CHICAGO (CBS) — The struggling Bears say they have to “take a stand” against the Green Bay Packers when they head up to Wisconsin on Christmas Day.

“Green Bay is our rival, but lately, we haven’t been holding up our end of the deal. It’s kind of simple as that,” said Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith. They’ve dominated the rivalry here lately, and we have to take a stand. A great ball club – whenever you go that many games without losing, you’re saying a lot about what type of football you’re playing.”

The Packers are 13-1 this season. But the Bears have gone 0-4 since quarterback Jay Cutler had to leave with a broken thumb.

The Bears announced earlier this week that Josh McCown will start as quarterback against the Packers Sunday night, rather than the struggling Caleb Hanie.

McCown signed with the Bears after the injury. He hasn’t started a game since 2007 when he was with the Oakland Raiders.

But linebacker Brian Urlacher said the Bears can be competitive against the Packers regardless of the teams’ respective records.

“There have been times when they’ve been terrible and we’ve been good; we beat them. We’ve been good, they’ve been bad, they beat us. It doesn’t really matter; I hope it doesn’t matter this week either. It’s a big game for us going on there on Christmas Day, which will be the main focus of everyone’s game. It should be fun,” Urlacher said.

Linebacker Lance Briggs emphasized that the game is more about the team’s ability to salvage this season than the Bears-Packers rivalry.

“Even though we split during the season last year – they went ahead and won the championship game and went on to win the Super Bowl – I look at it as a big game. It’s a huge game,” Briggs said. We’re driving up to Wisconsin to play our rival, so I think it’s more than just taking a stand in the rivalry. It’s more taking a stand in the season.”

In the final game of the 2010 regular season, the Green Bay Packers hosted the Chicago Bears in a game crucial to the Packers’ playoff hopes. Green Bay had battled through a devastating series of injuries and needed a win to advance as the NFC’s sixth playoff seed.

The Bears, having already clinched the NFC North and a first-round bye, had nothing to play for and were expected to rest their regulars. Instead, Chicago played its stars throughout, and the Pack were lucky to escape with a 10-3 win.

Today, the roles are reversed. The Packers won the NFC North around Thanksgiving, and are on the verge of wrapping up home field throughout the NFC playoffs. It is the Bears who are battling injury, their postseason hanging by a thread, and they can expect no mercy from their traditional rival.

Green Bay is favored by 13 points in the Christmas night showdown, and gets our call over a Bears team that has lost four straight and starts journeyman Josh McCown at quarterback.

In other games:

TOMORROW

KANSAS CITY (-2) over Oakland -— The Chiefs looked ecstatic to be playing for Romeo Crennel and they’d like nothing better than to knock the hated Raiders out of playoff contention.

Denver (-3) over BUFFALO — We have a Denver team that’s won six of its last seven to surge ahead in the AFC West, while the reeling Bills have lost seven in a row. Go Broncos.

TENNESSEE (-71⁄2) over Jacksonville — One team’s in the postseason chase and the other can’t wait for the season to end. Factor in the Titans’ embarrassing loss to the Colts, and Tennessee should be too hard to handle.

CINCINNATI (-4) over Arizona — The Bengals are thisclose to a playoff berth, but need a win here and over Baltimore next week to make it. The Cards have won several close games down the stretch, but their luck runs out here.

Miami (+91⁄2) over PATRIOTS — The Pats are in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, but their always shaky defense makes the near double-digit spread overly generous.

BALTIMORE (-121⁄2) over Cleveland — Locked in a close AFC North race with the Steelers, and after being outplayed in all facets in San Diego, look for one snarling flock of Ravens to descend on the Browns.

N.Y. Giants (+3) over N.Y. JETS — Too bad both these teams couldn’t lose, so we’d be rid of New York football for the season. The Jints’ strength along the defensive line dovetails nicely with the Jets’ shaky offensive line, so take Big Blue.

WASHINGTON (-61⁄2) over Minnesota — With Rex Grossman at QB the past two weeks, the Skins almost upset the Pats and beat the Giants. They’ll have no trouble with the 2-12 Vikes, who threw in the towel early last week against New Orleans.

CAROLINA (-71⁄2) over Tampa Bay — Carolina has won three of its last four and is laying the groundwork for a successful 2012. The same can’t be said of the Bucs, who have lost eight straight, the last three by 19, 27 and 16 points.

PITTSBURGH (off) over St. Louis — This game is off the board due to the uncertain playing status of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.

And now for a special comment….

Packers fans received quite a scare during last Sunday’s game against Oakland as All-Pro receiver Greg Jennings went down with a knee sprain, Green Bay escaped disaster when an MRI determined that Jennings had not torn his A-C-L which would have ended his season…

So with the Packers on the brink of clinching home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, is the quest for perfection worth possible injury to their best players, thus potentially ruining another Super Bowl bid?

I say, yes…

The final three weeks begin with a road game at struggling Kansas City, followed by back-to-back home games against Chicago and Detroit on Christmas night and New Year’s Day. You would think there is no way the Packers lose to a Chiefs team with nothing to play for, then you have Da Bears!, well their season is in shambles after losing both Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, and the Lions, well Detroit has not won at Lambeau Field in twenty years….

Three games that the Packers should win, so a perfect 16-0 regular season is definitely within their grasp, a win Sunday over the Chiefs locks up the number one seed meaning the road to Indy will go through Titletown…

Is 16-0 truly worth it? I have been enamored with the Packers pursuit of perfection, yet after watching Jennings hobble off the field on Sunday, I must admit that I began to waver in my beliefs…

Jennings is Aaron Rodgers favorite target, number-12 would be the first to admit that number-85 makes everyone around him better… Jennings caught two touchdowns in last year’s Super Bowl victory over Pittsburgh, the other TD went to Jordy Nelson, it’s no coincidence that number-87 is enjoying a breakthrough season for the Packers in 2011….

Head coach Mike McCarthy said after beating the Giants two weeks ago and again this past Sunday against the Raiders that you can’t play football scared, that his players need to put their ‘big boy’ pants on and win football games. That certainly doesn’t sound like a coach that is going to let his foot off the accelerator…

Only one team has gone unbeaten in NFL history, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2011 Green Bay Packers would love to join that exclusive party, listening to veteran cornerback Charles Woodson, the only way to top last year’s Super Bowl championship is to repeat with perfection… I agree…

Sure the Packers dodged a bullet with the injury to Jennings, he will be back in time for the playoffs, but if Aaron Rodgers is lost in these final three weeks, I think most of us would agree there won’t be a championship belt to raise in Indy on Super Sunday….

I believe these are risks the Packers are willing to take, for it was legendary coach Vince Lombardi that said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing….”

GREEN BAY, Wisc. (CBS/AP) — Winning every week is one thing. On Sunday, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers made a legitimate playoff contender look like a team that was ready to pack its bags.

Rodgers threw for 281 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in less than three full quarters’ worth of work, Ryan Grant had two touchdowns rushing and Charles Woodson picked off a pass against his former team as the Packers trounced the Oakland Raiders 46-16.

The Packers ran their record to 13-0 — leaving them only three games short of completing a perfect regular season. And they did it with a near-perfect performance.

Carson Palmer threw for 245 yards with a touchdown and four interceptions for the Raiders (7-6), who looked like anything but legitimate contenders in the AFC West.

With little actual drama in the game, the biggest concern for the Packers was an apparent left knee injury to wide receiver Greg Jennings in the third quarter. Green Bay defensive lineman Ryan Pickett also walked to the locker room after sustaining a head injury in the third quarter.

Rodgers got an early rest in the blowout, as backup Matt Flynn took over late in the third.

Oakland was playing without injured running back Darren McFadden, along with wide receivers Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore. And the Raiders made plenty of mistakes to help an opponent that doesn’t really need it. Palmer threw an interception on the Raiders’ first possession, and Oakland committed eight penalties in the first half alone.

And while the Packers’ play has been far from perfect for most of the season, especially on defense, this one was total domination.

Green Bay had four touchdowns and a field goal on its first five possessions. Things got out of hand so quickly that the Raiders tried a fake punt midway through the second quarter. As was the case for most things the Raiders attempted Sunday, it didn’t work.

Grant rediscovered his big-play ability for the Packers, breaking a 47-yard run two plays after Palmer threw an interception to rookie linebacker D.J. Smith on the Raiders’ first possession.

The Packers were without injured running back James Starks, who had surpassed Grant in the Packers’ rotation. Until that play, Grant hadn’t looked like his explosive old self for most of the season.

After a defensive stop, Rodgers directed a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Taylor — the rookie’s first career touchdown.

Trailing 31-0 with about six minutes left in the half, the Raiders tried the fake punt. But Shane Lechler threw high to Rock Cartwright for an incompletion, and the Packers took over at the Oakland 28-yard line.

The Raiders ran into more bad luck on the second-half kickoff, when Green Bay’s Randall Cobb appeared to step out of bounds during a 50-yard return. Officials said the replay system was malfunctioning, and the Raiders couldn’t challenge.

But Jennings had to go to the locker room after hurting his left knee early in the third quarter, and the Raiders finally got on the scoreboard when Michael Bush ran for a 2-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 34-7.

Packers outside linebacker Erik Walden scored on a fumble return late in the third quarter. Walden has been in trouble off the field for the Packers and was charged Wednesday with misdemeanor disorderly conduct-domestic abuse following an altercation with his girlfriend.

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