Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears: Basic History from Their Storied Past
Published by Bob Fox on September 13, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have met 178 times in the regular season in their history, with the Bears holding a 91-85-6 edge. The teams have also met twice in the NFL playoffs, initially in 1941, as the Bears beat the Packers in Chicago 33-14—a game that was played a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Packers returned the favor in the 2010 NFC Championship Game, when the Packers beat the Bears 21-14 at Soldier Field.
The Packers and Bears have played more games at Wrigley Field in Chicago than at Soldier Field. The Bears used to call Wrigley Field home and played there until 1971. The Bears and Packers first played in Chicago in 1921, when the Bears were then known as the Staleys. Da Bears used Wrigley Field as their home venue for 50 years.
The Packers first played at Soldier Field in 1937, playing the College All-Stars in a game they lost 6-0. The Packers played seven more games versus the All-Stars over the years, concluding with a game in 1968. The Packers finished 6-2 in those games, with the last loss coming in 1963. One can imagine Vince Lombardi’s reaction after that loss!
From 1921 through 1949, George Halas and his Bears took on Curly Lambeau and his Packers. Both teams were the cream of the crop in the early NFL. Lambeau had a 18-32-4 record versus Halas in the regular season.
However, Lambeau also won six NFL titles, which topped Halas by one in their era together.
Much has been said about how Lambeau and Halas supposedly didn’t get along, but you wouldn’t know it by a gesture made to Halas and the Bears by Lambeau and the Packers. You see, Halas once borrowed $1,500 from the Packers during the Great Depression to meet payroll.
Halas returned the favor some 30 years later, as he voted for revenue sharing amongst the owners, which certainly helped the Packers immensely because of their market size.
In addition to that, Halas, along with Paul Brown, recommended Lombardi for the head coaching position in 1959.
Lombardi and Halas were definitely good friends and Lombardi scheduled the Bears for preseason games in Milwaukee during his entire tenure.
Speaking of Lombardi, he won his first game ever as head coach of the Packers in 1959 versus the Bears, as the Pack won 9-6. In Lombardi’s tenure, the Packers had a 13-5 record versus Halas and the Bears.
Lombardi won five more NFL titles for the Packers, including the first two Super Bowls, while Halas and the Bears won the 1963 NFL title.
The Bears definitely were the better team in the 1970s and 1980s (they won Super Bowl XX) in their series versus the Pack, but that all changed in 1992, when a quarterback named Brett Favre came to Green Bay.
Favre was 22-10 against Chicago in his 16 years in Titletown, while current signal caller Aaron Rodgers has a 7-2 record versus the Bears in his four years as a starter. The Packers have also won two more Super Bowls in this era.
Time will tell what happens down the road with these two teams, but the Packers are coming close to evening up this series, which seemed very unlikely 20 years ago.
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