Bears Vs. Packers: Top 5 Moments In NFL's Most Historic Rivalry

CHICAGO — The 100th season of the National Football League gets underway Thursday with a clash between the league’s two most historic teams. The NFL deviated from its recent tradition of having the defending Super Bowl champion host the season opening game due to the significance of this being the 100th season. The Chicago Bears will host the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field at 7:20 p.m. Central time on Thursday, Sept. 5.

Good choice, NFL. If there’s only one thing Packers and Bears faithful can agree on is that this is the best rivalry in the NFL. And that no one outside of New England would really care to see the Patriots host a season opener again.

What we don’t agree on, however, is the best moments in this rivalry’s history.

Here, Green Bay Packers fan and Wisconsin Patch editor Scott Anderson shares these five moments as the best in Packers-Bears history from a Green Bay standpoint.

NFC Championship Game

January 23, 2011: Packers 21, Bears 14

The Packers had only played the Bears once in the playoffs in their entire history until the 2010 NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field.

Aaron Rodgers threw for 244 yards, but had two interceptions — including one in which he made a touchdown-saving tackle. With Green Bay up 14-0, Rodgers was looking to throw a short touchdown pass to put the Packers up 21-0. Instead, he threw the ball right to Brian Urlacher, who rumbled for nearly 50 yards before Rodgers caught up with him and made the tackle.

Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a knee injury in the third quarter. After backup Todd Collins did basically nothing, the team turned to third-stringer Caleb Hanie. Hanie rallied the Bears to 14-7, until Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji made a game-saving play.

With the Packers leading 14-7 with six minutes to play, Hanie dropped back to pass. On third and five from his own 15 yard line, Hanie turned to his left and saw running back Matt Forte presumably open on a five-yard crossing route. He threw the ball, but didn't see the lumbering 300-pound Raji stationed right in the passing lane.

Raji caught Hanie's pass, and chugged 18 yards for the touchdown. The Packers went on to win the Super Bowl. Chicago would finish 8-8 the next season.

The Instant Replay Game
November 5, 1989: Packers 14, Bears 13

Just about every Packer fan growing up in the 80s remembers this game. The Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985, and it felt like doormat city in Green Bay for years.

On a brisk day in November 1989, the Packers played the Bears tough. It was fourth and goal on the Chicago 14 yard line. There were 41 seconds left on the clock, and the Packers trailed Chicago by a score of 13-7.

Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski took the shotgun snap, looked left, only to find two receivers covered at the 10 yard line.

The "Majik Man" saw the pocket collapsing, and took off running to his right. Wide receiver Sterling Sharpe crossed the field, and Majkowski spotted him open in the end zone. The quarterback faked a throw as he scurried for the sideline, then launched a throw to the endzone, where Sharpe was surrounded by five defenders.

Sharpe caught the ball, and the crowd erupted, but not before an official called a penalty, claiming that Majkowski was over the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. Video replay officials, using VCR-enabled replay footage, scrutinized the play over and over while the sold-out crowd waited.

The officials in the booth overturned the call, saying the quarterback's body was contorted in such a way that the ball was released just behind the line. Chris Jacke kicked the extra point, raising his arms in celebration.

After eight straight losses to Chicago, the Packers came out victorious. Chicago head coach Mike Ditka insisted his team put an asterisk next to that game in the team’s media guide, calling it the “Instant Replay Game.” The Packers would beat Chicago a month later 40-28 on their way to a 10-6 season.

Packers Record Comeback
September 9, 2018: Packers 24, Bears 23

Things were definitely not looking good for the Packers in their 2018 NFL opener against the Chicago Bears.

They were down 20-0 in the third quarter. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers hobbled off the field with nine minutes left in the second quarter with a knee injury. His replacement Deshone Kizer was terrible.

Meanwhile, Chicago played well in the first half under new head coach Matt Nagy and defensive superstar Khalil Mack.

Rodgers returned to the field in the second half, but the Packers were still trailing by 17 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Rodgers took control of the game from there. He threw a 39-yard pass to Geronimo Allison with 14 minutes to play. Five minutes later, Davantae Adams caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers.

With just over two minutes to go, Rodgers attempted a pass to Randall Cobb, who cut across the middle of the field. Rodgers' pass sailed inches past the outstretched hand of Bears safety Eddie Jackson and into Cobb’s hands. Remarkably, Cobb sprinted more than 50 yards down the field untouched for the go-ahead score.

It would be the second-largest comeback in team history and the largest of Rodgers' career.

Cobb TD Stuns Bears
December 29, 2013: Packers 33, Bears 28

This game was set up by a previous Packer-Bear game in the 2013 season. In week nine, Chicago defensive end Shea McClellin sacked Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone on the play, which forced him to miss the next seven games.

Starting a hodgepodge of quarterbacks not worth mentioning, the Packers went winless over their next five games. The Packers signed quarterback Matt Flynn out of desperation, who guided the team to two wins and one loss in his three games. With a 7-7-1 record, the Packers had a season-ending game against the Bears in Chicago. The NFC North crown and a playoff berth were on the line.

The Bears were leading 28-27 with 46 seconds left. Green Bay had the ball on the Chicago 48 yard line. It was fourth-and-eight to go.

Rodgers took the shotgun snap, with Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers bearing down on him almost immediately. Fullback John Kuhn, reading the play from the snap, slid across the backfield to get a key block on Peppers, who could only lunge at Rodgers as the nimble quarterback escaped to his left.

Rodgers danced further to his left, looking downfield. From his own 40 yard line, Rodgers launched a pass 50 yards to Randall Cobb, who snuck past the Chicago defense for a dramatic touchdown.

The Packers claimed their third straight division championship. The Bears did not make the playoffs.

The Chester Marcol Miracle
September 7, 1980: Packers 12, Bears 6

Green Bay's 12-6 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sep. 7, 1980 is memorable for its unlikely outcome, as well as the lifelong journey of its hero.

Czeslaw Boleslaw "Chester" Marcol had been a placekicker for the Packers since 1972. With the score tied 6-6, he lined up for a 35-yard field goal in overtime to win the game.

Marcol kicked the ball, the Bears' Alan Page broke through the Packer line and blocked the kick. The ball ricochet off Page’s helmet, and right into Marcol's hands.

Surprised by the play's unlikely development, Marcol is shown on video standing motionless for a split second before peeling off to his left, and running 35 yards untouched into the end zone for the winning score.

Marcol said he was given the game ball, and asked to lead the team in prayer following the game.

Later in life, Marcol admitted that he had been high on cocaine at the time he made the kick. In his 2011 autobiography, Alive and Kicking, Marcol said he snorted coke at halftime as the players and coaches were preparing for the second half.

The Packers cut him on Oct. 8, one month after his touchdown, with coach Bart Starr saying his kickoffs were too short. He'd return to Green Bay later that season as a member of the Houston Oilers. It was his final season in the NFL.

According to a Green Bay Press-Gazette article, Marcol fought drug and alcohol demons for nearly 30 years after his playing days. He tried to kill himself in 1986 by drinking vodka, rat poison and drain cleaner.

He began the long process of recovery and went on to become a clinical substance abuse counselor in 2007. A few years later, he wrote his memoir with the help of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sportswriter.

Today, Marcol lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with his wife and three children.

And here, Chicago-area Patch editor Tim Moran shares the best five moments from the standpoint of a Chicago sports fan. While Tim is a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, he does support the Bears when it comes to this particular rivalry.

The Block
November 7, 1999: Bears 14, Packers 13

Just days after the death of Bears legend Walter Payton, the Bears entered Lambeau Field on an 11-game losing streak in the rivalry to take on Brett Favre and the heavily-favored Packers. And it looked as if Favre, a Bear killer his whole career, had Green Bay in winning formation again when they set up for a chip shot field goal trailing by one in the final seconds. But “Sweetness” showed up on the field one more time in the form of an iconic block by Bears’ defender Bryan Robinson.

‘The Fridge’ Legend Is Born
October 21, 1985: Bears 23, Packers 7

In the history of football, there’s been no more iconic team than that of the 1985 Chicago Bears. And one of the best moments of the season is when rookie sensation William “The Refrigerator” Perry found the end zone for the first time. In the middle of a decade in which the Bears dominated the rivalry, Head Coach Mike Ditka put the final touches on yet another win that would put the Bears at 6-0 that year. Following a couple of Payton runs that had the team at the Green Bay one-yard-line, “The Fridge” was put into the backfield and rumbled his way to the game-clinching touchdown.

In 1985, the Bears stormed through the NFL. They went 15-1 in the regular season and outscored opponents by a combined 91-10 in three postseason games en route to their only Super Bowl championship. The Packers did not make the playoffs.

Favre Pick-6’d In Soldier Field Finale
December 23, 2007: Bears 35, Packers 7

The Bears had a disappointing 2007 season, going just 7-9 a year after advancing to the Super Bowl. And the Packers actually exceeded expectations, easily winning the NFC North and advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

But on one Sunday that year, there was an exception to those narratives. The Bears manhandled the Packers a couple of days before Christmas at Soldier Field. It turns out that was Favre’s final time suiting up in Chicago as a Green Bay Packer. And no sweeter way for Bears fans to end that chapter in history than for him to have been intercepted by Brian Urlacher, who returned the pick all the way for the game clinching touchdown.

‘Windy City Flyer’ Legend Is Born
September 10, 2006: Bears 26, Packers 0

The Bears had their most successful season since 1985 in 2006, and this opening day shutout at Lambeau Field got it all started. The Bears dominated Green Bay, and NFL fans were introduced to Devin Hester, who returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown and earned the “Windy City Flyer” nickname by Bears play-by-play radio announcer Jeff Joniak.

In 2006, the Bears went 13-3 and defeated the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints in the NFC playoffs before losing to the Colts in the Super Bowl.

A Rivalry Is Born
November 7, 1921: Staleys (Bears) 20, Packers 0

The first game in this rivalry’s history was also a shutout victory for Chicago. Then nicknamed the Staleys, Chicago blanked the Packers at home. Fans at Soldier Field on Thursday night would love to see the same from Khalil Mack and the current Bears defense nearly 100 years later.

JUST FOR FUN

Rivalry Foods

In a recent study, Grubhub found that Packer fans stick traditional finger foods like burgers and wings, although chicken quesadilla took the top spot.

Bears fans also enjoy Mexican dishes, as a gyro sandwich was the only outlier. So, to keep the debates and trash talk on the game, it’s safe to go with Mexican cuisine to keep everyone in the room happy, no matter what side they’re on.

Packer Fans

1. Chicken Quesadilla : 385% More Popular
2. Hamburgers : 298% More Popular
3. Mac And Cheese : 167% More Popular
4. Wings : 131% More Popular
5. Chicken Tenders : 125% More Popular

Bear Fans

1. Steak Burrito : 415% More Popular
2. Gyro Sandwich : 371% More Popular
3. Steak Taco : 341% More Popular
4. Al Pastor Taco : 318% More Popular
5. Carne Asada Burrito : 278% More Popular