Green Bay's win was built on the defense as much as on Love. The Packers forced 5 takeaways against Chicago. Christian Watson caught 2 touchdowns and went for 143 yards, and MarShawn Lloyd scored the team's first 2 rushing touchdowns of the season. That defense is also short-handed. Micah Parsons has been dealing with a knee injury, and Matt LaFleur said earlier this month that Parsons wouldn't practice that week. Edgerrin Cooper is on IR with an Achilles injury. Whether Parsons can rush the passer in this game is the biggest unknown on the Green Bay side.
Neither team's record says much on its own. The Cowboys have scored 31, 34 and 37 in 3 of their last 5 games, but they have also allowed 34 to Baltimore and 30 to Houston, and they managed just 16 against a Tampa defense that hadn't won a game. The Packers' bad days were really bad: 39 allowed in Minnesota and a 35-14 home loss to Atlanta. Since then they have won 2 straight, including a gritty 17-14 win in Tampa. One thing does work in Dallas's favor. The Cowboys played Thursday and the Packers played Sunday, so Dallas gets 3 extra days of rest heading into this one.
The injury report is where this game gets interesting. Dallas's defense keeps losing players. Safety Jalen Thompson and defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard are on IR. Joey Porter Jr. missed the Bucs game with an illness, Cobie Durant was inactive, and safety Alijah Clark left that game with a hamstring injury. That's a lot of missing defensive backs for a team about to face a quarterback coming off a 367-yard day. Green Bay has its own problem on the interior of the offensive line. Guards Aaron Banks and Donovan Jennings and center Jacob Monk were all inactive against Chicago. Against the Bears' front, Love had time anyway. Dallas will test that line harder.
Then there's the weather. The early forecast for Lambeau calls for 51 degrees, clear skies and wind around 22 mph at kickoff, 7:20 PM CT. A week out, that could easily change. If the wind holds, it hurts both teams' deep passing, and that's how both of these offenses have done most of their damage.