Chicago Bears: Brett Favre discusses Bears-Packers rivalry and more with Mark Carman

Brett Favre discusses Chicago Bears and Packers rivalry with Mark Carman

For Chicago Bears hoping for future success in the once-competitive Bears-Packers rivalry, they might be able to find some optimism from the most unlikely of sources: Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.

Favre recently partook in a 20-minute interview with Steve Carman of FanSided’s Da Windy City podcast, where he tackled everything from playing through concussions, the vaunted, historic Chicago Bears- Green Bay Packers power struggle, and the saga of his own career, among other aspects.

"“I had a blast playing in that rivalry. Yeah, we had the upper hand after my first year. I think my first year we lost to them both times. Then, after that, we had, really in fact, up until present day, the Packers have had the advantage.But you know, (Mike) Holmgren used to have this saying: ‘The wand will turn.’ And I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. But, in other words, the Bears will get back on top. It’s a cycle that I would have to say for a Bears fan has taken a long time to turn.”"

The Packers were fortunate enough to have breed consecutive all-time great signal-callers in succession with Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Favre enjoyed sustained success against Chicago, winning 23 of 36 meetings while throwing for 60 touchdowns and an 85.6 quarterback passer rating.

Rodgers followed that up by going 18-5 against the Bears, with 47 touchdowns and a 104.8 QBR. Symbolically, the two provided the ultimate tease, providing the consistency under center that Bears fans have longed for since they’ve become Bears fans at all. Even so, that made the times the Bears did overcome Favre all the more savory.

The three-time Most Valuable Player went into detail about what his favorite moment of that near two-decade-long rivalry was, offering the following:

"“I have several, but I think the one that probably sticks out the most was probably the least eventful. And that would be the Monday Night game. The only thing that was really special about that game was the weather. The weather was absolutely awful, and it was Halloween Night. We wore throwback uniforms. Ugly, both sides were ugly. And, they were honoring Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers at halftime.So you would think this would be set up for a capacity, and then some, attendance. And I’ll bet there was half of that stadium was full, because the weather was so bad. In fact, there was a commercial airline that crashed that night in Chicago.”"

Favre is referring to the Bears-Packers game from 1994, a 33-6 bludgeoning that saw Favre throw for 82 yards on 6-of-15 passing, and a touchdown. Favre put on much more impressive showings against the Chicago Bears, but on this night, players dealt with both 60-mile winds and gusting rain.

And then, as a final question, Carmen asked Favre about the upcoming QB competition between Foles and Trubisky, and the Packer great preferred proven play over potential, siding with Foles.

"“I look at it this way: how will Nick Foles play in Chicago? I don’t know. I just base it off of how they both have performed when they’ve been given the opportunity, and I think Nick Foles has performed better. Not in competition with Trubisky, cause they haven’t been in competition yet, until now.So, if you just base it off how they’ve performed, in real game situations, obviously, Nick Foles won a Super Bowl and played lights out. From that standpoint, I don’t know what either looks like right now. I’m not watching, I don’t study. But just based off of that, Nick Foles is the better player.”"

The gunslinger — and an unbiased gunslinger at that — has spoken.

Beyond that, Carmen and Favre discussed post-NFL life and the careers of both Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, among much more. The rest of the podcast deserves a listen. It can be viewed here.