It’s no secret that the Packers have had the Bears number for years now.
Last season, the Bears lost their lead in the all-time series to the Packers for the first time since 1933. The Bears have won just three games in their last 16 meetings and haven’t swept the season series since *gulp* 2007!
That’s a lot of history going against the Bears. I know that I’ve stopped trash talking Packers’ fans because, what’s the point? When a rivalry is one-sided, I have nothing to stand on, other than that one Thanksgiving game, but that was nearly three years ago.
But the Bears have renewed hope, as my colleague Jack wrote about last November.
Granted, that game didn’t go as we wanted (no really, we did lose to Brett Hundley), there is still an aura of new hope in the rivalry. In fact, dare I say that there hasn’t been this much hope for the future since Lovie Smith and second-year Rex Grossman went to Green Bay in September of 2004 and won?
It seems that way.
The Bears still have a long way to go, no one is counting their proverbial eggs, but there’s real promise here with a young roster, exciting coach and the possibilities of several play-makers breaking out.
This week though, it appears that maybe some players have stepped up the rivalry: or is the media making too much of it?
On Wednesday, during the normal media rounds made by players, Bears DE Akiem Hicks and Packers DB Kevin King made some comments that garnered headlines. I’ll let you be the judge of if it’s trash talk or just journalists fishing for a story line.
Hicks (via the Chicago Sun-Times):
“I know those five guys can’t block Khalil Mack,” he said in a conference call.
“I think it affects guys when they come back from an injury, especially older guys like Bulaga,” Hicks said. “But I don’t think he had a chance to block Khalil Mack in the first place.”
Big words, but then again, who has successfully blocked Mack, especially one-on-one? Still though, it ruffled some feathers.
Then came word from Packers availability from last year’s first round pick Kevin King, asked to give a scouting report on Bears QB Mitch Trubisky:
Quote of the day goes to Kevin King on Mitch Trubisky:
— Chris Barriere (@chrisbarriereTV) September 5, 2018
“I think they’re going to come out and… honestly, I can’t tell you anything on him. I’m trying to make up sh*t up here.”#Packers #CHIvsGB #SNF #LockerTalkers pic.twitter.com/zX4uxbYPK2
Was this a shot at Trubisky? Or was King being serious because there is only 12 games of film on Trubisky from last year in an offense that didn’t ask him to do that much, and then this vanilla preseason?
Personally, I didn’t see any problem with either comment because there is some truth to them both: Mack is very hard to block and Trubisky is very much an unknown.
The next step is to actually turn the hope and the talent that the Bears have into competitive games against the Packers and turn the common Ls into Ws.
Will that start Sunday?