Getty Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers
The Chicago Bears have the biggest game of their season coming up this Sunday: Divisional rivals Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers come to town with a spot in the playoffs guaranteed to the Bears if they win. The Packers also have something to play for, with home field advantage in the NFC throughout the postseason guaranteed to them if they win.
Heading into the matchup, a few key Packers players — including Rodgers — decided to throw a little shade Chicago’s way, just for rivalry’s sake. When making his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers threw a few backhanded compliments at Chicago, while All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari appeared on 1250 The Fan to discuss beating “the piss out of the Bears.”
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Rodgers, Bakhtiari Aren’t Scared to Play Chicago at All
When he was asked where his favorite place to play outside of Lambeau Field, Rodgers didn’t hesitate:
“Well, I like playing at Soldier Field, which is this week,” Rodgers said. “We’ve had some big wins there. It’s way better with fans — I mean, look, the fans make the environment. Like, obviously the rivalry helps and if you’re playing a good team, but when you have a fan base that’s so invested — like Chicago sports fans are, like New York sports fans and Boston sports fans and obviously our fans — but there are some places that are made more special by the ambiance and the noise and the environment that a fan base can bring, and Soldier Field is one of those places.”
Translation: I enjoy destroying the hopes and dreams of extra-passionate Bears fans.
Rodgers then began to list why he enjoys playing at the Bears’ home field so much: “It’s just such a fun place to play. There’s so much history in that stadium and so many great players and great rivalries and great games there, and we’ve had some big ones over the years as well, some really big wins. Won the NFC Championship there, came back from a broken collarbone in 2013 and hit a 4th and 8 to (Randall) Cobb there, so there’s been some big ones over the years.”
While complimenting the Soldier Field and Bears fans, Rodgers also took the opportunity to remind everyone he owns Chicago. Not to be outdone, Bakhtiari doubled down on 1250 AM, revealing the mentality he saw his team bringing to Chicago Sunday:
“I’m assuming all of us in our facility are definitely gonna go with: Beat the piss out of the Bears, 1. Cause it’s the Bears and 2. Cause we’d get the No. 1 seed.”
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Bears-Packers Rivalry Has Been One-Sided in Recent Years
GettyKhalil Mack of the Chicago Bears awaits the snap against Aaron Rodgers. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
It’s no wonder Rodgers enjoys playing at Soldier Field. He is 20-5 (including the playoffs) in his career against the Bears. Green Bay has dominated Chicago in recent years, sweeping them eight out of the last 12 seasons. A win here would make it nine out of 13.
Rodgers isn’t the only one the Bears haven’t been able to contain, either. Wideout Davante Adams has also fared better against the Bears than any other receiver has since 2014, racking up the most receptions (61) receiving yards (768) and receiving touchdowns (seven) — against the Chicago defense in that span, per Packers.com.
The Packers lead the all-time series, 100-95-6. Green Bay is 17-4 against Chicago in the regular season since 2010.
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Aaron Rodgers & David Bakhtiari Shade Bears Before Matchup