GREEN BAY, Wis. – So Clay Matthews still has some reservations about his move to inside linebacker.

That's understandable for a four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker.

Maybe there's more convincing that needs to be done before he's all-in, but at this point it's the probably the best move for the Green Bay Packers.

"I don't know what was either expressed or what he truly felt; I haven't had time to sit back and ask him," said Winston Moss, who coaches Matthews and the rest of the Packers' linebackers. "I just know that he prepared in such a matter that he was truly focused to play the best he could."

As Matthews said, it would have been a whole lot more difficult to accept had he not been productive. But 11 tackles later, plus one sack (and another that was wiped out by his own roughing the passer penalty) in the debut of his new role last Sunday against the Chicago Bears should have helped matters.

"The way he played, you would think he loved it," Packers cornerback Tramon Williams said. "You never know; it's still a new position. Even though he played well, maybe his comfort level wasn't there in that point and time. If he gets more reps, maybe he'll get a little more comfortable."

Matthews' hesitancy is reasonable. He made his name -- and a pile of money -- as a relentless pass rusher off the edge. It's been a year-and-half since he signed his five-year, $66 million contract extension, and he's still the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL.

If moving Matthews gives the Packers their money's worth, then so be it. They have been starving for a playmaker from the inside linebacker position next to A.J. Hawk. They alredy tried Brad Jones, Jamari Lattimore and Sam Barrington in the first half of this season before turning to Matthews during the bye week.

And for the first time in Matthews' five seasons, they have another accomplished outside linebacker in Julius Peppers, who leads the team with five sacks to Matthews’ 3.5.

To say the element of surprise was the reason it worked against the Bears would be a discredit to both Matthews' athletic ability and his ability to dissect the game from any spot on the field. He played 38 snaps at inside linebacker and 15 at his old spot.

"If he'd been playing inside there from the first day, I think he'd have gone to the same number of Pro Bowls as he has outside," defensive coordinator Dom Capers said.

Ask Chip Kelly, the Philadelphia Eagles coach who must prepare for Matthews at multiple positions in advance of Sunday's game at Lambeau Field.

"Probably a smart maneuver by those guys," Kelly said this week on a conference call with reporters at Lambeau Field. "It really caused some problems for Chicago in terms of his ability to disrupt things in the middle. Just another thing we’ll be prepared for."