Bears look to play spoiler for Packers' playoff hopes in regular season finale
CHICAGO (CBS) – While the Bears practiced without tight end Cole Kmet and cornerback Jaylon Johnson, head coach Matt Eberflus said it's looking positive that both will be able to play this Sunday.
CBS 2's Matt Zahn had the latest on a team with plenty to prove to themselves and to their fan base.
As the Bears get set for their finale on Sunday in Green Bay, it's a chance to show how far they've come since Week 1's blowout loss to the Packers and to finish the season with six wins in their last eight games.
"What you recognize is our growth, I really believe, as a football team, the growth and the maturation of a lot of our young players," said Eberflus. "You could certainly see that with our first and second-year players."
Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson added, "I just feel like this team is hungry. Definitely, from everything that we went through at the beginning of the year. We took everything on the chin, and we always wrote everything down and we remember everything, just to see how this team has bounced back."
A Bears win could knock the Packers out of the playoffs, something Eberflus tried to downplay. The players, though, understood the importance of the opportunity.
"It'd mean a lot to the team, the fans, the city," said quarterback Justin Fields. "I think it'd be great. We know that Green Bay is playing for a lot at stake. They're playing for a playoff spot right now. I just think with all that on the table, I think it'd be a great feeling to end the season off with a win at Lambeau."
Wide receiver DJ Moore said the chance to play spoiler "presents a good opportunity. We want other people sitting at home with us in this division. Why not just knock them off? We should all be watching the Super Bowl on our butts."
Moore said he's understood from his first day in Chicago what the rivalry with Green Bay means to fans, so he knows spoiling the Packers playoff hopes would mean that much more. As he put it, the Bears need to reverse the scoreboard from Week 1.
You can watch the Bears and Packers square off in the regular season finale on CBS 2 on Sunday at 3:25 p.m.