Bears vs. Packers, Part 2: Caleb Williams fires first shot in war of words

The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will go at it again in Saturday night’s Week 16 showdown. It’s the second time in three weeks that the NFL’s oldest rivalry will be renewed. And this time, the Bears and Caleb Williams hope for better results.

In Week 13, the Bears nearly pulled off a fantastic come-from-behind rally to force overtime until Williams’ off-target throw to Cole Kmet was intercepted in the end zone with less than 30 seconds to play.

The Bears rebounded in Week 15 with a blowout win over the Cleveland Browns. And with the benefit of some home cooking this week, they should be in a better position to take on the Micah Parsons-less Packers.

Williams met with the media on Tuesday and did his part to ignite some heat in rivalry week. He conjured his inner-Dennis Green.

“We feel as if we let [the Packers] off the hook,” Williams said. “And part of that was us starting slow, part of that was the explosive plays and allowing something that we’ve been pretty good at so far this year … We want to go out there and play our brand of football and it gives us the best shot to go win the game — and that’s starting fast, playing physical, executing plays the way that we know we can.”

In other words, Green Bay didn’t beat Chicago; Chicago beat itself.

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Chicago certainly did start slow against Green Bay. Williams threw for less than 40 yards in a brutally unproductive first half. The offense finally clicked in the second half, but it was too little too late.

Now, with the NFC North and a 2025 playoff berth on the line, there’s no excuse for the Bears not to come out clicking on all cylinders.

“We only have … 65-70 bullets in a game, and we can’t afford to waste any of those plays trying to get the engine started,” Ben Johnson said. “We’ve gotta start off guns a-blazing, and I think he really embodies that mentality.”

Bears fans can expect a more confident Caleb Williams on Saturday night.

“I believe in who I am,” he said. “I believe in how I work and all these different things. And then having the group around me only strengthens that for me. —it’s always strength in numbers. It’s always one. It’s always us. With that being said, my confidence is growing and it’s going to be through the roof.”