Cornerback Jaylon Johnson has been waiting a long time for this. As one of the longest-tenured members of the Chicago Bears, he has been waiting for meaningful games in December. The 2020 second-round draft pick tasted it as a rookie, when the Bears went 8-8 and landed a wild-card spot as the No. 7 seed in the NFC. But Johnson suffered a shoulder injury and missed the final three regular-season games and the wild-card-round loss to the New Orleans Saints. Since then, the Bears have played few games with much at stake late in the season. 5 things to watch in Saturday night’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game — plus our Week 16 predictions “It’s a great feeling,” Johnson said this week. “To just have motivation behind playing and not just playing.” The Bears will have a rematch against the rival Green Bay Packers at 7:20 p.m. Saturday at Soldier Field. It’s shaping up to be the franchise’s biggest regular-season game since — well, in quite a while. In 2020, the Bears played the Packers at Soldier Field in the final week of the regular season with a playoff spot on the line. The Packers won 35-16, but the Bears squeaked into the playoffs because the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Rams that same day. It was an anticlimactic ending to a season with no fans in the stands at Soldier Field. The Saints breezed past the Bears fairly easily a week later. This time, a win Saturday at Soldier Field could turn into a raucous celebration of the new era that first-year coach Ben Johnson has brought to Chicago seemingly overnight. Alternatively, a loss at the hands of their biggest rival would be a major disappointment, albeit not a crushing blow to their playoff chances. Either way, this game should be anything but boring. The 10-4 Bears are in the driver’s seat in the NFC North. Plenty of playoff scenarios remain, but a win Saturday against the 9-4-1 Packers would put the Bears in firm control of the division with two games remaining. Ben Johnson has galvanized the fan base. Winning will do that. More than 54,000 fans showed up at Soldier Field on Sunday, when the temperature at kickoff was 8 degrees, to watch the Bears take on the three-win Cleveland Browns. A freezing-cold December game against a hapless last-place team should be a recipe for a half-empty stadium. It wasn’t. Again, winning changes things. It’s a near certainty that Soldier Field will be near capacity for Saturday night’s showdown. “This is what you play football for,” veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “This is what you dream about — the opportunity to play prime-time football, a rivalry game, playoff implications, seeding implications. You got two prime QBs, two really good defenses. You can’t ask for a better moment.” Forget the lifeless, empty stadiums of 2020. That year’s version of the Bears never felt like it had what it takes to make any noise in the postseason, even when it did eventually get in. “This does feel a little different,” said tight end Cole Kmet, who was drafted the same day as Jaylon Johnson in 2020. “Feels like we’ve got a lot of things going on right now that can carry over throughout the rest of the year.” This is probably the most-hyped game at Soldier Field since the infamous double-doink playoff game in January 2019. Or if the discussion is about regular-season games only, throw in the 2018 win over the Rams on “Sunday Night Football.” Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright hugs cornerback Jaylon Johnson (1) after Johnson made an interception during the third quarter against the Browns on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) About that Browns game last week, the one sandwiched between two Packers matchups, Ben Johnson said ahead of the contest that the Bears couldn’t afford to let it become a trap game. “We have goals and we know what’s out in front of us,” the coach said last week. “It’s just that awareness that every game matters. That’s where this week, you go from an emotional rivalry game like we just played, this week is equally important. We need this win. We desperately need this win.” He wasn’t wrong. Good teams need to take care of business against bad teams, especially late in the season. That’s exactly what the Bears did, cruising to a 31-3 win. This week, no such declaration is necessary. What’s the message to the players? Related Articles 5 things to watch in Saturday night’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game — plus our Week 16 predictions Chicago Bears rule out WRs Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III for Saturday’s game vs. Green Bay Packers Column: Chicago Bears put Colston Loveland on the fast track — and the rookie tight end ‘just keeps learning’ What to know about the Chicago Bears’ possible move from Soldier Field Column: Can Chicago Bears owners find true happiness in an enclosed stadium off the Skyway? “There doesn’t need to be much of a message here this week,” Ben Johnson said Tuesday. “They know. They know what’s at stake.” Everybody knows. Bears fans are reacquainting themselves with the idea that December games come with stakes. Inside Halas Hall, there’s a quiet determination to flip the narrative in the NFC North. The Bears felt it this week on the practice field. “Everyone knows how important this is for the organization,” rookie left tackle Ozzy Trapilo said. Added safety Jaquan Brisker: “It’s just time for us to step up and not do too much talking.” The Bears were one pass away from potentially beating the Packers just 13 days ago in Green Bay. Quarterback Caleb Williams threw an interception in the end zone on fourth-and-1 in the final minute to seal a 28-21 Packers win, but it easily could’ve gone the other way. If anything, that game proved that this Bears team could hang with the Packers. But the Bears already believed that themselves. “We ain’t got no pressure,” Jaylon Johnson said. “Everybody else was telling us we’re not supposed to be here. So I mean, for us, it’s just sticking true to what we know we can do.” Ben Johnson said he was having a conversation this week with veteran defensive tackle Andrew Billings about enjoying moments like this. Billings has played for six teams since entering the league in 2016 but has never appeared in a playoff game. DJ Moore is in a similar situation. Moore never won more than seven games before this season. “Some people might take it for granted,” Billings said. “I don’t think we do. I think we really take it serious. It’s a good responsibility to have.” Billings said the Bears will lean on the veterans who have been there before. Guard Joe Thuney has won four Super Bowls. Cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson won a Super Bowl last year. Safety Kevin Byard III was on the Titans when they were perennial playoff contenders. The Bears have everything in front of them. Winning this game won’t clinch the NFC North, but it would put them in control. Eleven months ago, Ben Johnson showed up at Halas Hall and said the goal was to win now. Bears coach Ben Johnson stands on the sideline in the first quarter against the Packers on Dec. 7, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) “Our mission, starting this spring, is to win and to win now,” he said during his introductory news conference in January. Every coach wants to win now. It makes for a great clip at a news conference. Not every coach can make it happen in Year 1. The Bears have worked all season for an opportunity like this one. “You want to take advantage of the opportunity,” Ben Johnson said. “You just don’t know when it’s going to happen again. That’s the nature of the NFL.” That echoed the postgame comment Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, one of Ben Johnson’s coaching mentors, told his team in the aftermath of a brutal loss in the NFC championship game in January 2024. Campbell dropped some reality on his team that night, saying “this may have been our only shot.” The Bears have a chance, in the here and now, to win the NFC North. It’s all on the line Saturday in the 212th meeting between the Bears and Packers. “This is what you put all the work in for,” Kmet said. “These types of games.” ...read more read less