The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will have the latest installment in the NFL's oldest rivalry on Sunday. We know all too well how Bears head coach Ben Johnson feels about the Packers. And head coach Matt LaFleur and wide receiver Luther Burden stoked the fire right away this week.
Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times has taken a look at the deep ties to the Packers' rivalry in the Bears' locker room. Among them:
Team chairman George McCaskey passes out business cards to Packers fans that say "it's not too late to become a Bears fan."
Tight end Cole Kmet's joked back in January that he doesn't speak to his sister during this rivalry week, since she is dating Packers defensive end Lukas Van Ness. It truly felt like Kmet wasn't joking.
Defensive backs coach Al Harris had the best years of his playing career with the Packers, with two Pro Bowl nods in seven seasons. He acknowledges the Bears-Packers rivalry is uniquely rooted in actual hate, but "it's great."
Wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El is a Chicago-area native, with strong memories of Bears-Packers games he watched on tv growing up.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards' wife is from a town near Green Bay, and his in-laws are Packers fans. His father-in-law will wear his jersey at Lambeau Field on Sunday, albeit with a Packers turtleneck underneath.
Malik Muhammad has instantly embraced the Bears-Packers rivalry
Finley started his anecdotes about the Packers' rivalry in the Bears' locker room with Malik Muhammad, the rookie fourth-round cornerback who has stepped into a key role and stepped up nicely early this season.
On Wednesday at his locker, Muhammad pulled a black Moleskine notebook out of his backpack. He is chronicling the teams that passed on him in the draft, sorted by when the Bears play them. He found the list he wrote out at the start of the season and apparently showed it off.
"At the top, written in cursive: "Teams that passed on me--that rent is DUE!"
The Bears' Week 4 opponent, the New York Jets, took cornerback D'Angelo Ponds in the second round of April's draft. They now have a check mark next to them on Muhammad's list after the Bears beat them.
Next up on Muhammad's you-know-what list is, of course, the Packers, who drafted cornerback Brandon Cisse in the second round. But Muhammad doesn't call the Packers by their nickname on his list.
"Cheeseball Packs Boooooo" , Muhammad wrote, according to Finley, with emphasis on the six o's.
Away from his list, Muhammad also had a little verbal jab for the Bears' most-hated rival.
"Oh my God, wait 'til we beat them", he said.
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The Bears-Packers rivalry is one of the most contentious in the NFL. Johnson is all-in on it in every way, and it easily extends to the Bears' players. Muhammad is only a rookie, with his first game against the Packers approaching, but he has quickly embraced the rivalry in a way Bears fans should love.
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