The Week 5 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers on Sunday, October 11, got flexed from its original 4:25 p.m. ET start time to a boring 1 p.m. ET kickoff. Jonathan Jones from The Athletic dropped the news, and honestly, you don’t need to be a genius to guess why the NFL made this move. This is one of the league’s oldest, most heated rivalries, so getting booted from the featured national game slot is a big deal.
Caleb Williams’ Hamstring Puts Bears Off-Schedule
A huge part of this demotion has to be Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. He’s dealing with a Grade 2 hamstring injury, which he picked up back on September 20 in a rough 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The timeline for his return is looking like three to four weeks, so he’s definitely sidelined for this game. Without their star QB, the Bears just aren’t drawing the national spotlight.
Packers’ Ugly Start Makes Them Unwatchable
And then there are the Packers. Yikes. Green Bay is sitting at 1-2 to start the season, and it’s been rough. They’re coming off a super ugly 35-14 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons, who hadn’t won a game before that. To kick off the season, they got trounced 39-22 by the Minnesota Vikings. Their only win was a squeaker, 20-17 in overtime against the New York Jets in Week 2. When both teams are struggling this hard, even a historic rivalry can’t save a bad game from getting moved.
It’s a tough look for two franchises with so much history. This Week 5 game is now just another early afternoon kickoff, lacking any of the original buzz. Hopefully, both teams can turn things around soon, because right now, this rivalry isn’t living up to the hype.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
Leave a Reply