Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was calling plays last season when Bears head coach Ben Johnson was the Lions’ offensive coordinator and Caleb Williams was the Bears’ rookie quarterback.
Both have a sense, then, of what the Packers will look like Saturday without star edge rusher Micah Parsons, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament Sunday against the Broncos and is out for the season.
“Just because one player goes down, that doesn’t mean that this is going to change a whole lot for them,” Johnson said Tuesday. “They play relentless football. They pursue. They have a ton of team speed. The linebackers are thumpers. If you ask your backs to pick them up in protection one too many times, they’re going to find a way to get to your quarterback.”
Williams called the strategic challenge “a fun challenge” for the Bears, who faced Parsons just two weeks ago. Williams had a 95.1 passer rating and a 1-1 record against the Packers last year.
“We’ll prepare how we normally prepare and have our stuff,” Williams said. “And then when you get into a game, you obviously have to adjust for whatever they do. And so that’s the fun part about playing quarterback.”
The Packers didn’t trade for Parsons until late August, so they don’t have to look too far back for defensive ideas.
“You’ve got to kind of dust off some stuff and take a look at, and formulate, as good a plan as you know how,” coach Matt La-Fleur told Packers reporters.
The Packers’ defense remains dangerous.
“I know you kind of lock in on one player because he does garner a lot of your attention when you go against that defense,” Johnson said. “And, yet, they have some high-caliber players throughout.”