As Aaron Rodgers scrambled into the right side of the Soldier Field end zone on October 17, 2021 he turned his attention to the Bears faithful. “I own you. All my f****ng life. I own you. I still own you.”
An NFL camera person caught the whole thing clear as day and next thing you know the clip had gone viral in a way few others have.
Rodgers’ antagonistic boast was well warranted. For the entirety of his career, Soldier Field has served as a second home to the former Green Bay star. And as difficult as that’s been for Chicago, it’s made even worse by the fact that he inherited his ownership from his predecessor, Brett Favre.
Over the course of their Hall of Fame careers the two quarterbacks annihilated the single franchise in a way that is unmatched in NFL history.
Almost poetically, Jordan Love‘s career as the Packers’ starter is set to kick off week one in Chicago. Lifelong Bears fan Kyle Brandt, who stars for good morning football on the NFL network, is placing a great deal of importance on the first meeting. While the rest of the league discusses season-long expectations and win totals, Brandt isn’t yet interested in that long view of the conversation:
“I think the Jordan Love thing is interesting this year because I think it’s first things first. Week one at Soldier Field you go in there and you do what Packer quarterbacks do.You go and you own that stadium and you win and you destroy that stadium. And they’ve been doing that since I was in seventh grade. Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre are 24 and 6 at Soldier Field. That includes a win in the NFC Title Game. That includes all three times that Jordan Love has watched from the Soldier Field bench.
When Brett Favre was inducted into the Hall of Fame the first clip they showed of him was throwing a touchdown at Soldier Field. When Rodgers goes into the Hall of Fame the first clip they will show is of him throwing a touchdown at Soldier Field. You own that place you’ve owned that place for three decades you cannot start game one, quarter one, drive one of the Jordan Love era and lose in the Chicago Bears own house of horrors which is their own stadium against the Green Bay Packers.This is the brand for the Packers, this is unfortunately the brand for the Bears you lose at home to the Packers to those two guys, to those two absolute maniacs. Don’t Show up and lose week one and throw two picks and the Bears have turned the page and there’s a new generation and Justin Fields looks better than you and keep it going and keep it going… Week 1 if Jordan Love wins that game at Soldier Field it is a living nightmare for everyone in the Chicago area, its massive, they have to win it. Jordan Love cant loose it.”
Although Brandt makes a good point, it could be argued that the pressure is squarely on Chicago for the exact same reasons. This is the first start of Jordan Love’s career. If he is not exceptional in this game, that is well within reason for even Hall of Fame quarterback’s career trajectories.
Meanwhile if the Bears, who have suffered greatly at the hands of Green Bay, drop their home opener to their hated rival and new quarterback that is an absolute nightmare. Chicago is supposed to be a team on the rise. A young group with a new front office, new coach and budding second year quarterback can’t lose to a team that just shipped off a Hall of Famer. Especially when that Hall of Famer and the guy before him ruined fans’ experience so bad that one of them can’t stop making speeches about it on NFL Network.
