Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears Wednesday injury report

Sunday’s season opener will feature the NFL’s oldest rivalry as it begins a new chapter. The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will meet at Soldier Field to open the 2023 season — and officially kick off the Jordan Love era.

Ahead of the game, though, both the Packers and Bears are dealing with injuries to some key playmakers, according to the first injury reports of the year.

Both Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson sat out Wednesday’s practice as they deal with hamstring injuries. Those are two huge names to appear on the injury report, with Watson as the most notable of the two. As a rookie last year, he finished second on the roster with 611 receiving yards to go with a team-high seven receiving touchdowns. Doubs was also among Aaron Rodgers’ top targets with 425 yards and three touchdowns.

Another receiver, Dontayvion Wicks, was limited with a hamstring issue. That will be a position to keep close watch of in the days leading up to the opener.

The Packers have won the last eight matchups against the Bears, which includes last year’s 28-19 victory in Chicago. Kickoff for this year’s installment is set for Sunday 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX.

Packers vs Bears Wednesday injury report

Packers

Did not participate — LT David Bakhtiari (rest/knee), WR Romeo Doubs (hamstring), WR Christian Watson (hamstring)

Limited participants — OLB Rashan Gary (knee), WR Dontayvion Wicks (hamstring)

Full participant — S Anthony Johnson (knee)

Bears

Did not participate — LB Dylan Cole (hamstring)

Limited participants — S Jaquan Brisker (groin), S Eddie Jackson (ankle), DE DeMarcus Walker (calf)

The Jordan Love era officially begins this week

During his three years behind Rodgers, Love only started one game in 2021 when Rodgers went on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. In that game, he threw for 190 yards and a touchdown on 19 of 34 passing as the Packers fell to the Kansas City Chiefs.

On the whole, Love has 606 passing yards and three touchdowns to his name across 20 career appearances. But he looked good during this preseason, totaling 193 yards and three touchdowns over three games.

That showing is why Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst expressed confidence in his team’s new QB1.

“There’s things that not everybody sees but little mistakes that I think he’s going to really grow from,” Gutekunst said. “And then there’s things that maybe didn’t affect the play. And there’s successes that he had, too, that gives him confidence to move forward. So, I think it was just really, really good.

“When you put those guys out there, sometimes you’re a little bit — we haven’t done that a lot around here. But I think it was such an important thing to get out of it clean where he played really well, I think that was a real benefit to our offense. So, I’m excited about it. But I don’t know if I really learned a ton. I think it was just really good for him and our offense.”