Packers Huddle

Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears

The Green Bay Packers will face their longtime rival, the Chicago Bears, on Sunday.

Dating back to 2000, this is the third time the Packers will play the Bears coming out of the bye (2021 and 2014), both wins, but the first time they will play at Chicago following the bye.
Overall, the Packers have won 10 straight games against the Bears, tying the longest winning streak by either team in the history of the series (10 straight by Green Bay from 1994-98). The two 10-game streaks are the longest any team has against the Bears. The 10-game streak is also the longest current streak by an NFL team against a single opponent. During the 10-game streak, the Packers have a plus-127 scoring differential, a plus-16 turnover differential (19 takeaways, three giveaways) and have allowed 20 or fewer points in eight of the 10 wins.
The Packers have won five straight at Chicago while not allowing more than 20 points in any of those five games, joining the 1928-30 Packers as the only NFL team to do that at Chicago.
Green Bay has not allowed more than 28 points in 17 straight games at Soldier Field (including playoffs), tied for the longest streak by an opposing team at Soldier Field since the merger (Minnesota Vikings, 1971-88).
The Packers are 54-53-2 at Chicago (including the postseason).
Including a 2010 playoff victory at Chicago, Green Bay has won 25 of the last 30 meetings between the rivals at Soldier Field, including 13 of the last 14.
Eight of the last 12 games between the two clubs at Soldier Field have been decided by single digits.
Green Bay will be looking to win the week following the bye for the third time in the last four years, having beaten the Los Angeles Rams at home in 2022, 24-12. In 2021, the Packers beat the Chicago Bears at home, 45-30, after the bye to snap a four-game losing streak in games following the bye week.
Green Bay will face an NFC opponent (Chicago) after the bye for the first time since 2022, the eighth time in the last 10 years (2015-24) and for the 16th time in the last 23 seasons (2002-24).
Dating back to 2002, the Packers take on an NFC North team for the 11th time after the bye and for the fifth time on the road.
It is the first time since 2012 (at Detroit) that Green Bay will play a road division game following the bye.
Green Bay reached the bye with a winning record for the 12th time in the last 15 years and the 16th time in the last 25 years.
It is the first time since 2009 that Green Bay went into its bye and comes out of its bye with NFC North games.
In games immediately following its bye week, Green Bay has won 18 of its last 28 (.643), including wins in nine of the last 15.
Since 2009, Green Bay is 84-49-1 (.631) overall after the bye.
Under Head Coach Matt LaFleur (since 2019), the Packers are 28-11 in games played after the bye (7-5 in 2023, 3-1 in 2022, 4-1 in 2021, 9-3 in 2020 and 5-1 in 2019).
Dating back to 1990 when bye weeks started, Green Bay is 19-15 (.559) in the game following the bye week.

Read the full version here: https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/uplo ... pv40ox46dg

THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

Packers at Bears:

All-time, regular season: 106-94-6
All-time, postseason: 1-1
All-time, at Chicago (regular season): 53-52-2
Streaks: Green Bay has won the last 10 regular-season games played.
Last meeting, regular season: Jan. 7, 2024, Lambeau Field, Packers won, 17-9
COACHES CAPSULES

Matt LaFleur: 62-30-0, .674; (3-4 postseason); 6th NFL season
Matt Eberflus: 14-29, .326; (0-0 postseason); 3rd NFL season
Head to Head: LaFleur 4-0 vs. Eberflus
vs. Opponent: LaFleur 10-0 vs. Bears; Eberflus 0-4 vs. Packers
MATT LaFLEUR…In his sixth season as the Packers' 15th head coach.

Is in his 16th season in the NFL, having previously served as an offensive coordinator for two seasons (Los Angeles Rams, 2017; Tennessee Titans, 2018), a quarterbacks coach for six seasons (Washington Redskins, 2010-13; Atlanta Falcons, 2015-16), and an offensive assistant for two seasons (Houston Texans, 2008-09).
In his first five seasons leading the Packers, authored one of the greatest starts to a head-coaching career in NFL history. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, his 56 wins are tied for the second most in league history by a head coach in his first five seasons in the NFL, trailing only George Seifert (62 in 1989-93).
Became the first coach in NFL history to post 13-plus wins in three straight seasons and his 39 wins from 2019-21 passed Seifert (38) for the most wins by an NFL head coach in his first three seasons in the league (Elias). His 39 wins are also tied for the second most by a coach over any three-season span in league history, trailing only Andy Reid's 40 wins with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2020-22 and Mike Ditka's 40 wins with the Chicago Bears from 1985-87 (Elias).
In his first season leading the Packers in 2019, became the first coach in club history to lead the team to the playoffs in his debut season. Also led the largest one-year win improvement in team history (plus-seven wins).
MATT EBERFLUS…In his third season as the Bears' 17th head coach.

Is in his 16th season in the NFL, having previously spent time with the Cleveland Browns (2009-10), Dallas Cowboys (2011-17) and Indianapolis Colts (2018-21).
In his second season as head coach in 2023, the Bears' defense led the league in total rushing yards allowed (1,468) and rushing yards per game (86.4), while the offense ranked No. 2 in the NFL in total rushing yards (2,399) and rushing yards per game (141.1).
Finished third in the voting for the 2018 Associated Press NFL Assistant Coach of the Year after helping the Colts' defense improve from 30th in the NFL in scoring and total yards in 2017 to 10th in scoring and 11th in total yards in his first season as defensive coordinator in 2018.
Spent 17 years as a college coach in various roles at Toledo (1992-2000) and Missouri (2001-08).
This is an abbreviated version of the Dope Sheet. Read the full version here (PDF).

THE PACKERS-BEARS SERIES

These two franchises have met 208 times (regular season and postseason), which is the most in NFL history. Green Bay's 106 regular-season wins over Chicago are the team's most over any opponent.
The teams have only met twice in the postseason with the most recent meeting following the 2010 season. The Packers beat the Bears, 21-14, at Soldier Field to earn a berth to Super Bowl XLV.
With two wins over the Bears in 2017, Green Bay took and maintained the advantage in the series for the first time since leading 11-10-4 following the 1932 season.
Green Bay is undefeated (10-0) against Chicago since head coach Matt LaFleur took over prior to the 2019 season (2019-23).
Green Bay's 10 consecutive wins over Chicago is the team's longest active win streak over a single opponent and is tied for the second-longest win streak over a single opponent in team history.

JustJeff wrote:Packers 38
Bears 17

Papa John wrote: ↑

13 Nov 2024 16:06

Tom Brady hasn't been great as an announcer IMO.

Crazylegs Starks wrote: ↑

13 Nov 2024 20:13

Papa John wrote: ↑

13 Nov 2024 16:06

Tom Brady hasn't been great as an announcer IMO.

It's a travesty Greg Olsen got pushed aside for Brady

Papa John wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2024 09:47

Crazylegs Starks wrote: ↑

13 Nov 2024 20:13

Papa John wrote: ↑

13 Nov 2024 16:06

Tom Brady hasn't been great as an announcer IMO.

It's a travesty Greg Olsen got pushed aside for Brady

Interesting. I don't think Olsen is great either. Better than Brady has been so far, but both are noticeably worse than Romo.

What’s it like to switch sides in the Bears-Packers rivalry? Weird, painful, rewarding
Dan Pompei
Nov 14, 2024

On Aug. 7, 2023, an X post from the Chicago Bears read, “18 years in & @MarcedesLewis89’s love for the game is still goin’ strong.” A photo showed Marcedes Lewis signing his Bears contract at their team facility.

It quickly became apparent this wasn’t the typical move from one team to another.

“Bitchboi,” one X user responded.

“We don’t need him,” another posted.

“Traitor,” wrote another.

But the reactions from teammates were much different.

“I’m going to miss you,” Aaron Rodgers texted.

So it was with mixed feelings that the veteran tight end crossed the Wisconsin-Illinois state line. He cherished his time in Green Bay but was eager to embrace everything about being a Bear.

“Obviously, we’re human beings,” Lewis says. “When you go to a different team in the same division, there is going to be a period when it’s a little unnatural.”

Going from the Packers to the Bears was easier than it could have been for Lewis. He had become so close with Rodgers, Davante Adams, David Bakhtiari and Randall Cobb that he considers them brothers for life. But Adams was traded in 2022, Rodgers and Cobb also left in 2023, and Bakhtiari played only one more game for the Packers

“If they were all still there, maybe I’d feel differently,” Lewis says. “But the fact that they’re gone has made it smooth for me.”

Lewis still considers Packers coach Matt LaFleur a good friend, however. The move to Illinois has separated but not divided them as they kid each other about their new rivalry.

“I always tell him it’s not personal — it’s just punishment,” Lewis says.

Many have transitioned between the teams as Lewis has, which is a little like going from a pack of dogs to a clowder of cats.

Jim McMahon became one of the most popular Bears ever over the first seven years of his career. He spent the next seven years of his career on five teams before finishing in Green Bay as Brett Favre’s backup.

When he was a Bear, the Packers showed a special disdain for McMahon, and the Bears’ contempt for the Packers intensified after Packers defensive lineman Charles Martin cheap-shotted McMahon in 1987 and gave him a shoulder injury from which he never fully recovered.

“It was hard to go there because of all the bad blood between the Bears and Packers during the ’80s, but I’m glad I did,” McMahon says. “The Packers were the best organization I played for out of the seven teams I was on. I’m not saying they were the best team I played for, but the Packers were the best overall organization.”

McMahon became the only player to win a Super Bowl with both teams but remained a Bear at heart. When he went to the White House with the Packers to be honored by President Bill Clinton in 1997, he wore his Bears jersey under his sportcoat, saying he did it for his Bears teammates who didn’t have the chance to go to the White House in 1986 after their Super Bowl win.

McMahon wasn’t the only former Bear on the Packers’ Super Bowl XXXI team. He was joined, reluctantly, by linebacker Ron Cox.

“I wanted to stay with the Bears, but the Packers offered me $1 million more,” Cox says. “I had played against those guys for years, and they were always our archenemies. That first day, I’m looking at Brett Favre sitting across from me, a guy I’d been chasing my whole life. That was something that took me a long time to get used to because that rivalry was like the Hatfields and McCoys.”

Cox felt out of place for another reason. He had been an outside linebacker for as long as he played football, and the Packers moved him inside. He wasn’t comfortable playing inside, so in the offseason after winning the Super Bowl, he asked for his release. The Packers granted it, and despite a hard sell from Raiders coach Jon Gruden, Cox decided to return to the Bears.

“I said I’m going back home where I never should have left,” Cox says.

Quarterback Zeke Bratkowski might have felt more ambivalence than anyone in the 103-year rivalry. After growing up in downstate Illinois, he played for the Bears for the first five years of his career. Then George Halas traded him to the Rams in 1961. Two years later, Vince Lombardi’s Packers picked him up on waivers and Bratkowski became a valuable member of the Packers’ dynasty as Bart Starr’s backup, going 5-0 as a postseason starter. After he retired, Bratkowski became a Packers assistant coach. Then he became a Bears assistant but left Chicago to coach again in Green Bay.

“Playing for the Bears was tough,” Bratkowski once said. “But nothing compared to the pride of being a Packer.”

No one knows how to wound the Bears more than a Bear-turned-Packer. When defensive end Julius Peppers signed with Green Bay in 2014 after the Bears cut him because of his salary, he told Packers.com, “The teams that have the good quarterbacks are the teams that win. That obviously factored into some of my decision-making.”

In Peppers’ four seasons in Chicago, he played with Jay Cutler. Peppers’ record with the Bears against Rodgers’ Packers was 2-7, including a loss in the NFC Championship Game in 2011.

Bratkowski was one of many who coached for both teams. Others included Dick Jauron, Luke Getsy and Bob Slowik.

Gene Ronzani played six years for the Bears as a halfback in the 1930s, retired, then returned during World War II to replace Sid Luckman at quarterback when Luckman joined the Merchant Marine. He retired again after the 1945 season and became an assistant coach for the Bears for three years. Then Ronzani left in 1950 to succeed Curly Lambeau as head coach of the Packers.

Knowing how Halas did business, Ronzani was paranoid about being spied on. He didn’t give his players playbooks because he feared they would end up on the other side of the state line. And during practices at Joannes Park, he told sidelined Packers to stand in front of splits in the fence and knotholes to prevent outsiders from having a view.

The irony is some Packers didn’t trust Ronzani, given where he came from.

“Green Bay never got along with Gene Ronzani,” Packers linebacker Deral Teteak said, according to the book “Mudbaths and Bloodbaths: The Inside Story of the Bears-Packers Rivalry.” “They had other people in mind to be the coach other than an ex-Bear. If they wanted to hire someone, there were a lot of ex-Packers around.”

As a Packer, Ronzani surrounded himself with former Bears, including assistant coach Ray “Scooter” McLean, who played for the Bears for seven years as a halfback and defensive back. McLean succeeded Ronzani as interim head coach in 1953 then returned to his role as an assistant for four years before becoming head coach in 1958. His 1-10-1 record that year with a roster that included eight future Hall of Famers prompted the hiring of Vince Lombardi.

Those Hall of Famers, including Starr, Paul Hornung and Forrest Gregg, were acquired by personnel man Jack Vainisi, who grew up near Wrigley Field — then the home of the Bears — and was a classmate of Halas’ son, Mugs, who became president of the Bears.

Vainisi brought in his brother Jerry to work as a Packers ball boy. Jerry grew up to be the general manager who presided over the 1985 Bears. Another of the primary builders of the 1985 Bears was personnel man Bill Tobin. He came to the Bears in 1975 after Starr, at the time a new head coach, fired him after four seasons as a Packers scout.

In 1987, the Packers wanted to interview Tobin to be their vice president of football operations, but the Bears refused to give permission. The teams rarely have done favors for each other.

The biggest trade between them came in 1970 when the Bears gave up the second pick of the draft for linebacker Lee Roy Caffey, who played on three championship teams and was an All-Pro in 1966, Elijah Pitts, a backup halfback who had been a contributor to five championship teams, and guard Bob Hyland. All were gone from the Bears after one season (Pitts eventually returned to the Packers), and the Packers used the second pick on defensive tackle Mike McCoy, who played 11 years and twice led the team in sacks.

Acquiring a player from the other team has often been perceived as a coup. It was that way with Josh Sitton. After seven years, three Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl victory, the guard was stunned to be among the Packers’ final cuts in September 2015. The Bears went after him hard.

“Chicago and New Orleans were the first to call, and because of Chicago’s proximity to Green Bay, I figured it would be easier to do my visit in Chicago first,” Sitton says. “I planned to visit New Orleans, too, and there were probably four or five other serious teams. So I went to Chicago the next day and was getting ready to get on a plane to New Orleans. I actually was on the phone with (then-Saints coach) Sean Payton when my agent beeped in, saying he got a deal done with the Bears.”

That December, the Packers beat the Bears 30-27, but Sitton handled his business after coach John Fox appointed him a captain for the week.

“I was pretty juiced up and I kicked (defensive tackle) Mike Daniels’ ass the whole game,” he says. “But it was a blast getting to play the guys. As I was hitting guys, we were having little conversations.”

Longtime Bears quarterback Bobby Douglass enjoyed playing in the late stages of a game against the Bears as a Packer in 1978.

“Seeing Doug Buffone, a good friend who lived not far from me, Doug Plank, Jim Osborne and Mike Hartenstine — that was fun,” Douglass says. “We talked on the field between plays.”

Others have been conflicted playing against former teammates. Cox says opposing his former Bears teammates as a Packer at Soldier Field was one of the most difficult things he ever had to do.

“It was hard to walk out of the tunnel from a different side and look at Dante Jones and Barry Minter — my roommates,” he says. “You think about all the old days in training camp in Platteville. It’s hard to fight your teammates like that.”

In 1994, the Bears cut Steve McMichael rather than pay him $1 million even though he had played more games for them than any other player in their history. He signed with the Packers for $400,000 and told the Chicago Tribune, “I can’t wait to bust (Mike) Ditka’s chops. Tell him I’m Forrest Gregg’s big buddy now.”

But McMichael wasn’t so light-hearted when it came to playing against his former team.

“He almost had tears in his eyes out there before we played,” Bears guard Mark Bortz said.

Emotion struck Sitton on the bus ride to Lambeau Field before his first game against the Packers with the Bears.

“The bus drove by the house I lived in and still owned on Rustic Way, right behind the Shell station,” Sitton says. “It was all very weird.”


Calling Green Bay home was different for Douglass, who had an apartment two blocks from Rush Street when he was single and frequented Chicago’s nightclubs. He didn’t want to leave the Bears and thought he would spend his whole career with them, but he was stunned when general manager Jim Finks cut him after a season-opening loss in 1975. After one season with the Chargers and two with the Saints, Douglass signed with the Packers.

Douglass was impressed with the Packers organization and thought Green Bay was a great place to play, but Douglass’ wife and children remained in their Lake Forest home. During the week, Douglass lived in a hotel across the street from Lambeau Field. He walked to practices and games. After games, he drove to Lake Forest and spent a night or two with his family before driving back for the beginning of the practice week.

Before signing with the Bears this past offseason, safety Jonathan Owens enjoyed Green Bay partly because small-town living drew Packers players together.

“Either you were hanging out with teammates outside the facility, or everybody would be up at the facility,” he says. “You would go there at 10 at night, and there was always somebody there because everything was closed. So we would all go get some food at the facility. In Chicago, there’s so much to do.”

Owens’ only previous exposure to Chicago had been when he played in games as an opponent, and then he said he never went anywhere other than Soldier Field and his hotel.

“After I signed and drove into downtown, seeing the skyline and water and everything, it was so beautiful and backed up that I made the right decision,” he says.

The decision was influenced by his wife, Simone Biles. The Olympic gymnast had the Bears on her wish list of teams for him to join.

“She loves Chicago,” Owens says of Biles. “She’s more interested in the city than anything. She wants to know that I’m happy, but she was like, this is one of the places she said she could go to.”

Biles is recognized wherever she goes, but Owens says the couple enjoys more privacy in Chicago than in Green Bay. They have mixed with locals, eating at restaurants such as Divan and Wildberry Pancake and Cafe (“We’re foodies,” he says), shopping on Michigan Avenue and fishing on Lake Michigan.

Changing sides in this rivalry often affects a player beyond the time he spends with the former enemy. During Cox’s one season in Green Bay, his son, Ron. Jr., was born at St. Mary’s Hospital. A nurse there put a Packers hat on him when he was two minutes old.

“So now, he’s a diehard Packers fan,” says Cox, whose kids went to high school in suburban Chicago after the family settled back in Illinois. “There’s no converting him.”

APB wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2024 09:18

With Preston Smith's departure, I'll be curious to see what impacts that has, positive or negative, with pass rush and run game containment.

I do like Moseby quite a bit. He's raw, sure, but he just always seems to make plays, similar to Evans.

I like Enagbare, too, but I feel like he's pretty much maxed out his ceiling. I do think he's a competent player, tho, just nothing special.

One player I now hope to see on the active roster and on the field on Sundays is Brenton Cox Jr. He's a dude with the physical tools but just hasn't put it together with technique just yet. Or so it would seem. I really like his upside if the coaching staff can get him keyed in.

RingoCStarrQB wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2024 16:22

The Bears are wounded and dangerous. If they were smarter they would do whatever it takes to pull out all stops to avoid being humiliated again at home versus the Green Bay Packers. Make the Packers Great Again! MTPGA Baby!!

Cdragon wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2024 17:49

RingoCStarrQB wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2024 16:22

The Bears are wounded and dangerous. If they were smarter they would do whatever it takes to pull out all stops to avoid being humiliated again at home versus the Green Bay Packers. Make the Packers Great Again! MTPGA Baby!!

Wounded but not especially dangerous. We're going to crush them!

APB wrote: ↑

15 Nov 2024 06:10

Has anyone else read this rumored stuff going on in Chicago with the backup QB's dad apparently being the one spreading the Caleb Williams benching story? This, after he apparently did the same thing last year when Justin Fields was struggling. He apparently is the one who shared with some local radio personalities that veteran players were asking the coaching staff for Williams to be benched and for his son to take the starting reigns.

Wild stuff, if true.

I can't imagine the player (Tyler Bagent) walking into the QB room and having to face up to that.

https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-b ... -williams/

APB wrote: ↑

15 Nov 2024 06:10

Has anyone else read this rumored stuff going on in Chicago with the backup QB's dad apparently being the one spreading the Caleb Williams benching story? This, after he apparently did the same thing last year when Justin Fields was struggling. He apparently is the one who shared with some local radio personalities that veteran players were asking the coaching staff for Williams to be benched and for his son to take the starting reigns.

Wild stuff, if true.

I can't imagine the player (Tyler Bagent) walking into the QB room and having to face up to that.

https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-b ... -williams/

NCF wrote: ↑

15 Nov 2024 06:29

APB wrote: ↑

15 Nov 2024 06:10

Has anyone else read this rumored stuff going on in Chicago with the backup QB's dad apparently being the one spreading the Caleb Williams benching story? This, after he apparently did the same thing last year when Justin Fields was struggling. He apparently is the one who shared with some local radio personalities that veteran players were asking the coaching staff for Williams to be benched and for his son to take the starting reigns.

Wild stuff, if true.

I can't imagine the player (Tyler Bagent) walking into the QB room and having to face up to that.

https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-b ... -williams/

“After talking to a few people with knowledge of the situation, players went to Matt Eberflus & Ryan Poles asking them to make a change at offensive coordinator. There have also been a few veteran players requesting Bagent starts,” Silverman wrote on X on Tuesday.

Several Bears beat writers have since corroborated Silverman’s report.“After talking to a few people with knowledge of the situation, players went to Matt Eberflus & Ryan Poles asking them to make a change at offensive coordinator. There have also been a few veteran players requesting Bagent starts,” Silverman wrote on X on Tuesday.

Several Bears beat writers have since corroborated Silverman’s report.