Breaking down who has the edge in Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers

Part of what makes Thursday night's Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game at Soldier Field such a perfect and fascinating opener for the NFL is that in addition to the teams having the league's oldest continuous rivalry and being its two most successful franchises as measured by championships and Hall of Famers, the difference in the two clubs over the years is razor thin.

In 196 regular-season meetings dating to 1921, Green Bay holds a 96-94-6 edge. The two clubs are 1-1 in the postseason, and over those 198 games the two franchises are separated by just 26 points — Packers 3,434, Bears 3,408 — or 13 hundreds of a point per game.

Much will be made of a perceived advantage of the unknown that Matt Nagy had as a rookie head coach in last year's opener and that Matt LaFleur could have this year, but the reality is the Packers held the Bears and Nagy's offense to just 294 yards in that game and just 155 through the air, while outgaining them with 370 yards of offense.

Bears offense vs. Packers defense: Rookie David Montgomery, Tarik Cohen and veteran free agent Mike Davis will attempt to dent a Green Bay run defense that ranked 22nd in the NFL last year (13th in average gain allowed per rush).

The main reason for the turnover in the Bears' ground game is that while they were 11th in the NFL in rushing last season, they were just 27th in average gain per rush.

Creating big chunks will be a key for the Bears, while avoiding them is likely to be the Packers' first priority.

Green Bay's main focus this off-season was upgrading its defense with the additions of former Bears safety Adrian Amos, Za'Darius Smith, Preston Smith and rookie Rashan Gary at the outside linebacker spots and another rookie, Darnell Savage, to line up next to Amos.

If Charles Leno and Bobby Massie can keep his pocket clean, Mitch Trubisky will look to avoid scrambling, protect the football and try to make a big play or two down the field. The Packers like their young corners but will have to be concerned about contested balls thrown at Allen Robinson.

Edge: Even

Packers offense vs. Bears defense: This is the matchup most likely to dictate the outcome of the game. The Bears' defense dominated in both meetings last year, and with limited significant personnel changes on the Packers' offense, it will be up to LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers to find chinks in the Bears vaunted defense.

Rodgers was the difference with a heroic second-half performance in the Packers' 24-23 opening-night win last season, but the Bears held him to a season-worst 68.9 passer rating with a pick and no touchdowns in their December victory.

The best individual matchups of the night will be David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga trying to handle Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd without help, and whether Mack can be slowed with or without help.

In the two meetings last year, Mack totaled 9 tackles, 3½ sacks, 4 quarterback hits, 1 fumble forced, 1 fumble recovered and an interception for a touchdown.

Rodgers has to hope the Packers' ground game will be his best friend in attempting to slow the Bears' pressure, and while they were just 22nd in the league last year, Aaron Jones led the league in average per carry at 5.1 yards.

With two first-team all-pros in the Bears' secondary in Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson, either Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Geronimo Allison or Trevor Davis will have to step up as a No. 2 behind Davante Adams to keep the Bears honest.

Edge: Bears

Special teams: The Bears' placekicking issues are well documented, and what they have in Eddy Pineiro remains to be seen, while Mason Crosby is an experienced big-game veteran who held off a challenge for his job this preseason.

There is not a lot to separate Packers punter J.K. Scott and the Bears' Patrick O'Donnell, although O'Donnell was a yard better in net average last year.

The notable difference here could be that while Trevor Davis is definitely a threat in the return game, in Tarik Cohen and Cordarrelle Patterson, the Bears now boast the NFL's top punt returner and No. 1 kickoff returner.

Edge: Bears

Coaching: Matt Nagy is the reigning NFL Coach of the Year and Matt LaFleur will be coaching his first game, so there's really only one way we can go here.

Edge: Bears