The Packers Bears game is officially over, but it feels like Packers-Bears week is still going on. Aaron Rodgers’ “I own you” end zone celebration went viral on Sunday and people have been reacting ever since. The latest to weigh in is beloved Bears center Olin Kreutz who believed it was a show of “disrespect” to the city of Chicago.
Rodgers’ explanation, that a Bears fan had flipped him a double bird, didn’t seem to matter to Kreutz who went on the Mully and Haugh Show and told them that he would “like to punch him in his face” for what he said.
Because we live in a social media world where everybody learns everything everyone else says immediately, word made it’s way to Aaron Rodgers just in time for his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. Rodgers responded:
“Are we getting that soft as a society that we can’t have a back and forth now? Somebody can pay for a ticket and say whatever the hell they want, which I think they should be able to, that’s fine, but the one time you say something back to them, that gets caught on hot mic … Now it’s that I’ve disrespected an entire city and organization and my own organization.”
Not to be outdone Kruetz came back at Aaron:
“We are having a back and forth, Aaron. That’s why I said what I said. You said what you said, and you did disrespect and offend a whole city. If you’re going to talk about being politically correct and the woke culture, then don’t apologize. Don’t make up this story that you blacked out after some lady flipped you off. Just say, ‘Hey look, I am 22-5, I do feel like I own the Chicago Bears.’ And we could respect you more if you just come out and say that. Instead, you go and you make a million excuses and then you go on The Pat McAfee Show and you sound like you’re Brandon Staley or the Dalai Lama, whoever you are and talk about the woke culture and the PC crowd and all this stuff and that you’re above the game. I couldn’t even make sense of the interview. I only listened to it because he mentioned my name, which I appreciate for mentioning me on The Pat McAfee Show. But when asked how would you feel about someone screaming that at you guys that he owns you — and really it was, ‘I own you, mother f’ers — my response is if someone yells that in my face, I would probably like to punch them in my face.”
This was a very similar situation to what Randy Moss went through years ago. Packers fans were prone to moon opposing team’s buses as they arrived at the stadium, and when Randy Moss destroyed Green Bay in the playoffs he returned the favor. As a Packers fan I had absolutely no issue with that. My personal opinion is that athletes should be allowed to respond to fans’ obscene gestures if they feel the desire. If you pay for a ticket you can come and yell whatever you want, but if the greatest quarterback on Earth beats you, I think it’s fair to expect him to shout back. Somebody should let Olin know that if he doesn’t want a quarterback to trash talk back at his trash-talking fans then maybe his city should put a better team on the football field and it wouldn’t be an issue.
