A lot of people who have followed the NFL in recent years seem to under a incorrect assumption. When asked about what the NFL’s biggest rivalry, they will say it’s Patriots-Colts, Jets-Patriots, Cowboys-Redskins, or Cowboys-Eagles. In recent years, the Ravens-Steelers has become the marquee NFL rivalry in many people’s eyes and certainly as a Baltimore resident, you would get no argument from me. But let’s be honest: the NFL’s biggest and nastiest rivalry will be played out at the NFC Championship Game this Sunday in Soldier Field when the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears will meet.
The stakes have never been higher in this rivalry. These are two of the oldest franchises in the NFL. Although these two teams have played over 180 times in their history, it marks only the second time the two teams have met in the playoffs (and the only other time it happened was 70 years ago). This isn’t a rivalry like Yankees-Red Sox where Yankees have dominated winning 27 titles, while the Red Sox only have 7. Both the Packers and Bears are close to each other in NFL Titles (The Packers are #1 with 12 World Championships and the Bears are #2 with 9). The Bears lead the series 92-83-6. Both teams have more Hall of Famers than any other team. The names of these franchises are iconic. Lambeau. Halas. Lombardi. Ditka. Hourning. Grange. Taylor. Sayers. Starr. Butkus. White. Singletary. Favre. Payton.
And while the players may respect each other, the fans despise each other. The battle lines of this rivalry run somewhere in the northern Chicago suburbs. There have been stories of Packers’ fans being beaten up and duct taped to Chicago Stop Signs. “The Bears Still Suck” being played on Chicago radio stations. Wayne Larrivee being the voice of the Chicago Bears until he defected to Green Bay. Yeah, the fans take it personally. You either rock Green and Gold or Blue and Orange. There is NO in-between.
Sunday will pretty much be life-and-death as the stakes have never been higher in this rivalry. If the Bears win, yeah Wisconsin will be in deep mourning while Chicago fans won’t need a plane to fly to Dallas and the Super Bowl. But if the Packers win at Chicago, Packer fans will go on a 2-week tailgating binge and Chicago fans will be under suicide watch, meaning the Sears Tower and Hancock Tower observation decks will have to be closed indefinitely. In short, this game means more to the fans than the players and it could be a matter of life and death. The real-life drama begins at 2pm CT Sunday.
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