LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Lance Briggs knows his people.
Not only does he get that Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers means a little more to Chicago Bears fans, he's apparently channeling that notion into his mental preparation for the contest.
"The only statement that we need to make this week is we need to beat our rival," Briggs said Wednesday. "Obviously you guys know we don't like them. I think everybody in the city has some sort of connection to Green Bay, you know. Some family member or girlfriend or brother or mother or dad is connected to the Packers. Or cousin or work buddy. And they have a tradeoff if the Bears win, they've got to wear Bears that week or if the Packers win."
"It gets a little emotional," he continued, "and you're getting a few tweets and texts and stuff about, 'Hey, I don't want to have to wear a Green Bay Packer jersey this week,' and you go back and forth. This is a game that we've got to go out and we've got to keep sending messages and find a way to win."
Um, OK. Briggs should probably stop reading his Twitter mentions. Just worry about Aaron Rodgers and Eddie Lacy and the Packers' recent on-field domination of Chicago, including four straight wins at Soldier Field, and nine of 11 overall.
Because there's lip service about beating Green Bay for the fans, and there's the reality of beating Green Bay on the field. And the Bears haven't been very good at beating Green Bay in the Jay Cutler era.
Cutler only has defeated Green Bay once. And the last time these teams met, in the playoffs-or-bust season finale at Soldier Field, Chris Conte went one way and Randall Cobb went really far the other way. Green Bay made the posteason instead of the Bears. The ultimate insult.
That's all in the past.
Today, the Bears are 2-1, fresh off two prime-time road wins in Santa Clara, California, and East Rutherford, New Jersey. And the Packers are a middling 1-2, with that one win a comeback home victory over the New York Jets two weeks ago. In Week 3, they lost to the Detroit Lions 19-7.
Packers quarterback Rodgers had to give his fans a soothing pep talk this week.
"Five letters here just for everybody out there in Packerland: R-E-L-A-X," Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "Relax. We're going to be OK."
Briggs noted he gave Chicago fans the same message after the Bears lost their season opener to the Buffalo Bills.
So I guess everyone should chill out, right?
The Bears are stacking wins and that's all that matters in the first month of the season, which basically amounts to a feeling-out process.
But are the Bears just a decent team getting W's or a powerhouse in the making?
This week will provide some answers for the Bears -- and hopefully a better home result than the opener against Buffalo.
Everyone's making this into a "statement game," and with good reason. A 3-1 start and a two-game cushion against Green Bay would show that this team is for real. A 2-2 start, with two home losses, would show we, and the Bears, don't know what to make of this team.
In leading up to games, typically it's all about Cutler, who hasn't thrown a pick in two games. I think his promising play will continue against the Packers.
Will the Bears get their running game in order? I'm not sure how much of a priority that is with coach Marc Trestman's offense.
As for me, I'm still wondering what we'll see from the defense.
Both offenses are "finding their way" so far. The Bears are 13th in the NFC in offense, while Green Bay is 14th. And I'm guessing both put up some serious yardage Sunday.
Can the Bears keep causing takeaways?
While the Bears' D has been much better than advertised, particularly in creating takeaways and shutting down scoring in the second half, it has thrived the past two weeks against a shaky Colin Kaepernick and a mediocre Geno Smith. And the defense still is near the bottom of the NFC in yards allowed. But as was the case in Lovie Smith's day, the Bears are thriving by taking away the ball: Eight takeaways and a plus-four turnover margin.
Rodgers brings a little more to the table and the red zone. Forget statements and rivalries; the Bears' defense needs to worry about stopping him for their own sanity.
"Man, he's Aaron Rodgers," Bears cornerback Tim Jennings said. "He's going to make all the throws and all those plays. You just have to minimize stuff he likes to do, get to the quarterback, make him feel rattled and come up with takeaways."
Smith and the Jets went 1-for-6 in the red zone on Monday night, which included an interception by rookie phenom cornerback Kyle Fuller.
Through three games, the Bears have given up just five touchdowns in 15 red zone possessions. That's the second-best percentage in the NFC, but also the most opportunities.
Buffalo had four trips to the red zone and San Francisco five. Does that mean Green Bay gets seven?
So far, the Packers are 5-for-9 on scoring touchdowns inside the 20. If Green Bay can move the ball, expect that percentage to go up. Rodgers is just a little better than Smith, after all. Give him time and he'll get touchdowns.
"He's got good feet, and he can create more time with his feet," Briggs said. "You're not gonna find a quarterback in the league that's gonna pinpoint a ball better than Aaron Rodgers. He can make any throw in the NFL. So that makes it tough.
"He's one of those guys that scrambles. Usually when a guy scrambles to his right or his left, their completion percentage goes down. His stays right around the same."
Rodgers' skill set makes it imperative for the defensive line to finish in his personal space. Nothing new there.
Nor is it a novel approach for the Bears to focus on limiting the Packers' yards after contact. Chicago has allowed 289 rushing and receiving yards after contact (YAC) this season, the second-most in the NFL after the Oakland Raiders, according to the ESPN Stats & Information.
The majority of those yards have come against runs. The Bears have given up 186 rushing yards after contact, the fourth-most in the NFL. They allow 2.2 YAC per rush. Last year, Chicago had the worst rushing YAC in the league.
Packers back Lacy hasn't done much yet in limited work, but at 230 pounds, he's a load. So the Bears need to do the basics: "fit" in their proper gaps; read their proper keys; swarm to the ball; and wrap up.
"He's a big, thicker running back," Briggs said of Lacy. "Actually, he's got some pretty good feet for a big guy. So guys like that, you've just got to go in. You've got to tattoo him, and the next guy's got to come in and do the same."
As for passing defense, the Bears have given up 103 in YAC, 11th-most in the league. But teams have only accumulated 302 yards after the catch against the Bears, a slightly different stat, the seventh-best number in the NFL.
Packers receivers Cobb and Jordy Nelson, however, can motor with space in front of them. And considering the Bears have two dinged-up starting safeties, this looks like a problem in the making. The Packers are ninth in the league with 267 yards after the catch. More than half of that comes from Nelson, who is fifth with 140.
Nelson's 23 catches are the most ever for a Packers receiver in the first three games of a season -- yes, someone gets paid to come up with these notes -- and his 351 yards are fourth.
"This team, in part, does an outstanding job with yards after the catch," Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker said of the Pack. "They take pride in it. You can see it with the receivers and the backs. When they catch the ball, they're looking to get yards.
"That's a big part in trying to contain this offense, limiting yards after catch and yards after contact with the backs."
In his conference call with Bears reporters, Nelson basically said the Packers are a rhythm offense trying to find their beat. Once they get it, watch out.
"Oh, really?" Jennings said. "That's good to know they're a rhythm team. You see them, they're all timing. They gotta be where they're supposed to be, because Rodgers is going to put that ball where it's supposed to be. They've got to be in the right position to be where the ball's at."
It's the Bears' job to knock Rodgers and the Packers off that rhythm. Because for the Packers at Soldier Field, it's been the same, old song.