I haven’t the slightest doubt that if the Bears go on to win the super Bowl, even against the despicable Steelers, that the most talked about and fondly remembered moment will be raising the Halas. The Lombardi will be wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the NFC Championship victory over the Cheese-eaters that will keep us warm even in the coldest of winters.
ETA: Also, the cover of the Sports Illustrated commemorative issue and every NFL Season Yearbook will feature scenes from Sundays game fist, with the Super Bowl settling for a small inset image.
Yep, the **Giants **run a few years back included knocking off Dallas which made the next two games already playing with house money. Beating Farve was also very satisfying and then against all odds ending the perfect season for Brady and the Patriots did make it so great. Though the first one in 86 is still better, even though the road was easier.
This. I’m totally down for Bears v Packers round three - the rubber match to end all rubber matches and everything, but the Bears, *my *Bears, in the Superbowl? That would be awesome. I really want Urlacher to get a ring to help give a better shot at the HOF too.
I gotta say, I’m having trouble getting excited about this Bears team, and, not counting fans of Chicago/Green Bay/Minnesota, my guess is that I’m not the exception: it’s just not a terribly interesting team for most NFL fans. Granted, if you throw out the first half of the season they’ve been among the best teams in the league, and my impression may be colored by the curb-stomping administered by the Giants in Week 4. Still, I think most fans just don’t give Chicago a lot of thought, which holds this game back from elite status for a general NFL fan. (NFC teams that are/were more “interesting” this season: Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Green Bay, probably New York, maybe Tampa).
If I were going to rate the NFC-CGs since '90 (not taking into account what actually wound up happening in the game), it would be:
… and then maybe Bears/Packers, but IMO there’s a pretty decent drop off after those six.
Should be a good game, though. Green Bay is somewhat better, and Aaron Rodgers looks like fucking Steve Young out there, but Chicago is a worthy opponent, and playing at home they have an excellent chance to win.
I watched the Bears game with a Bears fan in the local sports bar, after watching the glorious Packers victory with a couple of very nice Falcons fans…
Anyway, we had an enjoying conversation about the rivalry. We both agreed that unless either of our teams were going to win the Superbowl the most important thing was that we beat each other twice. So there’s a degree of disappointment in both camps at the moment.
But we spent a lot of the time talking about Vikings fans and the team. And we agreed neither of us gave a shit about the Vikings - just not cared at all. There wasn’t any pleasure for either team of doing the double over the Vikings, other than it being two more wins in the total at the end of the season.
It’s a huge game for both sets of supporters no doubt. Losing to the Bears, if it happens, will be a heart breaking experience, much more so than any other team (including the Vikings). I was amazed they’d only met once in the playoffs, but also suprised both games next weekend are reruns of Week 17.
Not bigger than the Superbowl, but bloody close. And if the Pack win, and then lose the Superbowl itself, the pain of that loss will be significantly dulled by the joy of whupping the evil enemy once more, in their own lair.
The most interesting thing about the Vikings this year is when the stadium got jealous of everything else around the team imploding and decided to follow suit.
I hate all the teams left in the playoffs. I hope asteroids hit both stadiums and wipe out all four teams; subsequently it’s learned the asteroids contain a substance which can cure cancer. A small sacrifice for the greater good…
On the Bears site, there’s video of the championship game from 1941.
It is very interesting to me to see how much different the game is today. There’s something about those full house formations that just seem so cool to me.
Most years, I don’t really watch the Superbowl, so this NFC championship will be bigger than those. But if the Bears win, the Superbowl will be bigger.
Or I could be more honest and say “OMFG this game is the biggest EVAH!!!”
I am a Jets fan, but I believe this part of your comment is off the mark. Both these “mediocre” teams beat the Jets this year (including the Packers shutting out the Jets), and the Packers also played the Patriots close down to the wire, at New England, WITHOUT AARON RODGERS! THey’ve also lost something like 96 starter-games to injury this year. During the Fox telecast Sunday they said 7 teams in history had as many injuries, and NONE even made the playoffs. I don’t have time for google right now, but what an amazing stat.
The Packers right now look as good as any team has over the last few years. In fact, the Packers will probably be favorites in the SB if they beat the Bears, which I believe they will. Hopefully the Jets will get past the Steelers, and “Upset” these mediocre Packers.
Re: the Championship game being bigger than the SB, I can definitely understand that sentiment. In fact, this Sunday, right before Kickoff of Jets/Patriots, I said “I don’t care about the Super Bowl, I just really want the Jets to beat the Patriots. This IS our Super Bowl!” I already hated the Patriots, but hearing the “experts” talk about how the Jets couldn’t come back from that 45-3 defeat (as if the playoff game was going to start out 45-3, and the Jets had to make it up) was so ridiculous. Yes, the Patriots deserved to be favorites, but these morons made it seem like a blowout was such a given, despite the fact that the Jets beat them earlier in the year, and had just shut down Payton Manning in Indianapolis.
Of course, now that they’ve beaten the Patriots, it will be a huge letdown if they don’t win the Super Bowl.
Hey, hey, hey! You forget, the Vikings do own one NFL championship - the final pre-merger season of 1969. Of course, they got schooled by Hank Stram and Otis Taylor in the Super Bowl, so people forget, but it’s still ONE NFL championship.
Personally, in eastern Iowa I’m surrounded by more Packer fans than Bear fans, but the Bear fans are more obnoxious. Dunno why that is, unless it’s distance from the Twin Cities. Plus - I know Dio’s head will explode - but I think Aaron Rodgers seems like a cool dude, who still has fun playing the game and appears to get along with everyone else on the field. So I’d be more interested in a Packers Super Bowl than a Bears one.
I’m neither a Bear fan nor a Packer fan, but to me the buildup here reminds me of the 2006 Ohio State/Michigan game, when OSU was unbeaten and ranked #1 going into the game, and UM was unbeaten and ranked #2, and the Buckeyes won a very close and exciting game against Michigan, and then the Buckeyes got smoked in the BCS title game.
I think the Bears will win the NFC title game Sunday, and then get smoked in the Super Bowl.
Go Bears! Maybe if I lived outside Wisconsin, my perspective would be different. But, I don’t, so it’s not.
If the Vikings and Packers/Bears were playing for the NFC Championship, I’d still say the Super Bowl is much, much bigger. “Hello! You play, to win the [Super Bowl]!”
ETA: I’ve been following the NFL since '86, and this is about the first time I can remember both GB and Chicago making it in the playoffs. Maybe once. In general, they’ve never been good at the same time in the Super Bowl era.