GREEN BAY – A lot of new elements to the Packers-Bears rivalry will reveal themselves on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.
Here's a short list:
1. Jimmy Graham in the Packers' offense: Green Bay's biggest offseason acquisition has been building chemistry with QB Aaron Rodgers since the day he arrived, but with limited preseason game snaps, not much has been shown just yet. There's a good chance that changes.
2. Khalil Mack in the Bears' defense: The biggest storyline of the week was Chicago's trade for Mack, adding an elite pass rusher to coordinator Vic Fangio's defense. Packers RT Bryan Bulaga faced Mack in Oakland back in 2015 and allowed one early sack but then shut him down. Bulaga is coming off an ACL injury from last November and recovered impressively quickly, making this the one-on-one matchup generating the most discussion.
3. Mike Pettine's Green Bay defense: Clay Matthews said this week the Packers revealed maybe 5 percent of their defensive playbook in the preseason. There's very little known outside the locker room just how this defense will look, and a new scheme will be the Packers' first such change since 2009.
4. Matt Nagy's Chicago offense: The Bears' new head coach is making his NFL debut in the top job, and he was hired to mesh his offensive prowess with second-year QB Mitch Trubisky's game. Trubisky played against the Packers in just one of the two games last year, throwing for nearly 300 yards.
5. Perimeter matchups: The Bears feature an entirely new receiving corps with Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and rookie Anthony Miller, none of whom were on the team last year when Trubisky was a rookie. The Packers will match up with Tramon Williams, Kevin King plus Jaire Alexander and/or Josh Jackson, only one of whom (King, last year) has played in a Packers-Bears game in the last three seasons.
