Is there REALLY a rivalry?

[Murgen]

I mean, there is, but do the player really feel it?

Watched the Packers-Bears from Week 17. After the final kneel down (after the pick) the Bears players started clapping and shaking hands with the Packer players, as if to say "Congratulations" on making the playoffs. After the game, lots of joking, talking, hugging, between both teams. Not to mention Rodgers joking, smiling and laughing with Bears defenders all game the first time they met.

I dunno. Maybe cause the Bears had nothing to play for, they weren't pissed they lost. I just get the feeling the NFL is hyping the "Rivalry" between the teams more than there is. I'd say it's more a friendly rivalry. I remember the games between Dallas and GB in the 90s being more vicious with a lot of cheap shots (from the Dallas side).

The fans I think have a bigger rivalry/hatred toward each other than the teams. Just thought I'd mention it since it was my perception of the teams at the end of the game.

Maybe now that both teams are fighting for the right to go to the SB, that will change on Sunday. We'll see.

 

[Mr. StyleZ]

A friendly rivalry is still....... a rivalry. It's more of a fan thing..

I blame the players. Players from both teams are classy and aren't gonna go Cromartie on each other.. and Rodgers and Cutler are friends.

 

[2411t]

Goodell has eyes and ears everywhere. He is the reason.

 

[Murgen]

NFL is hyping the game to be a drag out, dog fight. I'll be surprised if it gets to the chippiness of the Raven/Steelers game. Maybe it will when one side realizes they are going to lose. We'll see. I sure didn't see that the two times we played them this year (although maybe I missed something).

Oh yeah, If our receivers can hold onto the damn ball I think we win the game Sunday. Can't believe how many perfectly thrown balls by Rodgers were just dropped. Jennings dropped a sure TD ball and the next play Jones dropped the pass for the first!! Ugh.....

 

[gig20015]

I don't think its gonna be very close, but I don't think Bears players will get mad about losing so bad. Their defense has lost it just a little bit, as has their running attack. I'm sure they will be really strong again next year. Black and Blue Division is back!!!

 

[Zeppelinelite51]

Honestly.. with me most of my hatred has been directed towards the Queens and their worthless (soon to be x-worthless) leader in BrINT.

However, now that we have **** pounded him and the queens 2x this year I feel better about that and I am now focused back onto how much I really hate the bears.

GO PACK GO!! I cant wait to see us in the SB! Ive been waiting soo soo long for this. After all the injuries and ups and downs, only way it could be better is with a big ol' fat trophy in that case
:viksux::chisux:

 

[Murgen]

GO PACK GO!! I cant wait to see us in the SB! Ive been waiting soo soo long for this. After all the injuries and ups and downs, only way it could be better is with a big ol' fat trophy in that case
:viksux::chisux:

Yeah, I really am hoping we punch a ticket to the SB on Sunday. And if they bring home the Trophy. Man, I won't sleep for a week.

 

[Packman Chant]

Check out the video galley on the packer site they asked Jennings hawk and a couple otheres how they felt about the rivalry Jennings says theryre alot of friends ships of the field but once the balls kicked off theyre is no friends. he did say the fans might be more serious about it.

 

[PFanCan]

And if they bring home the Trophy. Man, I won't sleep for a week.

I don't know about you, but I already can't sleep.

Is it Sunday yet?

 

[Forget Favre]

Honestly.. with me most of my hatred has been directed towards the Queens and their worthless (soon to be x-worthless) leader in BrINT.

However, now that we have **** pounded him and the queens 2x this year I feel better about that and I am now focused back onto how much I really hate the bears.

GO PACK GO!! I cant wait to see us in the SB! Ive been waiting soo soo long for this. After all the injuries and ups and downs, only way it could be better is with a big ol' fat trophy in that case
:viksux::chisux:

100% Agreed.

 

[JBlood]

Heresy to even ask such a question.

 

[armand34]

This game makes the Rivalry even more special, b/c this game will forever be in the HISTORY BOOKS...and could potentially be given a NICKNAME for it...which give me the idea of starting a thread for that...hmm

 

[John]

A friendly rivalry is still....... a rivalry. It's more of a fan thing..

I blame the players. Players from both teams are classy and aren't gonna go Cromartie on each other.. and Rodgers and Cutler are friends.

Agreed, it's a bigger rivalry for the fans than it is the players. So many players these days switch teams and train together it's rare that you get hatred rivalries amongst the players.

 

[Crazy Packers Fan]

The reason most people don't look at it as much of a rivalry is because the Packers and Bears are class organizations who don't let their players do the sort of crap that other teams do. Classless organizations like the Steelers and Ravens are all trash-talk, same with the Jets. (If you don't believe me about the Steelers being classless, Hines Ward basically gets away with a personal foul after every play, watch.)

The media looks at trash-talk and personal fouls as being more of a rivalry. When it's simply piling up championships with the Packers and Bears, then to them it's just "tradition." The same way Navy-Army is not given the sort of attention of a rivalry as say, Florida-Georgia, because the Navy and Army players are all class, while Florida and Georgia are committing unsportsmanlike conduct left and right.

 

[armand34]

The reason most people don't look at it as much of a rivalry is because the Packers and Bears are class organizations who don't let their players do the sort of crap that other teams do. Classless organizations like the Steelers and Ravens are all trash-talk, same with the Jets. (If you don't believe me about the Steelers being classless, Hines Ward basically gets away with a personal foul after every play, watch.)

The media looks at trash-talk and personal fouls as being more of a rivalry. When it's simply piling up championships with the Packers and Bears, then to them it's just "tradition." The same way Navy-Army is not given the sort of attention of a rivalry as say, Florida-Georgia, because the Navy and Army players are all class, while Florida and Georgia are committing unsportsmanlike conduct left and right.

this is a mean comment and it's going to come off as mean and cruel b/c it is...but I don't think there's a player in the NFL that I would love to see get rocked so hard during a game then Hines Ward...I would love to see him just get plastered and wipe that smile off his face...smiling like that after every play he makes is blood boiling to me

 

[SyX]

As someone geographically removed from the game and rivalry, I'll give my input (for what it's worth).

We probably see it more as a tradition than a rivalry. True what was mentioned earlier about the trash talking between the Ravens and Steelers, and those two teams have only been playing each other (in their current forms) since 1996.

I really do think it can be attributed to a couple of things, again, I'll rehash what was said above.

The teams don't do a lot of trash talking. So far even for this game, I'm seeing things like "book your trip to Dallas" or "I guarantee we'll win", nothing that isn't to be expected. If the players aren't confident their team will win, it doesn't say much for the players.

The whole Favre situation has taken all the focus nationally and put it between the Packers and Vikings, even before that, it was the Packers and Jets, simply because of the #4 connection.

Third, there isn't that history of #1 on the Top 10 ESPN Plays of the week style plays between the two or the heated hated rivalry between players on the teams. There aren't the (again, I'll go back to Steelers / Ravens) Troy getting a strip / sack of Flacco to end the game. There isn't the Ward vs. Ray Lewis or Ed Reed situation.

Does that mean I'm looking forward to this game less than a Ravens / Steelers game? Nope. I love the history of the game. I'm intrigued by the fact that this is only the second ever post season meeting between the two. I used to live near Chicago, and got to go to Soldier Field for a few meetings in the '80s. There's tradition, even if it doesn't fit the mold of the modern heated, hated rivalry.

I know the fans are more vocally passionate then the teams, but I have no doubt that both teams will come out and give us a show worth watching, especially when we see Aaron Rodgers put that belt on a few more times!

 

[Powarun]

I don't think the players "hate" each other for being players of other teams in this one, I think they know that their teams hate each other. The rivalry was built up more in the early seasons of the game than now, but the Packers/Bears are two of the oldest, most storied franchises, and the games versus each other in their youth had a lot of trash talk between them. I think now a days its the fans and franchises that keep the existant of the rivalry, and it will be unless their is a player that sparks it. Like how Favre went to the Vikings, that sparked up that rivalry, or how some players will taunt the other team, see Steelers/Baltimore on that one.

 

[DaBears]

Just on the radio this morning, Chicago's the Score was playing a mix of Touchdown plays in the playoffs combined with Bears and Packers quotes leading up to the game. I had the radio turned down to answer the phone and as I turned it up, and I heard someone say something like "Individually, they are all good guys. It's the name of the team we hate".

I wish I had heard the whole thing or turned it up. I am assuming it was a Packer that said it because Lovie spoke next and from what I heard they were alternating quotes from the two teams and alternating TD's.. Anyone know?

But just from the tone I have heard from Lovie and other players (other than Urlacher) I think they know about the Rivalry because it is a FAN'S rivalry.

It has been a fans rivalry long before they were on the team. Lovie even said Monday his "rivalry" against the packers carried over from being a Dallas fan, but to put it in perspective it still is and always has been created by the history and the fans.

I think this gets to be a rivalry between them because they know how much it means to the fans, which is what, in turn, makes it a "rivalry".

They don't have to punch each other after the play to make it a better rivalry than the other NFL ones. Just one with more class.

 

[cakoski]

This is much more a fans rivalry than a players one. But that is the way it is going throughout sports. With some many camps and travel teams many player now haven known their opponents since their teens. Then in the off-season they share the same trainers and training facilities. They also end up at the same fundraisers and pro-ams. So they get to meet each other as friends and not competitors. And lastly probably comes the realization that today's opponent might be tomorrow's teammate

 

[PackersRS]

Just on the radio this morning, Chicago's the Score was playing a mix of Touchdown plays in the playoffs combined with Bears and Packers quotes leading up to the game. I had the radio turned down to answer the phone and as I turned it up, and I heard someone say something like "Individually, they are all good guys. It's the name of the team we hate".

I wish I had heard the whole thing or turned it up. I am assuming it was a Packer that said it because Lovie spoke next and from what I heard they were alternating quotes from the two teams and alternating TD's.. Anyone know?

But just from the tone I have heard from Lovie and other players (other than Urlacher) I think they know about the Rivalry because it is a FAN'S rivalry.

It has been a fans rivalry long before they were on the team. Lovie even said Monday his "rivalry" against the packers carried over from being a Dallas fan, but to put it in perspective it still is and always has been created by the history and the fans.

I think this gets to be a rivalry between them because they know how much it means to the fans, which is what, in turn, makes it a "rivalry".

They don't have to punch each other after the play to make it a better rivalry than the other NFL ones. Just one with more class.

I don't like Bears fans at all, but Bears players, for the most part, are extremely classy.

Still remember last year, at the goalline, where Rodgers was sacked by Tommie Harris.

As Harris was falling down, he could've torn Rodgers' leg. But he rolled, which ended up saving Rodgers' season possibly.

Between the players, if it was Seahawks vs. Texans, but with the same players, there wouldn't be any rivalry at all.

Very different from playing the Vikings, where players borderline hate each other.

Like Jennings said, when on the field, it's the enemy out there. The other guys are trying to take your glory, your money, your fun. They are trying to inflict pain on you.

But off the field? Rodgers and Cutler are very good friends, for instance...

 

[Wood Chipper]

rivalrys really were more of a thing before free agency began. back when if you were drafted by a team you pretty much stayed until they didnt want you anymore

 

[Texpackerfan]

I think another reason the rivalry is more friendly rather than chippy is because they haven't met each other in the POST SEASON.

I hate the Cowboys more than any other team. One reason is because I'm from Houston, and the other is because they would knock the Packers out of the playoffs year after year. When the Packers did beat the Cowboys (2002 I believe), they enjoyed the hell out of kicking their buts. And this included a team that had Aikman, Smith and Irvin (albeit, not in their prime).

Take the Steeler's and Ravens rivalry. It is based on the post season.

I think it take more than being the same division for many years to have a fierce rivalry. There also has to be competition. The Lions have been in the division for years and I don't think anyone thinks of the Lions as an intense rivalry and it's because the Lions are rarely relevant.

 

[Forget Favre]

Friendly foes? Respect rules Bears-Packers rivalry