Bears–Packers rivalry

Notable games and moments

1920s–1950s

• Bears 20, Packers 0 – The two organizations played for the first time in 1921 at Chicago, when the Bears were nicknamed the Chicago Staleys. Bears' Gaylord "Pete" Stinchcomb scored the game's first touchdown on a 45-yard run. The Bears shut out the Packers 20–0 in their first meeting, and the rivalry was born. A year later, the Staleys changed their team name to the Bears.
• Bears 3, Packers 0 – The Bears–Packers rivalry can be credited for the first ever ejection of players for fighting during an NFL game. The Bears' Frank Hanny and Packers' Tillie Voss were ejected before the end of the first half as verbal exchanges led to punches being thrown. Two years later, Hanny was ejected once again in a game versus Green Bay.
• Packers 7, Bears 0 – The Packers shut out the Bears for the fifth consecutive game in this contest which is the longest such streak in the series. The streak began in 1928 when the Packers defeated the Bears 6–0 on December 9 of that season. In 1929, the Packers shut out the Bears three times, 23–0, 14–0, and 25–0 en route to their first NFL championship. On November 9, the Bears finally scored on the Packers although they came up short in the final score 13–12. The Packers then went on to win their second consecutive NFL title that season.
• Packers 16, Bears 14 – The Bears came into the game undefeated and seemingly invincible. Over their first five games, they defeated their rivals by an unprecedented 157 points. However, the Packers upset them in this game which was the Bears lone defeat that season. The Associated Press wrote of the game that the "Chicago Bears myth is broken". Chicago fans made accusations that the game had been fixed, and it was suggested that the Packers had employed a "secret" defensive scheme. The Packers had built a 16–0 lead through the first three quarters of play before the Bears mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter coming up just short of a win.
• Bears 33, Packers 14 – In the first playoff meeting between the two rivals, the Bears defeated the Packers 33–14 in a one-game-playoff to determine the Western Division championship. After the Packers, the Bears defeated the New York Giants en route to their fourth NFL Championship. Until the 2010 post-season, this remained the only playoff meeting between the teams.
• Bears 52, Packers 31 – The Bears and Packers played the highest-scoring game of their series at Soldier Field in the 1955 season. The Bears created a huge 45–3 lead, but the Packers were able to score 28 points in the fourth quarter; by the game's end, the Bears beat the Packers 52–31, with the two teams combining for 83 points. This was also the last game that George Halas coached the Bears in against the Packers until 1958 due to a temporary break from coaching.

  1960s–1970s

• Packers 31, Bears 28 – The Packers built up an impressive 31–7 lead in the game, but the Bears made a furious comeback with three unanswered touchdowns to make the score 31–28. Still, the Packers were able to win the game; they would go on to win the NFL Championship that year against the New York Giants.
• Packers 49, Bears 0 – Vince Lombardi's Packers shutout George Halas' Bears, 49–0 at City Stadium, the Packers largest margin of victory in the rivalry. The team repeated that score against the Philadelphia Eagles six weeks later on Nov 11, 1962. The games remain a Packers team record for most points in a shutout victory. After again defeating the Bears later in the season, this time by a score of 38–7, the Packers won their 8th NFL championship. Motivated by the two humiliating losses to the Packers, Halas spent the off-season focusing on beating the Packers.
• Bears 26, Packers 7 – The Bears and Packers, both with 8–1 records, met at Wrigley Field to play for first place in the Western Conference. Chicago, behind a dominant defense, got a 26–0 lead and held on to win 26–7, completing a sweep of the Packers in the 1963 season and handling Green Bay only two losses of the season. The Bears finished the season with an NFL championship victory over the New York Giants once again, claiming their 8th NFL Championship.
• Packers 23, Bears 12 – Remembered as the "Free Kick Game" because the Packers invoked the surprising "Fair catch kick rule", which allows for a place or drop kick field goal attempt from the spot of a fair catch. Elijah Pitts fair caught a Bears punt on the Bears' 48-yard-line just before the end of the first half. Packers' coach Vince Lombardi opted to attempt a free kick. Confusion ensued as neither team had ever so much as even practiced a free kick. The Packers lined up at the line of scrimmage with Bart Starr holding for Paul Hornung. Hornung made the 52-yard field goal as the first half ended. The Packers stunned all in attendance with the kick, and won the game 23–12.
• Bears 13, Packers 10 – The Bears got their revenge on the Packers, beating them 13–10 on a fair catch free kick by Mac Percival at the 43-yard line after a Packers punt with :26 left in the game. Percival kicked a game-winner the week before against the Minnesota Vikings.

  1980s

• Packers 12, Bears 6 – With the score tied 6–6 and the game in overtime, Packers kicker Chester Marcol was called in to attempt a game-winning field goal. The Bears' Alan Page managed to break through and block the field goal, with the football hitting his helmet. The ball rebounded to Marcol, and, carrying the ball, he crossed the goal line to score the winning touchdown for the Packers.
• Bears 61, Packers 7 – In the game, the Bears scored eight offensive touchdowns. After the Packers had suffered the second-most lopsided defeat in their history, Bart Starr charged across the field to confront Bears coach Neill Armstrong. Starr was upset because Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan had the Bears blitzing from all angles in the fourth quarter, even after the Packers inserted backup quarterback David Whitehurst with the score 48–7. "Bart Starr was upset," Armstrong said after the game. "He did the talking and I did the listening. He said he'd rather not hear what I had to say, something to that effect, and he left." Two years later, Bill Tobin, the Bears' vice president of player personnel at the time, revealed that he had been instructed by general manager Jim Finks during the off-season to study film and decode the Packers' signal system for relaying plays to the quarterback. Tobin, who had been in the Packers' front office during the Devine years, had been fired by Starr in 1975 as part of a wholesale housecleaning. "I went at it like a tiger does good meat," Tobin said at the time. "We wanted 100 points," defensive end Dan Hampton said. "It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of pricks."
• Bears 23, Packers 7 – The world was introduced to rookie defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry on Monday Night Football. In goal line situations, Bears head coach Mike Ditka used Perry, who weighed roughly 300 lbs. in the fullback position. Twice, Perry led the way for Bears legend Walter Payton on two- and one-yard touchdown runs. In the second quarter, "the Fridge" was given the ball and plunged into the end zone for one of the heaviest touchdowns in NFL history. The Bears won 23–7, and "The Fridge" was born.
• Bears 16, Packers 10 – Before the game, the Packers placed horse manure in the Bears locker room. Two weeks after the Monday Night Game, tempers reached a boiling point in the rivalry. Packers cornerback Mark Lee was ejected after he and Bears running back Walter Payton went flying over a bench in the first quarter. A few minutes later, Packers safety Ken Stills was flagged for leveling Matt Suhey, Payton's backfield mate, well after the whistle.
• Bears 12, Packers 10 – In Week 12 of the 1986 season Green Bay defensive tackle Charles Martin wore a towel with a hit list of specific Bears numbers written on it, such as No. 34 Walter Payton, No. 9 Jim McMahon, and others. Following a McMahon interception Martin came up from behind and body slammed him to the turf, separating McMahon's shoulder, ending the quarterback's season. Martin was suspended for two games, at the time the longest suspension in NFL history.
• Packers 14, Bears 13 – This became known as the "Instant Replay Game". Packers quarterback Don Majkowski led the Packers to a comeback with an apparent game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Sterling Sharpe. The play was called a touchdown, but line judge Jim Quirk had called a penalty on Majkowski for being beyond the line of scrimmage when he threw the pass. A nervous and tense crowd at Lambeau Field waited as the call went up to the instant replay official. Several minutes later, the call came down and the touchdown was awarded as recorded by instant replay, providing the Packers their first victory over the Bears since 1984. This led to a change in the "illegal forward pass" rule which defined when to consider a passer past the line of scrimmage. The rule used to be judged by the position of the ball instead of the passer's feet. Bears coach Mike Ditka ordered that an asterisk be placed next to the result in all team publications.

  1990s

• Packers 27, Bears 24 – Packers QB Brett Favre throws a 99-yard touchdown pass to Robert Brooks – one of only 13 times in NFL history a 99-yard TD pass has ever been completed. Green Bay stormed to a 27–7 lead and had 431 yards on offense compared to Chicago's 243, Although Chicago scored 17 unanswered at the end, they came up just short as time expired. The game was featured nationally on Monday Night Football.
• Packers 35, Bears 28 – Coming into this much-anticipated matchup, first place in the NFC Central division was on the line. A victory would give the Packers the same record as the Bears and would mean a series sweep, giving Green Bay the head-to-head tie-breaker should the teams be tied at season's end. Brett Favre had a badly sprained ankle, which kept his status for the game uncertain. Not only did Favre start, but he had his best game of the season up to that point. He completed 25 of 33 passes for 336 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Bears QB Erik Kramer also had a solid game, going 23 of 38 for 318 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The teams combined for 800 yards of offense. The game was not decided until Kramer threw an incomplete pass in the Packers' end zone on the final play of the game.
• Packers 24, Bears 23 – In one of the more back-and-forth contests in the rivalry, the Bears got off to a 10–0 lead thanks in part to a rushing touchdown by Raymont Harris in the first quarter before the Packers came back to take a 14–10 halftime lead due to a rushing score by Dorsey Levens. In the third quarter, Erik Kramer ran for a three-yard touchdown to put the Bears back in front, 17–14. However, in the waning seconds of the third quarter, Brett Favre connected with Mark Chmura for a touchdown. The Packers led, 21–17, then extended their lead to 24–17. The Bears marched down the field and scored when Kramer connected with Chris Penn with less than two minutes left. In an "all-or-nothing" maneuver, the Bears went for a two-point conversion. The pass fell incomplete, essentially preserving the win for the Packers.
• Bears 14, Packers 13 – The Bears defeated the Packers for the first time since 1993 on a blocked field goal by defensive tackle Bryan Robinson and was the first game in the series played after the death of Walter Payton. This was also the game in which Brett Favre surpassed Ron Jaworski's record for most consecutive starts by a quarterback.

  2000s

• Packers 34, Bears 21 – This Monday night contest at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, was the only Bears home game in the entire series that was played outside of Chicago. Brett Favre threw an 85-yard TD pass to Driver in the first quarter—the second longest of his career to that point. At the time, Soldier Field was undergoing a major renovation; the renovated stadium would later reopen in 2003 between the Bears and Packers.
• Bears 26, Packers 0 – In the opening week of the season, the Bears handed Brett Favre his first shutout in his 16-year career, winning 26–0 in Green Bay. The Bears' offense, criticized for being conservative, opened the game with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Rex Grossman to Bernard Berrian. This also marked the first game in which the Bears' Devin Hester returned a punt for a touchdown.
• Bears 20, Packers 17 – The coldest game in recorded Bears history featured a temperature at kickoff of 2 degrees and −13 degrees with wind chill. The Packers traveled to Soldier Field on a Monday night, where a victory against the Bears would have ended their playoff hopes. The Bears had to rally from a 14–3 score at the half. The Bears were able to score after a turnover on a Packers punt return. The Packers were on the verge of finishing a game-winning drive when Mason Crosby's field goal attempt was blocked by Alex Brown, pushing the game to overtime. The Bears took the first possession in overtime and won the game on a 38-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

  2010s

• Bears 20, Packers 17 – The 2–0 Packers traveled to Chicago for an early season showdown with the 2–0 Bears for the NFC North lead. Aaron Rodgers threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings to open the scoring in the first quarter. Mason Crosby made it 10–0 with 4:45 left in the second quarter, but Jay Cutler drove the Bears down and connected with Greg Olsen for a touchdown with 31 seconds left. Late in the 3rd quarter, Julius Peppers blocked a 37-yard field goal attempt by Mason Crosby to keep it 10–7 Packers. Devin Hester then opened the 4th quarter with a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown to make it 14–10 Bears. Aaron Rodgers led the Packers on a drive that resulted in him getting into the end zone on a 3-yard scamper to make it 17–14. However, the Packers were left to regret a sloppy performance, as they recorded a team record 18 penalties. The Bears took advantage, with Robbie Gould kicking a field goal with 4:03 left and then 0:08 left to claim a 20–17 victory.
• Packers 10, Bears 3 – The 9–6 Packers hosted the 11–4 Bears in a must-win game in order to enter the playoffs. With both teams coming off of high scoring victories, a shoot-out was anticipated. However, the frozen tundra yielded a defensive battle, as the teams were tied 3–3 late in the fourth quarter. With 2:50 remaining, Aaron Rodgers hit tight end Lee for a 1-yard touchdown pass to take a 10–3 lead.
• Packers 21, Bears 14 – This was the first time the two teams had met in the playoffs since 1941. The Green Bay Packers started off strong with an early 14–0 lead on an Aaron Rodgers rushing TD. Bears' quarterback, Jay Cutler, was injured late in the second quarter, and was unable to continue. After Bears' quarterback Todd Collins proved ineffective, going 0 for 4 on two drives, the Bears brought in Caleb Hanie, who led them to a 1-yard touchdown run by Chester Taylor to make it 14–7. On the very next Bears drive, however, Hanie would be intercepted by B. J. Raji, who took it to the endzone to make it 21–7 late in the game. The Bears would answer with another TD. With one more drive to tie the game, Hanie threw his second interception, this time to Sam Shields to end the game and send Green Bay to the Super Bowl. The Packers went on to win Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers, becoming the NFC's first sixth-seeded team to win the Super Bowl.
• Bears 27, Packers 20 – Heading into this Monday Night match-up at Lambeau Field, Bears' quarterback Jay Cutler was sidelined with a groin injury. Thus, backup quarterback Josh McCown played in Cutler's stead. In the first drive of the game, Packers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked by Shea McClellin, which fractured Rodgers' left collarbone and sent him out of the game. McCown threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Packers backup quarterback Seneca Wallace threw for 114 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception. The Bears won the game 27–20 to end a six-game losing streak to the Packers. Aaron Rodgers would be out for 7 weeks, eventually returning in Week 17 against the Bears for the NFC North title.
• Packers 33, Bears 28 – In a game with the NFC North Championship on the line, the Packers faced off against the Bears. The game was notable for a Rodgers fumble to touchdown that occurred when most players from both teams believed the play to be an incomplete pass. The game also showcased an offensive shootout in the second half, including Bears quarterback Jay Cutler throwing for two touchdowns. However, the Packers ended their last drive converting on 4th down three times, most notably in a long 4th and 8 completion to Randall Cobb for a touchdown that would win the game and deliver Green Bay its 3rd consecutive NFC North title. The loss would keep the Bears out of the playoffs.
• Packers 55, Bears 14 – Aaron Rodgers tied an NFL record with 6 touchdown passes in the first half in a blowout win for the Packers, the most lopsided win for the Packers over the Bears since 1962 and their highest point total in a game since 1945. Bears' kickoff returner Chris Williams tied an NFL record with 10 kickoff returns in a game, one of which went for a 101-yard touchdown.
• Bears 17, Packers 13 – On the night of Brett Favre's jersey retirement, the Bears met the Packers at Lambeau Field for a Thanksgiving match-up. With a 4–6 record and having lost to the Packers earlier in the year, Chicago entered the game as huge underdogs. While the Bears' offense stalled in the first quarter, the Packers took a 7-point lead on a touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Eddie Lacy. In the second quarter, the Bears scored two touchdowns, while the Packers settled for two field goals, making the score 14–13 at halftime. The Bears scored one more field goal in the fourth quarter while their defense pitched a second half shutout, including a goal line stand in the game's final seconds.
• Packers 30, Bears 27 – With the Packers needing a win to move within a game of the NFC North lead, they entered Soldier Field during one of the coldest Chicago Bears games on record. Tied 10–10 at halftime, Green Bay surged to a 27–10 advantage in the third quarter, before the Bears made a run of their own in the fourth quarter to bring them within 3 points and in striking distance of the Green Bay end zone. Green Bay held the Bears to a field goal after a goal-line stand. During the Packers' ensuing possession, quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed a 60-yard pass to Jordy Nelson which led to a Packers field goal as time expired.
• Packers 24, Bears 23 – After an off-season in which both teams made massive player acquisitions, most notably the Bears having acquired linebacker Khalil Mack, the two teams met on Sunday Night Football for a highly anticipated Week 1 matchup. The Bears struck first with a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. After the two teams exchanged three and outs, Chicago ended the 1st quarter up 7–0. The Bears would later add to the lead with a Cody Parkey field goal to make it 10–0. Late in the second quarter, defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris knocked Aaron Rodgers out with a knee injury and the Bears capitalized with Mack getting a pick-six off Packers backup DeShone Kizer. Rodgers would return to the game in third quarter down 20–0, and led the Packers on a scoring drive culminating in a Mason Crosby field goal to end the third quarter with the Bears leading 20–3. However, the Packers outscored the Bears 21–3 off three Rodgers touchdown passes, to take a 24–23 lead with just over 2 minutes left. The Packers would hang on to win by that score. The 17-point fourth-quarter comeback for the Packers represented their largest in franchise history.

  Playoffs

• 1941 The Bears and Packers finished with identical 10–1 records to finish tied atop the NFL Western Division. At the time, only the two division champions would make it to the post-season but ties were broken with a playoff game. The Bears would win the playoff game 33–14 and go on to win the NFL Championship. The teams would not meet in the playoffs again until the 2010 NFC Championship Game.
• 1994 Both teams entered the playoffs as Wild Card teams and won their respective first round games. They would each lose in the second round – Green Bay to the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.
• 2001 The Bears won the NFC Central division and clinched a first round bye. The Packers were a Wild Card team and defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the first round. Both teams would lose in the second round – Green Bay to the St. Louis Rams and Chicago to the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 2010 The two teams met on the last day of the season in what was a must-win for Green Bay. The Packers won 10–3 to clinch the 6-seed, while the Bears had already secured a first-round bye as the 2-seed. Green Bay defeated the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons, while Chicago defeated the Seattle Seahawks to set up the rivals' second postseason meeting in the NFC Championship Game. Many fans of both teams describe the game as the biggest in the history of the rivalry, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. The Packers would ultimately prevail 21–14 and go on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

  Statistics and records

Club success

Game results

Connections between the two teams