We’ll start out by saying the NFL schedule makers knew exactly what they were doing. They knew before anyone else… and the result is delightfully diabolical.
The Chicago Bears spent their offseason trying to build on an underwhelming 2024. After a 5-12 season and a bumpy rookie year for Caleb Williams, they reshuffled the coaching staff, retooled the offensive line, and doubled down on their plan to develop a franchise quarterback.
In theory, this season was supposed to be the turning point. But a pair of familiar faces—and a brutal schedule—might have other plans.
Aaron Rodgers will face the Bears in Week 12 as the new quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two weeks later, Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers get their crack at them in Week 14. With another Packers-Bears meeting still to come in Week 16, there’s now a real chance Green Bay and its most legendary former QB can—in their own weird way—team up to bury Chicago’s season before Christmas.
This may not have been part of any formal plan, but for Packers fans, it’s hard not to find the timing a little poetic… and potentially hilarious.
Rodgers and Love could deliver knockout blow to Bears’ playoff hopes
Aaron Rodgers made a living out of torturing the Bears, stacking up a ridiculous 24-5 record with 64 touchdowns and only 10 picks against Chicago. That “I still own you” moment at Soldier Field in 2021 came after years of dominating the rivalry and piling up wins that shifted the all-time series in favor of the Pack. Even now, on a new team, it’s hard not to assume he’ll beat Chicago again.
In Week 12, Rodgers steps back into a matchup he knows better than anyone, only this time, he’s wearing black and gold.
The Bears then face a short week before heading to Philly, and right after that, they’ll travel to Lambeau Field, where Love has taken up Rodgers’ mantle. In four career games against Chicago, Love has thrown for over 800 yards and six touchdowns, winning three of those matchups.
If the Bears are still clinging to playoff hopes by late November, they’ll have to fight through a minefield to get there. A late-season stretch featuring Rodgers, the Eagles, and the Packers twice in five weeks is the kind of gauntlet that sends teams into offseason mode fast.
And that’s where this gets fun for Packers fans. For all the years Rodgers made Chicago miserable, he now gets to return as an agent of chaos. Love, who’s been quietly building his own resume against the Bears, will be waiting to finish the job. They won’t take the field together—but they might share the satisfaction of ruining the Bears’ season.
And if this is truly the last chapter Rodgers writes in this rivalry, Packers fans won’t mind that it ends in black and gold—as long as it ends with Chicago going home early. Thanks, Aaron, for the selfless gift.
