A Letter From A Bears Fan

[George Cumby]

"Letter From A Bears Fan

I gotta say, as a Bears fan [ducks] this is a monumental day. I feel like I almost have to eulogize and pay my respects to this insane run you guys had.

I’m 34, this shit has been going on basically my entire life! I remember growing up, goin down to the lake front or watching on T.V. and seeing Favre lose 90% of the game only to drive down at the end and beat us. The thing about Favre though was, while he absolutely got the best of us. The Bears teams of that era were tough teams. We could hang with the Packers here and there and take games from Favre once and a while. Favre was also harder to hate back then. The way he played the game and the obvious fun he had; there was definitely a begrudging respect I had for it all. Then came Rodgers.

The Rodgers era was hell. The Bears changed from the Lovie Smith era and the bones of a Super Bowl team to the Jay Cutler era which was littered with underachieving teams, losing and clown show after clown show coming to town and setting up its tent in our front office. There was no hope for the vast majority of the Rodgers era.

If Favre was the happy go lucky good old boy, Rodgers was the maniacal serial killer and the Bears were the dumb idiot that got killed first in every movie. I can recite off hand by memory every time the Bears managed to beat Rodgers. Yes, literally because you can count all of them on one hand, 5. Not to mention SO many moments where he just crushed us. The Conte game, the R-E-L-A-X game, the “I own you game”, so many 40 point games, so many blowouts on national tv. I could go on.

I truly hope every fan here appreciated that run for what it was. Yea just two Super Bowls is disappointing, yea you had some playoff flame outs. But God damn, year in and year out the Packers pissed excellence all over the NFC north.

I’ll admit I’m jealous. As a Bears fan I have wandered through the fucking desert searching for just 1 quarterback who wouldn’t piss down his leg every other week and you guys hit two of the greatest QBs of all time back to back.

I have such bad Favre- Rodgers PTSD at this point I don’t even wanna think about Jordan Love because it stresses me out so much, that somehow you might hit 3 in a row and I might have to do this again. Thank God at least for today, it’s over. I couldn’t mean this any more earnestly, fuck you guys. Lol

In closing I’ll say this about Rodgers. Obviously he was great. I’ve said that. But what I’ll remember and appreciate most about Rodgers is that he really leaned into the rivalry. Rodgers embraced being the bad guy to Chicago fans. Not many players have the balls or the want to for something like that, but he did. I respect that aspect of his personality so much. The NFL is better, when this rivalry is good and this rivalry is so much fucking fun when both teams are good. Unfortunately the Bears just didn’t carry their water way too many times.

So I’ll raise my glass to him and to Packers fans tonight and go back to hating you all and celebrating this in the morning.

A Bears fan"

[hoosier]

That was an enjoying read. Earnestly.

[red]

good shit, nice read

not to be a huge dick to bears, lions and vikings fans, but winning all those NFC north titles kinda started to feel like winning the special olympics

i was at the yancy thigpen drop game when we won our first division title in forever, it seemed like a miracle. now it seems like the default setting

things will probably end up being a lot different in the future, and thats not Necessarily a bad thing

[sharpe1027]

good shit, nice read

not to be a huge dick to bears, lions and vikings fans, but winning all those NFC north titles kinda started to feel like winning the special olympics

i was at the yancy thigpen drop game when we won our first division title in forever, it seemed like a miracle. now it seems like the default setting

things will probably end up being a lot different in the future, and thats not Necessarily a bad thing
Yes it is.

[King Friday]

Fuck the rest of the North…no need to stop winning now. If the Pork Loins think they have arrived, wait until they see what a first place schedule looks like. They are so used to playing dregs that they don’t understand that they won’t get to play the Falcons and Cardinals non-stop anymore. The Vikings are closer to a complete rebuild than the Packers are, and the Bears are still the butt fucking Bears.

Don’t listen to Tex and this nonsense that the Packers are now doomed to fail for the next decade. We just got younger and hungrier. We now have a mobile QB. Good luck containing Watson if Love breaks the pocket. That isn’t a bad thing.

[run pMc]

But God damn, year in and year out the Packers pissed excellence all over the NFC north.

This made me lol

mostly because it was true.

[texaspackerbacker]

Fuck the rest of the North…no need to stop winning now. If the Pork Loins think they have arrived, wait until they see what a first place schedule looks like. They are so used to playing dregs that they don’t understand that they won’t get to play the Falcons and Cardinals non-stop anymore. The Vikings are closer to a complete rebuild than the Packers are, and the Bears are still the butt fucking Bears.

Don’t listen to Tex and this nonsense that the Packers are now doomed to fail for the next decade. We just got younger and hungrier. We now have a mobile QB. Good luck containing Watson if Love breaks the pocket. That isn’t a bad thing.

Did I say "fail"? I just said "mediocrity". We're in the division with perennial losers, the Bears and Lions, and perennial choke artists in the Vikings. So it's not out of the question to be better than most of them most of the time. Just the same, though, without Rodgers or Favre, it's hard to imagine the Packers being any better than the league average, which is pretty much what mediocre means.

[sharpe1027]

Tex, you claimed the Packers would have long term losing football. That's not mediocre in my book.

[texaspackerbacker]

And compared to the last thirty plus years, we almost certainly will. "Losing" like the Bears or Lions of that same time period? Maybe not that bad, but mediocre meaning average or a little below, that's pretty likely. Ironically, so many in here didn't appreciate 14-3 or 13-4 - "Super Bowl or else the season is a failure". Well, they/we are probably gonna get a long taste of what most of the rest of the fans around the league have had to put up with, or for those old enough to remember, the years between Lombardi and Holmgren maybe. Or more recently, the level of mediocrity in the seasons where Rodgers was injured.

I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt it.

[ThunderDan]

Of course we have only gone 13 - 4 once in our history and never 14-3 but keep making up "facts" in your head that aren't support by anything in realty.

2008 - 6-10
2009 - 11-5
2010 - 10-6
2011 - 15-1
2012 - 11-5
2013 - 8-7-1
2014 - 12-4
2015 - 10-6
2016 - 10-6
2017 - 7-9
2018 - 6-9-1
2019 - 13-3
2020 - 13-3
2021 - 13-4
2022 - 8-9

2019 - 2021 was a historically special 3 years of regular season football. Followed by failure in the playoffs.

[sharpe1027]

And compared to the last thirty plus years, we almost certainly will. "Losing" like the Bears or Lions of that same time period? Maybe not that bad, but mediocre meaning average or a little below, that's pretty likely. Ironically, so many in here didn't appreciate 14-3 or 13-4 - "Super Bowl or else the season is a failure". Well, they/we are probably gonna get a long taste of what most of the rest of the fans around the league have had to put up with, or for those old enough to remember, the years between Lombardi and Holmgren maybe. Or more recently, the level of mediocrity in the seasons where Rodgers was injured.

I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt it.

Your request to redefine the word "losing" has been denied. Please try again.

[RashanGary]

Rodgers averaged 10-6 as a starting quarterback. We’ve been in a crappy division so we made the playoffs a bunch. I don’t know if 10-6 is the excellence Tex thinks it is.


If we average 8-9 under Love it’s not that much worse.

[red]

Rodgers averaged 10-6 as a starting quarterback. We’ve been in a crappy division so we made the playoffs a bunch. I don’t know if 10-6 is the excellence Tex thinks it is.


If we average 8-9 under Love it’s not that much worse.

great point!

and a lot of those years we player 4 games against teams that you could barely call pro football teams (lions and bears). theres an automatic 3 or 4 wins a year, almost by just taking the field

[MadScientist]

Rodgers averaged 10-6 as a starting quarterback. We’ve been in a crappy division so we made the playoffs a bunch. I don’t know if 10-6 is the excellence Tex thinks it is.


If we average 8-9 under Love it’s not that much worse.

A 2.5 game difference in average recordis pretty significant, especially given the short regular season. The only way to look past it is if there were a lot of variance, and Love winds up winning 2+ rings.

[texaspackerbacker]

Your request to redefine the word "losing" has been denied. Please try again.

You're the one who brought up "losing". I merely talked about mediocrity. Maybe that's the same thing as losing hahahahaha. I'll just let you di the defining.

We'll see as the season goes along. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I don't think it's gonna be pretty.

[sharpe1027]

You're the one who brought up "losing". I merely talked about mediocrity. Maybe that's the same thing as losing hahahahaha. I'll just let you di the defining.

We'll see as the season goes along. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I don't think it's gonna be pretty.

You probably forgot with everything you post, but you said it.

[texaspackerbacker]

Rodgers averaged 10-6 as a starting quarterback. We’ve been in a crappy division so we made the playoffs a bunch. I don’t know if 10-6 is the excellence Tex thinks it is.


If we average 8-9 under Love it’s not that much worse.

You did the math on that? I assume you're averaging in the seasons where Rodgers missed a lot of games or played hurt for large parts?

Not that much worse? hahahaha, I don't recall, RG, were you part of the crowd who always whined that anything short of the Super Bowl was bad?

[Fritz]

You did the math on that? I assume you're averaging in the seasons where Rodgers missed a lot of games or played hurt for large parts?

Not that much worse? hahahaha, I don't recall, RG, were you part of the crowd who always whined that anything short of the Super Bowl was bad?


That Bears fan who wrote that letter has to be chuckling at what this thread has turned into.

Thought we were supposed to be baggin’ on da Bears here, people.

[sharpe1027]

Rodgers averaged 10.5 wins per year. That's just games he played. By the way, his injury history is relevant, but it's less than 11 wins per year regardless.

This is number is his win percentage assuming a 16 game season. It's 11.1 for a 17 game season.

[Fritz]

I always thought 10 - 6 was the marker for real success. To me, 9 - 7 is okay, but it means you're barely above average.

Now that the season is 17 games, I suppose 10 - 7 is a solid season, but that's the minimum as a successful, winning regular season. Just the way I view it.

I do wonder if the Packers will be picked to finish third or last this year. I mean, if Justin Fields is going to emerge, this ought to be the year, no? And everybody is piling onto the Loins' bandwagon.

We shall see. So much now depends upon the rest of the Packer team doing its part. I'm confidenct special teams will do its part - what a change from the past! - but not so sure about Joe Barely's defense.
And of course Love is the great unknown.

[Tony Oday]

Packers will be dead last in the division, lucky to win a game against the division and they have a real chance at the #1 pick next year.

[Joemailman]

Never has the NFCN been so unpredictable. Anybody could win it. My guess is at the end of the year all 4 teams will be between 7-10 and 10-7. Even 9-8 could possibly win the division.

[sharpe1027]

Packers will be dead last in the division, lucky to win a game against the division and they have a real chance at the #1 pick next year.

This seems a tad extreme, but anything is possible.

[RashanGary]

You did the math on that? I assume you're averaging in the seasons where Rodgers missed a lot of games or played hurt for large parts?

Not that much worse? hahahaha, I don't recall, RG, were you part of the crowd who always whined that anything short of the Super Bowl was bad?

I like 11-5 seasons where we don’t win the SB. But I like 6-11 seasons too. There are things to appreciate in all seasons. If Love really stinks (and if he’s not good, I hope he really stinks) we end up with a top 5 pick and another first rounder from the Jets. Next years QB class is supposed to be really too heavy and possibly deep. So with that kind of ammo, there’s a great chance of landing a probowl caliber player. But love does have a chance. The way I see it, we get two quick swipes at a QB or maybe Love pans out. I like our chances.

[run pMc]

I always thought 10 - 6 was the marker for real success. To me, 9 - 7 is okay, but it means you're barely above average.

Now that the season is 17 games, I suppose 10 - 7 is a solid season, but that's the minimum as a successful, winning regular season. Just the way I view it.

I do wonder if the Packers will be picked to finish third or last this year. I mean, if Justin Fields is going to emerge, this ought to be the year, no? And everybody is piling onto the Loins' bandwagon.

We shall see. So much now depends upon the rest of the Packer team doing its part. I'm confidenct special teams will do its part - what a change from the past! - but not so sure about Joe Barely's defense.
And of course Love is the great unknown.

OK, I'll bag on the Bears a little.

They spent how much on a pair of off ball linebackers, and after trading Roquan?

Getting DJ Moore is nice, but will Justin Fields just overthrow him?
Will the OL protect Fields or will he hold the ball and get crushed? Will his days as a running QB come to a catastrophic end via ACL injury?

How's that Chase Claypool trade working out?


I think the Lions are the favorites, but I also think it will be tougher sledding than they think. They aren't going to surprise anyone this year, they'll have a tougher schedule, and i still think Dan Campbell is flaky. His OC is gonna be a HC next year, and swapping David Montgomery for Jamaal Williams could be a net loss in the locker room. Their OL is very good, but can Goff repeat his year? Oh, and there's the gambling thing. They have a lot more scrutiny and expectations this year, not sure how they will handle it.

The Vikes are trying to run it back and rebuild at the same time, with only a few draft picks and not much cap space. I don't know if it will end well for them, tbh. They got super lucky and are due for that infamous regression to the mean on close games. Their defense was gutted, but Brian Flores is a good DC. Weird year for them.

[bobblehead]

The Bears still suck.

[George Cumby]

The Bears still suck.

...and the Vikings swallow.