One Madison radio host calls the Chicago Bears “the greatest sitcom on television.”
While the producers of ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘The Office’ might argue, there’s no question the Bears have provided their enemies with side-splitting laughs for the better part of four decades now.
The Bears are in the midst of another stretch of hilarity with three straight losses to plummet to last place in the NFC North at 4-5. On Tuesday morning, Chicago fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who lasted just 10 months in that position.
This, of course, is all good news for the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers (6-3) head to Chicago Sunday to face a franchise they’ve owned for more than 30 years now. And with the Bears once again in disarray, Green Bay’s dominance seems likely to continue.
“Lose three straight, it definitely snowballs,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said after Chicago lost to New England, 19-3, on Sunday. “It’s not a great feeling. It’s something we didn’t plan to do. It’s not something we expect, but it’s the situation we’re in and we’ve got to find a way out of it.”
Facing the Packers probably isn’t the best way to do that.
Since the start of the 1992 season, Green Bay is a remarkable 50-15 against the Bears — a whopping .769 winning percentage. Amazingly, Matt LaFleur is 10-0 against Chicago during his first five seasons as the Packers’ head coach and Green Bay is 19-2 in its last 21 games against the Bears.
It’s gotten so lopsided that after former Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers scored a game-clinching touchdown at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2021, he displayed his signature championship belt. Rodgers then raced to the right corner of the endzone and hollered to a section of Bears fans, “I’ve owned you all my (bleeping) life! I own you! I still own you!”
It wasn’t always like this — no matter what Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha might think.
Led by head coach Mike Ditka, the Bears won 12 of 14 games against Green Bay between 1985-91 and took an 80-58-6 lead in the series. Today, the Packers hold a 108-95-6 edge (including playoffs) — a remarkable 35-game swing in just 32 years.
The Brett Favre-era changed everything in this rivalry, as Green Bay went 22-10 against Chicago from 1992-2007, a .688 winning percentage.
Amazingly, Rodgers took it up a notch.
Rodgers went a remarkable 25-5 against Chicago — including a 12-1 mark in his last 13 games against the Bears. Rodgers knocked off the Packers’ oldest rival in the 2010 NFC Championship Game, beat them with the division on the line in the 2013 regular season finale, and got the better of them in every type of situation imaginable.
In fact only two quarterbacks in NFL history have at least 25 wins against a single franchise with a better winning percentage than Rodgers did against Chicago.
• Tom Brady went 36-3 against Buffalo (.923).
• Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger was 26-3 against Cleveland (.897).
“Man, Aaron really did own those guys,” Packers linebacker Quay Walker said last season.
Those ownership papers were turned over to Jordan Love in 2023, and the Packers’ latest franchise quarterback did his part to keep the dominance going.
Love was brilliant in a 38-20 Green Bay rout in Week 1 last year. Love threw for three touchdowns, 245 yards and had a 123.2 passer rating in the Packers’ win.
The teams didn’t meet again until Week 18, and Love was equally proficient. Love completed 27-of-32 passes (84.4%), threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns as Green Bay notched a 17-9 win and secured a playoff spot.
“Well, that was fun,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said after beating the Bears in January.
Most of these contests have been incredibly enjoyable for Packer Nation for more than three decades now. Heck, even Brett Hundley won his lone career start against Chicago in 2017.
When the Packers posted their 10th straight win in this series last year, it marked the longest winning streak in a rivalry that started more than a century ago. On Sunday, Green Bay can set a new mark against a Bears team that’s badly wounded.
Chicago is averaging just 9.0 points per game in its last three contests. The Bears have plummeted to 30th in total offense, despite assembling a gifted group of skill players for rookie No. 1 pick Caleb Williams to work with. And Chicago ranks 30th in passing offense (169.6) and 24th in rushing offense (108.1).
After Chicago’s humiliating loss to New England Sunday, Bears fans chanted “Fire Flus” as they exited Soldier Field. Of course, “Flus” is head coach Matt Eberflus, who is on the hottest of hot seats.
“There will be changes, adjustments being made,” Eberflus said after Chicago’s loss to New England. “It’s important that we take time to make those decisions and make the right decisions that’s for the Bears, best for the Bears going forward, for this week and going into the future.
“So I think that’s the most important thing that we do, that we have some steadiness here, but also make the necessary adjustments and changes that we need to make, what’s best for the Bears going forward.”
Eberflus deemed that firing Waldron was best for the here and now.
But the Bears are undoubtedly a team in disarray.
And one small coaching alteration seems unlikely to change their fortunes — especially against a Green Bay team that is now part owner of Chicago’s franchise.
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