A rivalry unlike any other
The iconic names are mesmerizing for those who love football: Curly Lambeau, George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Mike Ditka, Brett Favre, Walter Payton, Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, Bart Starr, Gale Sayers, Paul Hornung, Red Grange. The extraordinary list could go on and on.
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have a combined 60 players enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Bears with an NFL-record 35 and Packers second on the list with 25. Pretty impressive figures since there are only 326 members in the entire Hall of Fame. All those Packers and Bears players carved out their careers while battling in one of the most intense, bitter, storied – and arguably – best rivalries in all of sports. The Packers-Bears rivalry, the longest in NFL history, dates back 99 years to the feud’s first game on Nov. 27, 1921.
Part of the original five teams in the National Football League, the Packers and Bears have combined to win 22 world championships. The Packers lead the way with a record 13 titles (nine NFL championships and four Super Bowls) and the Bears have nine (eight NFL championships and one Super Bowl).
The Packers and Bears, their stadiums separated by just 200 miles, really exemplify what a rivalry should entail: raw hate, anger and respect. When former players reminisce about battling in the trenches against each other, they have some epic stories.
“There was respect on and off the field,” former Bears player and coach Mike Ditka told Sports Collectors Digest. “They wanted to kick our ass and we wanted to kick their ass. It’s that simple.”
There has been no love
