Extra Significance for Bears

Considering how easily Aaron Rodgers has handled the Bears and the way he proclaimed he owned them, it's easy to see why some players at Halas Hall are taking this game Sunday night personally.

The Bears and Packers is a rivalry gone bad.

Aaron Rodgers turned it Green Bay's way to the tune of 22 wins in his 27 starts against the Bears and then added his own personal touch: 

He hollered he still owns the Bears during the last game.

Matt Nagy's reaction to the entire ownership uproar Wednesday was classically understated.

"I mean, we're aware of it," Nagy said, and left it at that with a very serious expression on his face.

One game normally won't make or break a coaching regime but the Bears realize what they're up against as they try to fight to save Nagy's job and who knows who else's.

Beating the Packers ought to count double at the very least for coach-saving points.

"Guys are locked in," Nagy said. "They are. And they're professionals and they care about what they're doing. They know they have an obligation to go out there and do everything we can to win.

"So we just try to keep that going. At the same point in time, too, it's very easy when you're not winning or you have a 4-8 record, you can sometimes lose focus and forget that we're very fortunate in the roles we're in. And to have fun. Sometimes when you cut it loose and just have fun, good things can happen."

The Bears need something good to happen to them in this rivalry, considering they've lost the last five and 10 of the last 11. They've lost 5 of 6 under Nagy against Rodgers.

"This is about our team, and this is about us beating them, plain and simple," Nagy said. "It has nothing to do with me versus Aaron Rodgers. There are a lot of other coaches that want to beat him and do their best."

Mike McCarthy in Dallas might be one of those coaches.

"But this one is about, like I said, we have not been good enough against this team in the 3 1/2 years that I've been here. And so we've got to do everything we can to change that."

                  -Matt Nagy on beating Green Bay

"But this one is about, like I said, we have not been good enough against this team in the 3 1/2 years that I've been here," Nagy said. "And so we've got to do everything we can to change that. And now, with where we're at at 4-8, to have an opportunity against one of the best teams in the NFL, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play this game, that's where it's my job to make sure I lead these guys with the right mentality heading into this."

While it isn't about Nagy vs. Rodgers, it is about Bears taking the rivalry personally if they ever hope to win one of these again.

When Rodgers lost in his second start against the Bears, 20-17 in 2008 on a 38-yard Robbie Gould field goal, the Bears had a 91-80-6 series lead. Now the Packers lead it 102-95-6 thanks largely to Rodgers.

So, it's become personal for more than just Nagy.

"These rivalries, when you step into these, they all become personal," safety Tashaun Gipson said. "I knew nothing about this rivalry until I got here and now if you ask me how I felt about the rivalry a year ago, stepping here in Halas Hall compared to now, obviously it's different–it's a little more personal for me just being a part of it, and not having been here as long as some of the other guys: the Akiems (Hicks), the Eddie Jacksons and those guys.

WHAT AARON RODGERS SAID ABOUT "I STILL OWN YOU"

"Obviously it's personal, but that's the nature of the business, that's the nature of the game, especially when you come into these rivalry games where it's so much history behind it."

For the Bears, it's become bad history, the kind that leads an opposing quarterback to holler that he owns them.

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