As I watched the Green Bay Packers humble the Chicago Bears in a 38-20 blowout win Sunday, one thought couldn’t escape my mind.
Green Bay’s consistent dominance over Chicago since the early 1990s was never about Aaron Rodgers. Or Brett Favre before him. As star quarterbacks, they were just the perfect poster boys for a massive chasm in organizational development, philosophy, and forward-thinking processes. They were the cherries on top of a messy sundae that spilled all over the Bears’ bibless shirts whenever they matched up against their brothers in green and gold. And, barring a massive shift in a positive direction for Chicago, the same familiar script will likely play out during the Jordan Love era.
Bears-Packers over the last 30 years has never been about the quarterback gap. It ends with them after the dust has settled.
This isn’t to take away from Favre, Rodgers, or Love. All bring or brought different skill sets to the table that fit what the Packers want to accomplish as an offense and a team. Favre was the ideal gunslinger for a vertically-based attack centered around his rocket arm. Rodgers might be the most efficient distributor in pro football history. And while it’s still extremely early, even Love seems to have a natural playmaking instinct that understands how to amplify his teammates in space with the ball in their hands.
None of this is a coincidence.
An unbelievable recovery and pass down field by @jordan3love 👏
📺: #GBvsCHI on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/G4uoYVOqQn pic.twitter.com/Q0tWFo9tge— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2023
The Packers’ quarterbacks work expressly because Green Bay designs offenses catered to their skill sets. The Packers’ quarterbacks work because Green Bay might have the sport’s best and most consistent offensive line factory. The Packers never (emphasis: never) put the chicken before the egg. They develop their quarterbacks. They get them acclimated and comfortable. And they ensure they have quality protection that will afford them more time and breathing room to make plays and mistakes.
Green Bay is a premier NFL organization because it has not veered off this script for decades. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
By contrast, the Bears never have a consistent dropback passing game because they do everything backward. Signal callers like Justin Fields, Mitchell Trubisky, and Insert Name fall flat on their faces and fail because Chicago runs a Mom & Pop offensive line store getting decimated by property taxes and a terrible location. The Bears take their quarterbacks and throw them into the fire. They let them get torn asunder by any old defensive front as irreparable bad habits formed by seeing ghosts and a lack of confidence set in. And they ensure that their quarterbacks must put their teammates on their backs to often even have a prayer of gaining a single first down.
hooo buddy, it does not matter if you have a clean run at Justin Fields pic.twitter.com/UbmHldKLDm
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 10, 2023
Chicago is a bottom-feeding NFL organization because it has remarkably stuck to this script for decades. It is rotten to the core, and it keeps drawing water from the same spoiled well despite knowing the same fallacious results that await on the other side.
I do not know when or if the Bears-Packers “rivalry” will ever shift back in Chicago’s favor. Based on Sunday’s beatdown — the Packers’ ninth straight win over the Bears and the 30th victory since 2003 — I have a challenging time believing it happens any time soon. As Green Bay cornerback Rasul Douglas said in the postgame, I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if Green Bay tacked another 30 years of embarrassment for Chicago.
But what I do know is Green Bay’s dominance over its oldest rival isn’t about the quarterbacks themselves. It never was. It’s about one NFL team that understands how to properly build success and another that wouldn’t know what success looks like if it was on the back of its hand.
