Bears won’t ‘hunt up too many ghosts’ in preparation for Packers QB Jordan Love
Williams is in his second season as Bears defensive coordinator.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The Bears will open the season Sunday against a quarterback who has rarely played: The Packers’ Jordan Love.
That makes it more difficult to scout him, because the Bears would have to dig into his Utah State tape to get much of a sense of how he plays, but even that might be outdated by this point.
Rather than go down that rabbit hole, the Bears likely will base their game plan for Love more so on Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.
“What we’re trying not to do is hunt up too many ghosts,” defensive coordinator Alan Williams said before practice Thursday. “What we have to focus on is what Green Bay has done up until this point ... and then look at Love in the preseason and see what he does well.
“He gets the ball out of his hand, he throws a phenomenal deep ball, outside he has great touch, it seems like he makes good decisions — fast decisions, fast processor.”
Love, 24, has been with the Packers since they drafted him in the first round in 2020, but has played just 10 games with one start. He has never taken a snap against the Bears.
In that limited sample size, he completed 50 of 83 passes (60.2%) for 606 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions for a 79.7 passer rating.
The Bears also must contend with a rushing attack that features Aaron Jones (1,516 yards last season) and A.J. Dillon (976). The Bears gave up the second-most yards in the NFL at 157.3 per game, and the Packers ran for 378 at 5.4 per carry.