Bears Blitz

Published by Derek Crouse on January 18, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears will face the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship this weekend, and it is perhaps the biggest game in their long and enduring rivalry. The last time these two teams faced each other in a championship game was in 1941. From cheese-heads to meatballs, the fans have clamored for this day for years.

When Lovie Smith became the head coach of the Bears, his goals were to beat the Green Bay Packers and to win the division. Now beating the Packers has even more significance than ever. The NFC Championship game has never been so important in recent history.

This game will go down in NFL lore on both sides of the fence. From George Halas to Vince Lombardi, the history of these teams could make a very long TV miniseries. Grandparents will be telling their grandchildren stories about it and NFL Films will have a special on DVD released with a Sports Illustrated subscription.

Saloons in the Midwest will be filled with Bears and Packers fans dressed in their favorite garb and surely a few fights will erupt before, during, and after the game. While the casual fan will be happy just to watch the game, the hardcore fans who live and die with their team will be locked on to the screen for every inch gained on the field.

The NFL brass has to be drooling over this game. The ratings for the NFL have improved year after year. This game looks to blow out any rating for a conference championship game and maybe could break any programming record besides the Super Bowl last year. That game had over a 150 million viewers!

With the recent onslaught of consumers purchasing smartphones, laptops, iPads, and TVs, the NFL has never had as much exposure and publicity. America has embraced the NFL with open arms.

This game will even help local economies. Every gas station will sell all of their keychains and lighters with a Packer or Bear logo on it that has been collecting dust since August. The grocery stores will make profits from meat, charcoal, alcohol, snacks, and the occasional cake with a logo on it. The bandwagon fans usually jump on about this time of year so it becomes an event and not just another game.

Bars will have drink specials on Sunday and the places with HDTVs will draw in the crowds. The dives will have to invest in better entertainment and hope that this will happen again in their lifetime even though this type of game hasn’t happened in 70 years. If any company is looking to make a profit on a sporting event, this game is gold in their hand. The high rollers will be putting up big money in Vegas and friends will have their little wagers amongst themselves.

If the Bears and Packers were a stock option, their value would be skyrocketing this week. The prices for a ticket to this game at Soldier Field are inflating like gas prices. At stubhub.com the prices range from $400-$15,000! Surely there will be scalpers pushing tickets like a Columbian drug cartel and many fans will end up buying counterfeit tickets for thousands of dollars only to find out they have been duped just before kickoff.

The hype machine that is the media will build storylines from the past and present to get their respected program, website, or newspaper more exposure this week. While some think of the matchup Sunday at 3:00 pm EST as just another game, a large demographic of the country will spend more money and time on three hours of their life than ever before.

Only time will tell how much this game will mean down the road in NFL history to both legendary franchises.

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