This week’s Chicago Bears–Green Bay Packers playoff matchup doesn’t need manufactured stakes. For Bears fans, the meaning is baked into the history — and the rarity.
The two franchises have met in the postseason only twice. The most recent was the 2011 NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field, a January afternoon that still lingers painfully in Chicago’s memory. Green Bay raced to an early lead, the Bears’ defense clawed them back into it, but the offense never fully recovered after Jay Cutler exited with a knee injury. A late rally under backup Caleb Hanie briefly reignited the crowd before interceptions by B.J. Raji and Sam Shields closed the door on a 21–14 loss — one that sent the Packers on to a Super Bowl title and left Chicago wondering what might have been.
The only other playoff meeting came nearly 70 years earlier, in December of 1941, when the Bears and Packers clashed at Wrigley Field in their first-ever postseason matchup. Coached by George Halas and Curly Lambeau, the Bears erased an early deficit with 30 unanswered points to win 33–14, then rolled to an NFL championship the following week.
Two games. One win. One loss. That’s it — a remarkably small sample for the league’s oldest rivalry.
That’s what makes Saturday different. This isn’t just another chapter in Bears–Packers history; it’s a rare chance for Chicago fans to experience the rivalry with everything on the line, at home, in January. Soldier Field isn’t hosting a spoiler game or a symbolic late-season matchup — it’s hosting a true postseason collision where one team advances and the other carries the weight of it into the offseason.
But this moment isn’t only about history. It’s about now — and about Caleb Williams.
Jeff Hanisch-Imagn ImagesCaleb Williams and the Bears’ Biggest January Test
For decades, this rivalry has felt lopsided at its most important position. Favre. Rodgers. Year after year, when the Bears needed answers at quarterback, Green Bay had certainty — and often dominance. That imbalance shaped outcomes, narratives, and scars that Bears fans still carry. Williams’ arrival didn’t erase that history overnight, but over two regular seasons, he’s begun to challenge it head-on. He’s 2–2 against Green Bay, and one of those wins came on a moment that already feels etched into Bears lore: a walk-off overtime touchdown strike to DJ Moore, delivered with calm, conviction, and no hesitation.
That throw mattered. Not just because it beat the Packers, but because it felt like slaying a boogeyman — proof that Chicago might finally have that guy. The quarterback who doesn’t flinch in this rivalry. The one who can answer Green Bay’s best punch with his own. The one Bears fans have spent generations hoping for.
Now, Williams steps into a Bears–Packers playoff game — something that happens rarely enough to feel unreal — with the chance to do more than advance. He can redefine the emotional math of this rivalry. He can give Chicago a postseason memory against Green Bay that doesn’t end in regret or what-ifs. He can make Soldier Field the setting for something that lasts.
For Bears fans, the emotions are layered. This rivalry has shaped family arguments, friendships, workplaces, and Sundays for as long as most can remember. But playoff meetings — especially ones played in Chicago — are so scarce that they almost feel like borrowed time. That’s why this week feels bigger than standings or matchups. It’s about memory-making. About belief. About finally seeing the rivalry tilt, even slightly, in a different direction.
History is here. So is opportunity. And for the first time in a long time, Bears fans head into a January showdown with Green Bay believing the future might finally belong to them.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-WisconsinBears–Packers and the Weight of Year One Under Ben Johnson
And then there’s what this game would mean — not just emotionally, but structurally — for where the Bears are headed under Ben Johnson.
Johnson’s first season was always meant to be about building a foundation. About installing an offense, stabilizing a quarterback, and accelerating a rebuild without skipping steps. The Bears did more than that. They won the NFC North. They hosted a playoff game. They beat the Packers at Soldier Field in the regular season. But this week represents a different tier of validation. Beating the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs would feel like a line of demarcation — the moment where “good first year” turns into something sturdier and more permanent.
If the Bears were to beat Green Bay and fall short later in the postseason, even well short of a Super Bowl, it would still register as a long-term win. Developmental. Foundational. The kind of season you point back to years later and say, that’s when it became real. Johnson would be able to say — credibly — that his program didn’t just win games, it handled pressure, beat its biggest rival when it mattered most, and cleared one of the final psychological hurdles this franchise has faced for decades.
The flip side is uncomfortable, but unavoidable.
Losing this game — at home, in the playoffs, to Green Bay — would cast a shadow that no amount of logic could fully erase. Even if it’s irrational. Even if the Bears are ahead of schedule. Even if the future remains bright. Losing to the Packers in January has a way of flattening everything else, of reframing a season through a harsher lens. It wouldn’t invalidate what the Bears accomplished in 2025, but it would sting in a way that lingers longer than a typical playoff loss.
That’s part of why this week feels tense rather than celebratory.
Jeff Hanisch-Imagn ImagesThe Packers have leaned into it. Their players have openly welcomed the opportunity to end the Bears’ season. Their fans have reveled in the idea. The national media has followed suit, casting Green Bay as the dangerous road team with playoff scars and institutional confidence. And despite Chicago’s division title — despite the Bears beating Green Bay at Soldier Field just weeks ago — Vegas has installed the Bears as home underdogs.
That detail matters. It reinforces the reality that Chicago is still fighting perception as much as opponents.
For Johnson, this is the kind of game that defines early tenures. Win it, and the Bears don’t just advance — they alter expectations for what comes next. Lose it, and the offseason conversation inevitably shifts toward what still hasn’t been cleared. Fair or not, that’s the weight of this rivalry.
This is why Saturday feels heavier than a typical Wild Card game. It’s not just about surviving and advancing. It’s about momentum, credibility, and belief. About whether the Bears’ 2025 season is remembered as a breakthrough — or as another step that still stopped short where it’s always stopped before.
Everything Chicago has built under Ben Johnson points toward sustainability. But beating the Packers in the playoffs? That would make it feel real.
Hence then, the article about a different kind of test bears packers and a rare january reckoning was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( A Different Kind of Test: Bears, Packers, and a Rare January Reckoning )
Also on site :