Bears-Packers Biggest Rivalry in Football
Written by Nolan Thomas, Thursday September 23 2010
The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers have played against each other 179 times since 1921 and their rivalry has become stronger after each and every game and each and every year.
As of 2010, the Bears and Packers are the NFL's two most successful franchises who have won a combined 21 NFL Championships, including 4 Super Bowls and have 48 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It is widely regarded as one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL.
Those 179 meetings are the most in NFL history of which the Bears have won 91 and the Packers 82 to go along with six ties.
The largest margin of victory was a 61–7 Bears win over the Packers on December 7, 1980.
It is hard to believe that these two teams have only met once in the playoffs, and that was in 1941 in a game that the Bears won 33-14 in Chicago.
Green Bay has won the last two meetings, but the Bears have won six of the last ten games they have played against each other.
The Bears owned the Packers in the 1980s, winning 11 games and losing 7, but between 1983 and 1988, the Bears were 10-2 in the series.
The Bears and the Packers do not like each other and this was no more evident then when the Packers Charles Martin literally picked up Bears quarterback Jim McMahon and threw him violently to the ground after the play had been completed. And on another occasion when Packers players drove Walter Payton out of bounds and kept on driving until they pushed him over the bench which was a good ten yards from the sideline.
You can see both instances in the ChicagoBears.com video below.
The tables turned however during the better part of the 1990’s and early 2000’s when the Packers pretty much owned the Bears. There is no coincidence that it coincided with Brett Favre’s time with the Packers.
When Lovie Smith was hired as head coach of the Bears he made it his priority to beat the Packers and prior to last season had done a pretty good job of it going 7-3 but the sweep last season made it 7-5 under his leadership.
This Monday, the rivalry continues as both teams are 2-0 with each team having a tough defense and two excellent quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler.
It should be a great game with the winner taking an early hold of the NFC North division.
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Is that a Chicago thing? I really had not given much thought to a Bears/Packers rivalry, especially with the limited playoff history... Cowboys/Redskins has the American tradition of Cowboys and Indians (plus a classic Tom Landry commercial)... Steelers/Cowboys is a good rivalry with Super Bowl history and the so-called "America's team" against the team with the most Super Bowls...Pats/Jets has the NY Boston rivalry plus the Bill Parcells history... Jets/Giants have the little brother/big brother aspect, plus I still consider the Meadowlands as GIANTS stadium... Bengals/Browns has an interesting ownership history...