

Fields now has DJ Moore, who came to the Bears via trade with the Carolina Panthers. Moore is a similar talent to AJ Brown and Stefon Diggs, who launched Hurts and Allen into the next tier of passers.

Sure, it’s only the first week of the 2023 season. But this Bears-Packers game is significant. Fields has a chance to exorcise the Green Bay quarterback demons and kick off a new era in the NFC North. A strong showing by the Bears’ QB1, combined with a subpar performance by Love, will be cause for celebration in Chicago, and will likely lead to a Week 1 victory.

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