Here in Chicago on Sunday, the Chicago Bears will host the Green Bay Packers for the right to represent the National Football Conference in Super Bowl XLV (that’s 45 for all you non-Romans). I’m not sure how the rest of the football-watching world views it, but around these parts it is, um, kind of a big game. OK, it’s huge, like it makes Armageddon look like a chess match huge. The game is being called the biggest game ever played in Chicago. I can only speak to games played in the last 50 years, but after giving it a lot of thought, I have to admit that I agree with the hype-meisters this time. Let’s look at the competition (since 1960). In 1961 and in 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, but it’s hockey and they won both deciding games on the road. The Chicago Bulls won 6 NBA championships in the ‘90s. Following this genuine dynasty team was pure joy, but none of these titles were decided by a game 7 in Chicago. In 2005, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series. They hadn’t won it all since 1917. As a die-hard Sox fan, it remains one of my most cherished sports memories, but the deciding game 4 was in Houston, not Chicago, and half (most say more than half) of the city either didn’t care or viewed it as a nightmare rather than a dream. The truth is that, when you talk about a sports team that truly galvanizes the Chicago area, all of it, you have to look first to the Bears. They have 3 worthy entries in the “biggest game ever in Chicago” derby. In 1963, the Bears defeated the New York Giants 14-10 at Wrigley Field to claim the NFL Championship. Since this game was for all the marbles, the temptation is to say that this was bigger than this Sunday’s game…particularly for older fans. However, being something of an old-timer myself, I can tell you without any hesitation that we’re talking apples and oranges here. It was a very different era and the most telling evidence of this is that I wasn’t able to watch the game. I listened to it on the radio because there was no live TV in the Chicago area. I’m not kidding. Like I said, it was a different era. The other two were, like Sunday’s game, NFC Championship games. The first was played on January 12, 1986 when the Bears shut out the Los Angeles Rams 24-0 at Soldier Field to earn a spot in Super Bowl XX (which they won decisively 46-10, but of course, that was in New Orleans). The other was on January 21, 2007 when the Bears defeated the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field only to lose to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. On the face of it, both of these game and Sunday’s game had the same stakes…a trip to the Super Bowl. The difference between those two NFC Championship games and this one is simple…this time it’s the Packers. It’s pretty much impossible to be a Chicago Bears fan without hating the Green Bay Packers. It is just the way it is and always has been. It’s the longest standing rivalry in the NFL. Many Bears fans claim that they don’t care how the team fares for the season as long as they beat the Packers twice. I’m not in this camp, but I understand the base emotion. A win over the Packers just feels different…so do the losses. Laying a trip to the Super Bowl on top of this is a case of serious emotional overkill. The Bears Nation is absolutely stuck in overdrive. Yes, this is the biggest game ever played in Chicago.
Yes it is the packers this time. Isnt this the first time the bears and Packers have played each other in the playoffs? I remember the Bears, Packers game in 1963. Y.A.Tittle! I was just a child, but being originally from Southern Indiana I was able to watch the game. Cold as hell! lol. I remember the hit Larry Morris gave to Tittle and from that point on, he wasnt the same. Bears defense that year was historically great. Since this is the Packers this is an important game
