NFC North rivals the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers continue the longest running rivalry in the NFL on Sunday Night Football season at Lambeau Field. New Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler makes his debut with Chicago after two successful seasons in Denver. The Bears feel that they have their first legitimate starting quarterback for the first time since the days of the Super Bowl Shuffle.

The biggest key to this game for this game is Cutler’s ability to spread the ball around to all of the weapons the Bears have. The leading receiver last season was running back Matt Forte and the Bears have two of the better pass catching tight ends in the league in Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. Wide receiver Devin Hester’s ability to stretch the defense will only help open up both the running game and the underneath passing to Clark and Olsen.

Green Bay hopes that their young gunslinger Aaron Rodgers will build on a 6-10 start in the Packers first season without Lambeau legend Brett Favre since 1992. The Packers are also switching their defense from the 4-3 to the 3-4 forcing players to learn new positions on the fly. Linebacker Aaron Kampman has switched from defensive end and is learning how to play standing up at the line of scrimmage and how to drop back in coverage.

The Packers key will be how well the team has adjusted to the conversion to the 3-4 defense this season. Kampman and new starting outside linebacker Jeremy Thompson’s ability to adapt to not just rushing the passer every play will be a big key in this game and this season. Running back Ryan Grant will need to get off to a good start against the Bears defense to open up both the play action passes and draw plays to help take the pressure off of Aaron Rodgers.

With these young, gunslinger quarterbacks the Packers and Bears are trying to change the culture of their teams and the NFC North. They both have a solid passing game to complement their bruising running games, and how well the quarterbacks play will determine the winner. Cutler and the Bears pull off a victory in the last minutes of a low scoring game to get his first win as a member of the Bears.