The Green Bay Packers' dominant defense faces a formidable challenge in the Chicago Bears' rushing attack.
The Green Bay Packers know that the Chicago Bears have a strength as they come into this weekend's massive clash at Lambeau Field.
The Bears' turnaround can be attributed directly to new head coach Ben Johnson, who had become one of the top play-callers in the NFL over the past few seasons as offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
While in Detroit, Johnson spearheaded one of the best rushing attacks in the league with a one-two punch of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. He's now duplicating that success in Chicago's backfield with D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.
"It's gotten a lot of people's attention," rookie defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse recently said of the Bears' rushing attack, according to Mike Spofford of the team website.
Head coach Matt LaFleur also paid respect to the work that Johnson has been doing with Chicago's rushing attack.
"It's going to be a great challenge because they're the best in the league right now in doing it," LaFleur said.
Statistically, that's not 100 percent true, but the Bears are almost there. They're rushing for 153.8 yards per game, which is second best in the NFL behind just the Buffalo Bills (155.7 yards per game).
Chicago's rushing attack will absolutely present the Packers' defense some issues, but it's worth noting that Green Bay is more than capable of shutting this thing down.
Keep in mind, the Packers are giving up just 98.3 yards per game on the ground. That's tied for seventh best in the league with the Indianapolis Colts. And yes, they have struggled in certain games to stop the run, but in general, this is a front-seven that can really get after it.
A great example is what the Packers were able to do on Thanksgiving against Gibbs. He was held to just 68 yards on 20 carries, which is a 3.4 yards per carry clip. The weekend before, Gibbs went off for 219 yards and two touchdowns on the ground against the New York Giants.
And yes, things will be harder without Devonte Wyatt out there. Losing him will be a big blow to the Packers defensive front.
The Pack have strong run-stuffers all across their defense, though. Both Micah Parsons and Rashan Gary are great against the run as edge-rushers. Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker may be two of the best run defending linebackers in the NFL.
Xavier McKinney plays strong in the box as a safety and speaking of, Evan Williams has been a tackle-for-loss machine this season at strong safety.
The pieces are there, now the Packers simply have to go out and execute.
The good news is, at least for these past few weeks, they've been getting the job done.