The Rivalry: Bears and the Green Bay Packers
by Brandon on Sep 10, 2009 10:17 AM CDT
in Green Bay Packers Analysis
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PrintAs Zimmerman recounts in his book, Bears founder and coach George Halas and Lambeau truly hated each other on the football field from the very beginning. They didn't trust each other. They spied on each other's teams. They played tug-of-war over coveted players. And they never - NEVER - shook hands after a game.
"Shake hands! That would have been a lie," Lambeau once said of Halas, his number one nemesis. "If I lost, I wanted to punch Halas in the nose. If he lost, Halas wanted to punch me."
I responded to an interview request from ESPN Chicago. Here's a couple of the questions I was asked:
1. From what you've seen in the blogosphere, do Packers fans dislike the Bears and their fans more than any other team?
6. Is Sunday night's game the most hyped up opener in Green Bay in a while?
My answers are below the jump. But I was wondering if the Bears/Packers games have lost their hype?
1. I don't think anything the Bears do this season will get Packer fans riled up as much as Favre and the Vikings. The tension between Viking and Packer fans will be something special as long as Brett is wearing purple.
6. I thought last season's opener was more hyped with the game against the Vikings. They had traded for DE Jared Allen, it was the start of the QB Tarvaris Jackson era, and there had been plans for retiring Favre's number (until he changed his mind for the first time). Especially with the Packers coming off a near Super Bowl appearance in 2007.
The questions made me ask; when was the last time the Packers and Bears had a really meaningful game?
The 1970s: Playing the Bears was a big deal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Not that the Bears were all that good, but it probably had a lot to do with RB Walter Payton. Was there any way that the Packers could actually stop him?
The 1980s: I still remember watching the 61-7 loss when the Bears stole the Packers' offensive signals from the sidelines. But the games they played during this decade were always memorable because the Bears were the gold standard in the division as they made the playoffs every season from 1984 to 1988. The Packers beat them once in 1984, but it didn't happen again until the 1989 Review Game. The Packers didn't turn a corner as a franchise until they could beat them.
The 1990s to the present: It just hasn't been the same. The Packers have made the playoffs 11 times since 1991 while the Bears have only made it 4 times. Lovie Smith made beating the Packers a priority in 2004, but QB Rex Grossman couldn't even bother to prepare for a game against the Packers in 2006.
Can the Packers and Bears regain their status as a great rivalry, or is it just me. Maybe their games are still the biggest rivalry every season.
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The rivalry
The rivalry is simmering, like a sleeping volcano.
It’s just that, with few exceptions, the Bears haven’t been on nearly the same level as the Packers for quite a while whereas, for a while now, the Vikings have been quite good.
Maybe with Cutler under center the Bears can rekindle the rivalry.
Something that makes me laugh, however, is that all of the Lions fans I know see the Packers as their main rival…but I’ve never really thought of the Lions as a rival…that’s like being a rival with the kids on the short bus…heh.
Maybe it's because I live in Minneapolis
and many of my friends are Viking fans, I’ve always thought of the Vikings as the bigger rival. I truly cannot stand many of their players (That mullet sporting douche Allen comes to mind) and fans especially now with the Brett Favre signing as many of them ridiculed Favre for so long but now seem to think he’s their missing link to success. Add the fact that many of their fans are front runners and the team has had trouble selling out tickets despite having the most talented player in the game on their team.
As for the Bears, I’ve never really known a lot of Bears fans and for the time I’ve been watching football there hasn’t seemed to be a whole lot of animosity between the teams.
geography etc.
It wasn’t so long ago that a trip to Detroit was cause for worry. How many yards would Barry Sanders rack up? In what form would the dome hex manifest itself? But Lions fans are a humble and gentle lot — at least with the outside world.
I think the proximity of Chicago, which is by far the region’s most important city, to many of Wisconsin’s biggest cities (Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha) keeps the Packer-Bear rivalry going. There are Bear fans around visiting Lake Geneva and going to school at UW, and because Chicago is such an economic and cultural draw, many Packer fans end up there. Where’s there’s familiarity, there’s contempt.
I wonder how the suburbanisation of the east bank of the La Croix river has affected the Viking rivalry.
by uglyfatpimplynerd on Sep 10, 2009 11:06 AM CDT reply actions
Yep.
I’m from Kenosha. Kenosha is as close to Chicago as you can get in Wisconsin. I’ve always hated the Bears, and until recently (the past two years) never really paid any mind to the Vikings because, to be honest, they have never really been a threat. The franchise isn’t very good, so we never really had to worry about the Vikings. Now I live in St.Paul. So all I hear about it the Vikings, when of course they are doing well. Vikings fans are the first to throw thier team under the bus when trouble hits. I still don’t see too much of a threat in the Vikings. They will be lucky if thier team isn’t shipped off to Los Angelas in the next 3 years. And there’s always the fact that AP will want a Championship, and he won’t get one in Minnesota…
K-town, Too
This week at work has been terrible. I live in Kenosha and work in Waukegan, IL. I wear a Packers Ring.
It seems that as far as bears fans are concerned, this is still a very big rivalry. They’ve let me know this.
I’m putting my Packers Coffee Mug under lock-down this weekend.
agree
i live out by lake geneva.. I have half and half packer bear fan freinds… its still as big as always! And the best part of the rivalry is both teams no matter what their record is give eachother the best they can for 60 minutes.
In years past I always had the feeling that the Vikings treated the Packers as a big rival just because they didnt have anyone else. While the packers just say your that annoying little friend nobody actually likes. (Karen for any Dane Cook followers) Now with the whole Brett thing the situation has increased but it shouldnt last long.
Great, Great Post
I’m 31 years old. In my youth, the Packers were terrible. In my teens, the Bears were terrible. During my 20’s, the Bears seemed to step it up some, starting with that 13-3 season under Dick Juaron. Yet they haven’t played a truly meaningful game against eachother during my lifetime.
Dhampir is right, the rivalry is a simmering volcano. Cutler is the guy who can set it off, in my opinion. He’s good, yet hateable. I hope this is the year the Pack wins the division and the Bears win the Wildcard and they square off in the playoffs. That would be awesome.
The Bears will finish 3rd.
It would be nifty if they did win the wildcard, but their secondary is too weak to keep thier old defense alive.
Little early
to be writing their secondary off, especially considering Tillman will probably end up playing.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." -Sir Winston Churchill
It's alot like the Brewers and Cubs
Yeah, they’re only an hour or so apart, but the rivalry there has never been the same as the Cubs/Cards. The lack of competitiveness of the Packers and Bears teams in the same year has greatly diminished what was once there. Whereas the Vikings have generally been up with the Packers have been up and down when the Packers have been down.
But with the Bears lately it’s been more pity than anything else. They couldn’t get a good QB (until now) to save their life. Urlacher has always been good but not the kind of good that established a love/hate relationship like, say, Tom Brady; Urlacher has always been someone that most people, even if they didn’t like the Bears, at least respected.
Hut! Hut!
These teams have been at each others throats since the Bears played as the Staleys out of Decatur. The intensity has likely always been on-again-off-again between us, and if it isn’t so intense now, give it a few years and it will be again. I think this year could even be the reestablishment of the traditionally intense Packer-Bear rivalry. Bear fans are excited about Cutler, and Rodgers is a known quantity now. If the Legion of Dom lives up to expectations, the Pack could really be back.
Meanwhile, Minnesota may have the best RB in the game today. So, if Favre can contain himself and manage a game without freaking out, he could stay vital into the playoffs. But if the Viking defense makes for too many shootouts, Favre isn’t likely to be an effective late-season gunslinger anymore.
Having said all that, watch Detroit end up being the season’s sleeper.
Meh
I was always pumped for Packer Bears games especially during 2007, but the way we lost to the bears last year, I was never able to live it down to my fellow Chicagoians, so this year I am ready to bring it to the bear fans.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but living in Chicago makes it much bigger for me.
On that fly to right-center
I kinda expected JD to plow into Rios with an ATV.
EVERYBODY PICK US FOR 3RD OR 4TH SO I DINK WE DOIN POOTY GOO
Sox Machine
by Sox Machine on Aug 17, 2009 7:35 PM PDT reply recommended Unrec 3
That game was bad
but didn’t the Packers beat the Bears 37-3 at Lambeau? I don’t really see how anyone could give you crap after a curb stomping like that.
They did indeed
A fellow Packer fan and I enjoyed that game immensely while sitting amongst a passel of Bears fans. They had absolutely nothing to say as the Pack’s score just kept going up and up and…
I think that was the last enjoyable game of the season, though. The next week’s whupping by the Aints was the beginning of the end.
"Who ever heard of the Cubs losing a game they had to have?" -Frank Chance
"If [Ruth] had [called his shot], I would have knocked him down with the next pitch." -Charlie Root
yes, and I lorded it over everyone until the blocked kick
On that fly to right-center
I kinda expected JD to plow into Rios with an ATV.
EVERYBODY PICK US FOR 3RD OR 4TH SO I DINK WE DOIN POOTY GOO
Sox Machine
by Sox Machine on Aug 17, 2009 7:35 PM PDT reply recommended Unrec 3
Cutler making rivalry interesting
Jay Cutler sounds like a A-1 jerk….at least in this article. http://www.espnmadison.com/includes/news_items/1/news_items_more.php?id=152§ion_id=1
Granted, I'm a Bears fan
but I just read the article you linked a couple times over and can’t find what makes Cutler an A-1 jerk. What he (Cutler) said about expectations sounds totally reasonable to me, and Lovie’s comments sounded OK too.
The only part that’s negative is:
While Cutler has a reputation for being cocky and aloof…
and even that is a comment on the “reputation” that has mostly been created by upset Broncos fans and by bored off-season commentators trying to create some drama. They’re still trying to make “Cutler is a jerk” happen.
What makes the rivalry interesting to me is 1) it’s a very old one, and 2) the 2 talented young QBs.
Let the games begin!
May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.
Packers/Bears
Pack-Bear rivalry
Great way to start the season
National TV
http://www.PackerHaiku.com
Clark Osborn - PackerHaiku.com | FavreHaiku.com | BadgerHaiku.com
As a Chicagoan and a Packers fan the rivalry seems pretty intact here
When the Bears don’t live up to expectations the city still looks to beating the Packers as a source of pride.
"There are no curses here...Games are won and lost on the baseball field" - Lou Piniella
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