For decades, it was a bit of a stretch to call Bears-Packers a rivalry. It became such a one-sided domination that when former Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers screamed, “I own you,” at Soldier Field in 2021 during yet another victory, the Bears didn’t have much to say back.
Even a diehard, lifelong Bears fan-turned-player had to concede.
“Well, I mean, let’s face it: He’s not totally wrong,” tight end Cole Kmet said a couple days later.
That’s as bleak as it gets.
Rodgers used to chuckle about how each new Bears coach would talk about taking down the Packers, then sheepishly exit without having made a dent. Matt Eberflus went 0-5, Matt Nagy 1-7, John Fox 1-5 and the list goes on.
The last Bears coach to leave with a winning record against the Packers was Mike Ditka, who went 15-5 from 1982 through ’92. When the Bears visit Lambeau Field on Sunday, it’ll be their first game since Ditka died Friday at 86.
Bears coach Ben Johnson has been seeking to reestablish the tenacity the franchise played with under Ditka, and he got off to a good start in the rivalry by backing up the jab he made at his introductory news conference about beating Packers coach Matt LaFleur twice a season. The Bears lost their Week 14 game in Green Bay, then punched back two weeks later with a win at Soldier Field and another in the first round of the playoffs.
That could prove to be a pivotal point in the century-plus of this rivalry. The Bears have a lot left to prove, but they put themselves on even footing with the Packers last season. Johnson demolished the notion that the Bears were punching up when they faced that team, and they were done going into each season merely hoping to steal one.
Now they have an opportunity to fully turn the tables.
The Bears are riding high even with starting quarterback Caleb Williams sidelined by a hamstring injury, and the Packers look awfully vulnerable.
“We’re trying to turn this thing around, especially with the history of what it had been,” Bears running back D’Andre Swift said. “Any chance we get to go against them, it’s not something we take lightly. We know our fans don’t take it lightly.”
LaFleur is now feeling the heat after his team spiraled through a five-game losing streak, including both of those losses to the Bears, at the end of last season. Johnson has emerged as a legitimate villain in the saga, perhaps even a nemesis, with his, “[Expletive] the Packers” rant and icy post-game handshakes with LaFleur that are best measured in milliseconds.
LaFleur still has a 12-3 record against the Bears and the fourth-highest winning percentage among active head coaches, but Johnson has a chance to put him on his heels. Another win would make it four of the last five for the Bears and open the door to doubt in Green Bay leading up to the rematch at Soldier Field on Christmas.
The Bears haven’t won three consecutive games against the Packers since the 2005 and ’06 seasons under Lovie Smith.
The teams are headed in opposite directions at this juncture, though that could change quickly Sunday. As much as a win would fuel the Bears, a loss would deal a blow to their momentum and could shake the Packers out of their sluggishness.
But Johnson jolted the Bears last season with a complete reset of how they operated and led them to an 11-6 record and an NFC North title in his first season. They hadn’t finished above .500 since 2018.
LaFleur, meanwhile, couldn’t pull his team out of its nosedive at the end of last season and is off to a rough start in this one. His partner, quarterback Jordan Love, is struggling as well and currently sits at a 56.5 completion percentage and 86.5 passer rating.
The Packers are committed to those two after signing LaFleur to an unspecified contract extension. Love had already signed a $220 million deal through 2028.
They stumble into this game at 2-2, which has done nothing to soothe the fan base’s anxiety. The wins were narrow and ugly. The losses were absolute embarrassments.
The Packers opened the season by coughing up a lead in the fourth quarter — sound familiar? — against the Vikings on their way to a blowout loss. Two weeks later, they got destroyed at home by the Falcons, leading the Lambeau crowd to boo them throughout and leaving LaFleur to call it “a butt-whupping.”
In between, they squeaked by the Jets and Buccaneers — two of the worst teams in the NFL.
The Packers are near the bottom of the league in scoring and in the top 10 in most points allowed. They’re on pace for a historically bad rushing season. Love is meandering. LaFleur is short on answers.
That sounds a lot like some of the hapless Bears teams they used to beat up. And if the Bears are good enough to handle them again this season, the Packers will know exactly what that felt like.