18 primetime games in the last 20 years<\/a>. They\u2019ve faced each other with the playoffs on the line. They\u2019ve even battled for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\nSo why does tonight feel like it means that much more? Like the outcome of this game could alter at least one of these franchises for the foreseeable future\u2014maybe even both?<\/p>\n
Most people expected the Packers to make the playoffs before the season, whereas most models couldn\u2019t cosign the Bears\u2019 playoff chances until they knocked Green Bay off in Week 16.<\/p>\n
The Packers kept the DNA of a winning organization for decades, long after the Bears squandered theirs after winning it all in 1985. They\u2019ve always had the star quarterback, while the only franchise with a more depressing list of starting quarterbacks than the Bears\u2019 in the last three decades might be the Cleveland Browns. Green Bay has always had the smart offensive-minded coaches, too, who not only molded their quarterbacks into Bear killers but also armed their whole team with the knowledge that, well, they owned the Bears. Meanwhile, not even Lovie Smith could fully keep his promise to put Green Bay in their place or even make this a dead heat.<\/p>\n
But these Bears\u2026they\u2019re different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sure, they\u2019re still plenty flawed, like basically every Bears team that has taken the field since 1985, outside of the 2006 season. Their defense is spottier than it\u2019s been in a while, and the offense is still finding its consistency.<\/p>\n
But after years of \u201cbuilding winning culture,\u201d they finally became one this year, despite all those imperfections.<\/p>\n
The Bears<\/em> now have the hot new offensive-minded head coach turning the former No. 1 overall quarterback, Caleb Williams, into a killer\u2014one no NFL team wants to see on the field with the game on the line. (Insane, I know.)<\/p>\nAnd, as Week 16 showed, they\u2019re not the same old Bears. They\u2019re tough. They\u2019re not afraid of anything\u2014especially not the Packers. And they refuse to roll over and die for anyone. Especially<\/em> the Packers.<\/p>\nWe have no idea what we\u2019re going to see tonight when the Bears host the Packers at Soldier Field for this wildcard game, aside from two teams desperate not just to move onto the next round but to assert their dominance in one of the NFL\u2019s longest-recurring beefs.<\/p>\n
But one thing seems certain, regardless of the outcome:<\/p>\n
Everything will change after tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the Bears win, they will have proven to the entire league\u2014for seemingly the fifth time this season\u2014that they\u2019re for real. That they deserve respect. That they really, truly can<\/em> win it all, especially if the NFC has to come through Chicago and its bitter \u201cBear Weather.\u201d Ben Johnson will have fulfilled his promise of beating Matt LaFleur twice this season, and perhaps cause the Packers to re-evaluate their entire outlook with LaFleur at the helm. They\u2019ll have seized momentum back in a rivalry that has slipped notably toward Green Bay for the past 30 years or so. And Bears fans will be able to leave these playoffs happy no matter what happens.<\/p>\nIf they lose\u2026it\u2019s going to suck. A lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll feel like the same old story\u2014never coming through against the Packers when it counts. Always going back to being the little brother, the kicked dog. All the haters will be saying \u201cI told you so.\u201d This offseason will be filled with yet more angst among fans about how the Bears can possibly close the gap\u2014and if the Bears can ever outgrow these heartbreaks.<\/p>\n
And Johnson, Williams, and the rest of this squad will spend the rest of the offseason feeling the bitterness of that defeat, living with that disappointment every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And they\u2019ll work. They\u2019ll scheme. They\u2019ll dream of the day they get their revenge.<\/p>\n
And the tide will turn. Because this is only the beginning of their journey. Because Johnson is maniacal and can\u2019t stand to lose. Because Williams has proven himself ice-cold and undaunted by a challenge. Because what they\u2019ve built this year doesn\u2019t even scratch the surface of their true potential with Johnson, Williams, Colston Loveland, Luther Burden Jr., and a squad of veterans with a lot left in the tank.<\/p>\n
Because these Bears have come too far not to be great\u2014whether that means right now or in a year or two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever their weaknesses are, they, at the core, are not the same Bears we\u2019ve been watching the last few years. These Bears are going somewhere, one way or another, as long as they\u2019re lucky enough to stay healthy.<\/p>\n
No matter what happens tonight, the Bears have finally started becoming what we hoped they could be. They took the North. Later, they\u2019ll have to stand up to their word to never give it back.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve succeeded where few thought they could, and tonight will spur them to greater heights, in victory or defeat.<\/p>\n
But just for the fun of it, how about we get that win? And then another\u2026and another\u2026and maybe one more after that?<\/p>\n
\u200bhttps:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/one-way-another-bears-won-214500879.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s not like we haven\u2019t been here before.\u00a0 The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have played a lot of big games in the 104…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1127977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1127976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1127976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1127977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1127976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1127976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1127976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}