There’s just something about playing the Packers that brings out the best in Bears outside linebacker Leonard Floyd.
Floyd might as well be dubbed the “Packer killer” for the havoc he’s wrecked against the Bears’ rivals in the seven games he’s played against Green Bay.
In those seven games, Floyd had 7.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits. But in the 44 other games against everyone else, Floyd has managed just 11 sacks.
When the Bears opened the season against the Packers, Floyd had two sacks of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and it looked like he was poised for a breakout season. But since then — 12 games later — Floyd has just one sack.
“It’s a division game against our rivals, so I don’t know, man. It just happens that I get home versus them than I do against other teams,” Floyd said.
“Getting those sacks against a great player like Aaron Rodgers, I guess I can be excited about that. But I take the same approach into every game. I get so close, so many times. It just so happens when it’s Green Bay, I always get home.”
If only the Bears could play the Packers every week. Not typically words you’d expect to hear. Maybe Floyd should visualize every opponent wearing green and yellow and every quarterback wearing No. 12, then maybe we’d see more consistent production from the fourth-year edge rusher.
Floyd would love to have more sacks, but he feels confident in the position he’s at in Chuck Pagano’s defense this season.
“I had to learn a new defense. Had a lot more put on me … [and] our defense still ranks in the top 10,” Floyd said. “I feel great in the position I’m in. I’m playing for a great organization. I got a lot more left in me, so I’m just taking it one game at a time.”
