A Rivalry Renewed
By Kyle Duplacey
I’d like to say something to Packers fans about the long-standing, historic rivalry between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers before Saturday night’s playoff game begins.
I am a lifelong Bears fan. I’ve loved watching NFL football for as long as I can remember, and—with the exception of a few good years that were few and far between—the Packers have dominated this rivalry for most of my life. That said, I also consider myself a sound-minded, logical football fan who thinks with his brain, not just his heart.
Over the years, I’ve had countless conversations with Packers fans and NFL fans alike about the rivalry between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. I think I speak for every Bears fan on the planet when I say that nobody has been more frustrated with, or more critical of, the Chicago Bears than Bears fans themselves.
As a lifelong Bears fan who has been on the wrong side of this divisional rivalry for most of my life, I have never had a problem admitting that the Packers were the better team. They had better coaches than the Bears and, for the last three to four decades, two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. I’ve said countless times that I believe Aaron Rodgers is the greatest pure passer of all time, and that Brett Favre was the last true gunslinger of a dying NFL era. I’ve even argued that if the Packers had a better coach than Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers could have won three Super Bowls.
But times are changing.
Caleb Williams is, without a doubt in my mind, the real deal. Kurt Warner recently said in an interview that to be a good quarterback in the NFL, you have to be either incredibly efficient or incredibly explosive—but great quarterbacks are both. This season, Caleb was one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the NFL while learning one of the most complex offenses in the league.
Ben Johnson has openly admitted that he simplified the offense for much of the season to make things easier on Caleb. Learning to operate an offense with so many moving parts—extensive terminology, constant audibles, and immense responsibility at the line of scrimmage—is no small task, especially for a quarterback who spent most of his football life in the shotgun, making miraculous plays through improvisation and raw, God-given talent.
It’s no secret that Caleb has one of the best arms in the NFL and can make any throw on the field. As he becomes more comfortable in Ben Johnson’s offense and as the game begins to slow down for him, his efficiency will only continue to improve.
I believe many Packers fans already know this, but they find themselves in unfamiliar territory and are simply unwilling to admit it. To those people, I’d say this: think with your brain, not your heart. Don’t let emotion get the better of you, and don’t make yourself look foolish by trying to wish something into existence.
The winds of change are here. The tide is turning. And regardless of who wins Saturday night’s game, the Bears aren’t going anywhere.
Not only is Caleb going to become a more efficient quarterback, but he’s also going to be a thorn in the side of the Green Bay Packers for the next decade and beyond. There’s a very real chance that Caleb Williams will be the best quarterback in the entire NFC for the next ten years—and a major problem for the rest of the NFL for years to come.
