The last time the Green Bay Packers were tied in their 95-year rivalry with the Chicago Bears, the teams played at Wrigley Field and Prohibition hadn’t yet ended. The venue for Sunday’s meeting between the teams — the 194th in the series — will be different. But Chicago’s Soldier Field could be the setting for the Packers being on even footing with the Bears for the first time since 1933.
Since Oct. 13, 1933 the Bears have held an edge in the series. On that day, the Bears overcame a 7-0 fourth-quarter deficit and outscore the Packers 10-0 from that point to finish off the game. They led the series 12-11-4 at that point and haven’t trailed since.
Heading into Sunday, the all-time series has the Bears leading 94-93-6. As recently as 1992, the Bears had a 20-game advantage in the series — and yes, that would be the year Brett Favre arrived in Green Bay. After losing his first start against the Bears, Favre would win 20 of his next 25 starts against them.
The Bears would dominate the next few years during the Lovie Smith era before the Packers took control of the rivalry again, winning 12 of the past 15 meetings since 2009. Right about the time the Bears traded for Jay Cutler, mind you.
A Packers win Sunday would tie the series up. Amazingly, the Packers have outscored the Bears by a single point over the nearly century-long rivalry — 3,305 to 3,304. That’s how close it has been, even though the series has been defined by long streaks of dominance by both sides.
So, Matt Barkley: You have a lot riding on your start against the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, even if the Bears have been eliminated from the postseason. The last time Barkley faced them, he came off the bench to relieve an injured Brian Hoyer and the results were not pretty: 6-of-15 passing for 81 yards and two interceptions. To be fair, he had just arrived a few weeks prior and has played pretty darned well of late.
Still, the Bears will be fighting history on Sunday, and the Packers could go into 2017 with a chance to take a lead on their hated rivals with a win Sunday. Don’t tell fans of either team that this stuff doesn’t matter.
Oh, and as of Tuesday afternoon, the weather.com forecast indicates that it could be painfully cold — as in, a high of 3 degrees. Which is just perfect for this rivalry.
