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The rivalry still sizzles
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BY PETER JACKEL
Journal Times
GREEN BAY Train tracks have been replaced by interstate highways, fedoras have been replaced by cheeseheads and classic theaters have been replaced by concrete bunkers at the end of malls.
Through those changes upon changes, though, the Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears rivalry has remained every bit what it was in the days of Warren Harding, tin lizzies and prohibition.
A date to circle on your calendar.
A time to put your money where your mouth is.
``It's the rivalry," 16-year-old Timmy Freeman of Oneida said prior to Sunday's game. ``It's been here for years and it's going to be here long after I'm gone."
Motivational signs at the Bears' Lake Forest training facilities last week read, ``It's Packers Week. Need more be said?"
No, actually. Not a thing.
In the long history of NFL rivalries, there's been memorable blood baths between the Cowboys and Redskins and the Raiders and Chiefs, but neither will ever approach the sheer mythical uniqueness of the Packers and Bears.
``Just the great coaches and players they've had over the years," said Plover's Kress Williamson, 43, when asked what he has found most appealing about this 80-year-old rivalry. ``George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Jim McMahon, Don Majkowski, Sterling Sharpe, Reggie White and Brett Favre. It's the players, the coaches and the personalties involved.
``The thing over the years is that records don't matter. Many times, the underdog has won. I remember (Bears quarterback) Bobby Douglass scoring four touchdowns here at Lambeau Field. I can think of Gale Sayers having some big games against the Packers and the ``Fridge" (William Perry) scoring down at the goal line and the Bears kind of running it up.
``The big one, though, is the ``Instant Replay" game (in 1989). Don Majkowski. Is he over the line of scrimmage? No, he isn't. Sterling Sharpe with the touchdown."
Such memories. Which explains why there was a certain electricity in the air on a sunny, October-like day at Lambeau Field Sunday as fans clad in either the Packers' green and gold or the Bears' blue and orange tolerated each other in the hours before kickoff.
Going into the game, the Packers were riding an eight-game winning streak in this storied series and would extend it to a series-record nine with a 26-20 victory.
The 8-5 Packers were trying to get into playoff position amid persistent rumors of coach Mike Holmgren's imminent departure to greener pastures. The 3-10 Bears were playing out the season amid equally persistent rumors that their coach, Dave Wannstedt, would lose his job.
Still, there's always reason to hold out hope no matter which side of the fence you're on because you never know what's going to happen in this rivalry. Randy Wright's Packers have beaten Walter Payton's Bears just as Kent Nix's Bears have gotten the best of Ray Nitschke's Packers.
``I wouldn't come home until Wednesday if the Bears won," said life-long Bears fan Dave Zimmerman, who is brave enough to make his home in Green Bay.
But it was not to be. Though the injury-decimated Packers clearly couldn't approach the team that has advanced to the last two Super Bowls, they were efficient just enough to hold off the Bears and take a step closer to the playoffs.
Dorsey Levens, who suffered a broken leg and severely sprained ankle Sept. 13, rushed for a season-best 105 yards.
Brett Favre threw two touchdown passes, tying him for ninth with Jim Hart on the NFL's all-time list with 209.
Reggie White came through with a crucial sack in the waning minutes his 16th of the season prompting Favre to suggest he should be considered for Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Free agent-to-be Antonio Freeman, playing just two weeks after he suffered a fractured jaw, upped his asking price even higher with eight receptions for 103 yards and a tochdown.
No one would come out and say it afterward, but maybe this rivalry was the inspiration for such superlative performances.
``This game has never changed for me and I'm sure it hasn't changed for the people in Chicago," Holmgren said. ``It was exciting right down to the wire and that's what makes this rivalry."
Said Freeman, ``It's unique in that those guys have to play us just as we have to play them, regardless of their record, regardless of our record. We're three hours apart and this is a thing that's really based on pride."
Which brings us back to Zimmerman, the guy who was hoping to drift off into the ultimate party after a Bears victory Sunday. For the ninth straight time, dating back to 1993, Zimmerman will have to suffer in silence as his wife, Holly, talks up her beloved Packers once again.
Holly Zimmerman has the couple's family room adorned with Packers merchandise while Dave's Bears collection has been relegated to a basement wall.
``And that's where it's going to stay," Holly Zimmerman said.
It's all about pride.
It's all about treasured memories.
``The Bear-Packer game is the oldest and best rivalry in all of football," Williamson said. ``If I could go to just one game during the year, it would be the Bear-Packer game. If you're going to win one game the whole year, beat the Bears.
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