Bears vs Packers: Inactive list, Pre-Party Livestream and Open Thread

EDIT: While you guys are here for the live stream, check out the list of inactives for the Bears and Packers:

BEAR INACTIVES

TE Trey Burton

CB Kevin Toliver II

RB Kerrith Whyte Jr.

ILB Josh Woods

OL Rashaad Coward

DL Abdullah Anderson

WR Riley Ridley

PACKER INACTIVES

WR Darrius Shepherd

RB Dexter Williams

CB Ka’dar Hollman

LB Oren Burks

G Cole Madison

T/G Alex Light

DL Kingsley Keke

Good evening, y’all. Welcome to the kickoff of week one of the 2019 NFL season.

Or, you know, that time of year when we actually get to see if oft-spoken narratives, national commentary and offseason hype actually hold water. And what better way to do that in the 100th year of existence of the Bears and Packers than to have them face each other in week one?

The Bears wrapped up last year with their first playoff berth in eight years, and then watched their season bounce off two pipes and fall heavily to the turf. We... don’t need to repeat that, everybody knows how the season ended. But what we do know is the Bears return ten offensive starters, nine defensive starters, and a whole lot of desire not to have that happen again.

The Packers would love to be back there, having missed the playoffs in back to back seasons for the first time since 2005-2006 and firing their head coach Mike McCarthy in favor of new Young Offensive Guru Type Matt LaFleur. Maybe getting knocked out of the playoff hunt in Week 15 by the Bears as they seized the NFC North title had something to do with that. We’ll have to get back to you.

But for the Navy and Orange, if they want to show last year wasn’t a fluke, it has to start with beating a Packers team that despite last season’s struggles has still won all but four matchups against the Bears since the start of the 2010 season. The good news? Matt Nagy is 1-1.

The narratives don’t matter. Last season’s ending doesn’t matter. 99 prior years of Bears/Packers history doesn’t matter. What matters starts now.

Bear Down.

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For those of you who don’t know what the WCG Sunday Livestream is, Sam and I like to fashion it as our Official Pre-Game Show of WCG when we have the ability to do so. Sometimes the game is on Thursday. Which makes the WCG Sunday Livestream on Thursday a little awkward. Kind of like Sunday Night Football on Thursday. Parallels. Without the Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth pedigree.

We’re going to start you off by asking three important questions:

• Which narrative are you most looking forward to seeing busted?
• Which narrative do you think will stand up at the end of the season?
• Do the Bears have the right kicker?

If you want to get in touch with us during the stream, there are several ways to do that:

• Right here. In the comments below. Hello.
• Chat over on our Twitch side, over at SJS_illini
• And of course our Twitters exist. I’m at @SJS_illini; Sam’s at @SamHouseholder; the main handle is @WCGridiron.

We’ll be live at about 5:30 PM CT. See you then.