With preseason football ready and roaring and regular season right around the corner, there’s something I have to say to Bears fans from Packer fans: we need you. You need us. We need each other.
Football is always fun to watch, especially when you have a favorite team. You get excited when they get a first down, pumped when they get a touchdown and bummed when you’re intercepted. The only thing that makes football even better is when your favorite team has a rivalry.
My lovely Bears fans, you and I have the oldest, most well-known rivalry in NFL history. You can’t tell someone you’re a Bears fan without worrying they’ll say they like the Packers or vice versa. The people who are usually your friends turn into your arch-nemesis during the Packers - Bears games. You may love your Packer-loving cousins every other holiday, but when Green Bay and Chicago play the Thanksgiving game, it’s war.
This is why we need each other. Sure, it’s fun to sit with friends and watch our teams beat the Lions and the Vikings, but that’s just another ol’ game. We get a little bout of happiness after the win and go back to our normal lives.
But the Packers versus the Bears? That’s a different story.
We’re on our feet most of the game, yelling at a team that can’t see us and referees that wouldn’t care less even if they could hear us. It’s a battle of green and gold versus navy and orange. No one else fully understands what it’s like, but they know to stay out of our way. We don’t even know why we don’t like each other. It’s just what we’re taught. If you like the Bears, you hate the Packers; if you like the Packers, you hate the Bears.
Bears fans like to say, “Oh, who won last week’s game? Oh, right. The Bears did!” and Packer fans always respond with, “What? I’m sorry, I can't hear you over our four Super Bowl rings.” Even though our jabs at each other are petty and childish, we just can’t stop bickering like the old married couple we are. After all, our rivalry started in 1921 and we’ve been inseparable ever since (not counting the time we didn’t play each other in 1982…we don’t like to talk about it).
It’s not as fun without someone to yell at and it’s more exciting when you win against a rival. There’s a surge of pride for the winning team and you almost feel a little guilty for the pain the losing fans go through. Almost.
The truth of the matter is, we need each other. You would still be proud of your team and we would still be proud of ours, but there’s something oddly pure about our unbridled rage when we (through our teams) meet each other on the field. It’s just more fun with a rival. Even though we hate you, we love you. We need you. And even if you don’t want to admit it, you need us too.
Thursday, October 20. 7:30. Lambeau. See you on the field.
