You are what your record says you are in the NFL, and that means the Chicago Bears are one heck of a good team in Ben Johnson’s first season as head coach. That’s got to be tough for fans of the Green Bay Packers to stomach, but it’s simply a reality.

After beating the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, the Bears are now 9-3 and riding a five-game winning streak. They’re a game ahead of the Packers in the NFC North standings, and speaking of standings, they’re currently the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Last season, the Bears finished 5-12 and fired head coach Matt Eberflus midseason after several disastrous losses. They went out and poached Johnson from the Detroit Lions, though, where he had become the best offensive coordinator in the NFL.

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So far, so good for Chicago, and that’s putting it lightly.

They’re a good team. There may be some fool’s gold in their record, but their win over Philadelphia was proof that they’re at the very least a good team. It was an impressive 24-15 win, bolstered by the fact that it was a road win. Remember, the Packers were in Philadelphia just a few weeks ago and could only muster 7 points in a 10-7 loss, so the Bears can at least say that they’ve beaten the Eagles while the Packers haven’t.

Of course, the Packers are also 3-0 in the NFC North, and they’re coming off a season sweep of the team that won the division for the past two seasons straight.

They’re also hosting Chicago next weekend in a primetime 3:25 PM game, where they’re the early 6-point favorite. Matt LaFleur is 38-12 at home in his time as head coach of the Packers, so they should be considered the favorites to defend their home turf at Lambeau Field.

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The odds suggest that Green Bay is the better team, and if the Packers that showed up on Thanksgiving are the ones that show up in this Week 14 matchup, they should be able to pull off a win.

These aren’t the Bears of the Eberflus era, though, so the Packers must take this game seriously. Heck, they may even want to take it personally, because we know Johnson is.

And to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year,” Johnson had said in his introductory press conference in Chicago.

Throw in the fact that anything can and does happen when rivalries are involved — and this is the oldest rivalry in the NFL — and there’s absolutely reason to be a bit nervous heading into this one if you’re a Packers fan.

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The Packers can and should win, but the Bears are legit.