The Green Bay Packers are coming off one of the biggest wins of their season, a statement game against the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay was expected to run away with the division prior to the season, but the Vikings were in first place going into their last game. The Packers held off the Vikings, though, scoring 30 points and moving to 7-3 on the season.
Green Bay and Minnesota have identical records, but the Packers obviously own the tiebreaker. The two teams will meet again in Week 17 and it would be in Green Bay's best interest to try to put some space between it and the Vikings before that point. Their first attempt at doing so will be the final of three Thanksgiving games on a special edition of Sunday Night Football against the rival Chicago Bears, a game you can watch live online here.
The Bears are struggling this year with a 4-6 record, good for third place in the NFC North. They put together a couple wins in Weeks 9 and 10, but dropped a 17-15 game to the Denver Broncos in their last outing.
Jay Cutler has played well and the Bears have put points on the board, but defensively they have struggled. Against the Broncos, Cutler had one of his worst games of the season, completing just 56.3 percent of his passes for 265 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. But he has 13 touchdowns and six interceptions on the season and folks aren't talking about his bad contract so much anymore.
The Bears are still in the playoff hunt, but they can't afford to drop these important games against their rivals. It should be an exciting game to close out a football-filled Thursday.
How to watch
When: 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisc.
TV: NBC
Announcers: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya
Online: NBC Sports Live Extra