The Quarterbacks:
The Green Bay Packers’ holy trinity of quarterbacks is solely responsible for the rivalry’s overall parity when it comes to the all-time record.
Bart Starr’s Record Against the Bears: 15-5
Brett Favre’s Record Against the Bears: 22-10
Aaron Rodgers’ Record Against the Bears: 25-5 (Including Postseason)
That’s 59 wins by these three quarterbacks for the Packers in this rivalry (58% of the Packers’ wins against the Bears all-time).
All other quarterbacks in Packers history are 43-71-6 against Chicago all-time.
Jordan Love is now 1-0 against the Bears in his career!
The Bears, in their history, do not possess a quarterback with any sort of definable mystique since the days of Sid Luckman (1939-1950). He didn’t start in every single game, but in the Luckman era the Bears dominated the Packers with an 18-6-1 record.
As the Packers are known for their quarterbacks the Bears are known for their running backs and linebackers, historically. No franchise can match their collection of players at those marquee positions.
Lombardi and Halas:
The relationship between Lombardi and Halas is an interesting one. Halas was such a revered figure in the NFL’s formation and early success and Lombardi was a true student of the game of football — yet it was Lombardi that taught Halas what winning in the modern era looked like.
There are many interesting quotes from these coach’s former players.
“Coach Halas, he’d burn your ears with language the week of the Green Bay game,” said Rick Casares, a former Bears running back. “He had a descriptive term that I’m not going to use here, but he’d say ‘We’re gonna wipe that so-and-so smile off his face.’”
He continued, “I’d feel he was jealous of what Lombardi was doing. You’d see it when Lombardi and Halas were together on the field. Lombardi would give him that smile. I don’t know exactly how to term it but it told Halas a lot. It was his ‘I’m gonna kick your butt’ smile, and Halas didn’t like it.”
But the respect was obvious on Lombadi’s end.
“Vince Lombardi loved George Halas because he had been one of the founders of the league,” said former Packer Bill Curry. “He’d say, ‘I love that old man and every single thing he represents.’”
He went on, “We’d all look around at each other around the Packers’ locker room whenever he’d say something like that. We couldn’t believe he was expressing love for an opponent. That just wasn’t his schtick.”
But in the end, in this rivalry, all that matters is beating the other team.
“Halas pretty much made it clear that you beat Green Bay or else,” former Bears halfback said.
“I always kind of felt Halas was a friend of the Packers, but when it came down to game day, I know he screamed like heck at them,” said former sports writer for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Art Daley. “It wasn’t dirty. But, boy, it was intense.”
And, of course, there is the infamous story that Paul Hornung has retold many times about Halas coming into the Packers’ locker room before a game, sometime in the 1960s, and telling Lombardi that the Bears are going to kick Green Bay’s ass. Two of the NFL’s all-time greatest coaches involved in an exchange like that fueled by an ancient rivalry…
It doesn’t get much better than that.
Just as this rivalry could not get any better. That is, until the next time they meet.
I absolutely adore this rivalry and have immense respect for the Chicago Bears and their fans. But still, I have to say it… The Bears Still Suck!
Other Division Rivals:
Green Bay’s All-Time Record Against the Minnesota Vikings: 65-57-3 (Est. 1961)
Green Bay’s All-Time Record Against the Detroit Lions: 105-75-7 (Est. 1930)*
*The Lions are the first team in NFL history to lose 100 games to another team… that team is the Packers.