Packers-Bears Rivalry Is Real, It’s Spectacular And It’s Hit Pivotal Moment

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It’s been a long, long time since the ancient rivalry between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, which will be played for the 214th time on Sunday at Lambeau Field, had real fangs.

The feud’s been bitter, to be sure – recall Mark Lee’s ejection in 1985 and Charles Martin’s infamous cheap shot against Jim McMahon in 1986 – but it’s usually been a battle of bullies. The Packers and Bears have had long runs of dominance, with one team being really good and one team really bad.

Until last year, the Packers and Bears hadn’t qualified for the playoffs with winning records in the same season since 2010.

The Bears had a huge lead in the series until Brett Favre arrived on the scene. Then Aaron Rodgers stomped on the accelerator. Beginning on Nov. 22, 1992, when Favre led the Packers to a 17-3 win, through last year’s victory at Lambeau Field, which was clinched by Keisean Nixon’s interception, the Packers went 52-15.

Favre went 22-10 against Chicago. Rodgers went a remarkable 25-5, including the 2010 NFC Championship Game.

However, the Bears enter this game with wins in three of the last four meetings. Before that, they had three wins in the previous 29 matchups. Packers coach Matt LaFleur won his first 11 games against Chicago; the Bears have a chance to win three in a row for the first time in 20 years.

For a long time, this wasn’t a rivalry. It was bullying. When Rodgers screamed in the end zone that he owned the Bears, who was going to argue with him?

Rebirth of Packers-Bears Rivalry

Bears coach Ben Johnson has replaced Rodgers as the dynamo in the rivalry. When he screamed “F*** the Packers” in the locker room after last year’s playoff win, who was going to tell him he was out of line? After years of being given wedgies and swirlies, the Bears were back.

And so was the rivalry.

Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field is as big as it gets. No, it’s not a playoff game, like last year. No, it’s not for the NFC North championship, as was the case in 2013.

Still, it’s huge.

Especially for the Packers.

Yeah, revenge is a factor after Green Bay’s all-time implosion in last year’s wild-card game. Yeah, the standings are a factor, with one win (or loss) feeling like it could be worth four or five for the Packers, who have looked like pretenders throughout their 2-2 start to the season.

“Definitely a lot of history,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “We always talk about the oldest rivalry in all of the NFL, so it goes back a long way, a lot of history in this game. So, yeah, it’s a good rivalry. Obviously, NFC North matchup and all these teams we take just a little more pride in these games. We gotta win these ones. They mean so much throughout the course of the season, so definitely going to be a good game.”

Love, who was abused by the Bears last season with nobody really having his back, will never be as outspoken as Rodgers. It’s just not in his nature.

Packers Will Have Piss Hot Against Bears

So, leave it to his teammates to provide the real talk.

“Yeah, anytime it’s a division game, you kind of got to get your piss hot for the most part, understanding that these are going to have long-term effects on the standings for where we want to be at the end of the year,” safety Evan Williams said.

“And also carrying over from last year, understanding we also have a bad taste in our mouth from what happened. You can understand a 12-round fight. It’s going to be a fistfight for sure. We wouldn’t want anything else.”

It can’t be anything else. Because while playing a winning standard of football is important after four mistake-plagued games, and the standings are important given the difference between 3-2 and 2-3, where this game is of critical importance is for the rivalry. If the Bears shove the Packers into a locker again while playing without starting quarterback Caleb Williams, it could mark another run of one-sided dominance in the border battle.

Johnson, who started jabbing at LaFleur from the moment he was hired, is the driving force behind the rivalry’s renewed relevance.

“Some sh** don’t slide, and you don’t let that sh** go,” center Sean Rhyan said of Johnson’s locker room comments after last year’s playoff meltdown.

Jordan Morgan has been a part of the rivalry since he was drafted in 2024. This will be his first start at left tackle in the series.

“He’s dissing us. He’s dissing the Packers,” he said of Johnson. “A lot of people in here, I’m pretty sure, take that to heart. And we got a chance to prove to everybody on Sunday that we the best team.”

Added Williams: “That’s part of the rivalry. We understand how they feel about us, and we feel the same way, is what I’ll say. It’s a rivalry for a reason. We’re both competing to be the best in not only our conference, but the league. You get two powerhouses going up against each other, and on any given Sunday, you’re going to have those feelings spill out, for sure. I’m not going to quite say exactly what you want me to say, but it’s mutual. It’s mutual.”

Tight end Tucker Kraft missed all three games last season following his torn ACL.

“I talk with my pads, so I’ll just wait ‘til Sunday,” he said.

This will be Zaire Franklin’s first taste of the rivalry. He already knows this one’s different.

“It’s a lot of bad blood. A lot of bad blood,” he said. “A lot of genuine dislike, which is a little different than nowadays. Nowadays, most rivalries are just on social media and in the offseason, you’re hanging out. I don’t think nobody want to hang out with the Bears in the offseason. I think it’s a real issue between both sides.

“The beautiful part of it is we got nothing but space and opportunity to figure it out. Looking forward to it.”

New Packers guard Kevin Zeitler, who might make his starting debut, grew up in Wisconsin so knows what the rivalry is all about.

“Growing up in Wisconsin, obviously all about the Packers vs. Bears and everything, and it's cool to be a part of that now officially,” he said. “It's a very heated rivalry for obvious reasons and got to bring your A game.”

Safety Javon Bullard said this will be a primetime game, no matter the time.

“We’re playing the Bears. They don’t like us, we don’t like them,” he said.

“Sh**, once you respect the game in a way, you appreciate the rivalries,” he added. “Everybody got their game. I grew up watching these types of games. You’ve got Baltimore-Pittsburgh, you’ve got Seattle-San Fran, us and the Bears. So, it’s not just us. Everybody got their game and we treat every game like it’s the same game but, at the end of the day, they them boys from across the street so we’ve got to knock them off.”

Time for Talk Is Over

For more than three decades, the Packers turned the so-called Monsters of the Midway into cute little stuffed animals. Led by Johnson, is there a new era in this agent feud? Or will the Packers restore order and punch the want-to-be bullies in the face?

The time for talk is done. It’s time to battle. It’s time to do the punching or be the punching bag.

“It’s something that doesn’t really have to be said,” Evan Williams said. “It’s just a type of energy that we understand how they feel about us, and we know how we feel about them. All of that is talk for me.

“For the most part it’s about who’s going to show up and who’s going to do their job violently. That’s really what it’s all about. As far as the energy goes, I feel like both sides understand how pivotal not only the game is, but understanding the type of energy the other side is going to bring. You’ve just got to put your hard hat on and be ready for a fight.”

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