Colston Loveland Fans the Flames of the Bears-Packers Rivalry

Drafting quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft did more than rejuvenate the Chicago Bears. It breathed new life into the most storied rivalry in NFL history. Before the arrival of Williams, the Bears had lost ten straight games to the Green Bay Packers. Since then, they're 3-2 against Green Bay, with every game being decided in the closing moments.

It's safe to say that the Bears-Packers rivalry hasn't been this good in years, if ever. And the chirping that's coming from the players this offseason only adds fuel to the fire. Javon Bullard poked the bear, if you'll pardon my pun, when he referred to the Bears as 'little brother'; Bullard is 2-3 against the Bears in his career. Keisean Nixon told Packers media in January that he wanted to face Chicago in the playoffs only to abruptly change his tune after that Wild Card loss to the Bears.

Now, one Bears player is firing back. Colston Loveland appeared on the Bussin' With The Boys podcast this week, and the Bears-Packers rivalry was brought up. Co-host Taylor Lewan asked Loveland if it was comparable in scale to the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry in college football.

Loveland, who played three years at Michigan and never lost to Ohio State, said, "For sure. As far as like, in the building, 'what are you doing to beat Ohio State every day'. That was where [the rivalry] was in Michigan... That's how it is at the Bears."

"Everyone's only talking about the Packers," Loveland continued. "You can't go a day without talking about them, talking about beating them... It's very comparable." Loveland knows better than most what he's talking about. He went from the biggest rivalry in college football to the biggest rivalry in the NFL. He went 2-0 against Ohio State in college, and now he's 2-1 against Green Bay. I have no doubt that he has plenty to talk about when it comes to 'beating them'.

How the Bears-Packers rivalry reignited

As aforementioned, by 2024 the flames of the Bears-Packers rivalry had cooled to a bed of dying embers after decades of one-sided dominance. Even the Bears' Week 18 win over Green Bay felt insignificant, given the state of the two franchises. It wasn't until Caleb Williams was paired with an offensive savant in head coach Ben Johnson that the rivalry roared back to life.

The Bears won two games against the Packers in 2025, including a triumphant Wild Card victory that ended the Packers' season in bitter disappointment and heralded a new chapter in the rivalry. Fanning the flames was Ben Johnson himself, who gave a profanity-laced postgame rant about the Packers after that Wild Card win and made waves with a drive-by handshake with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

Since that moment, the fans and players have been at each other's throats in a war of words. The people of Green Bay may have a comfy cushion built up by years of supremacy to fall back on, but the fact of the matter is that the Bears ended their season last year and currently own a two-game win streak. Regardless of how much better the Packers were in past years, the Bears have the upper hand for now.

The Packers need the same kind of energy the Bears bring to the rivalry

Loveland may have been exaggerating a bit when he said they talk about beating the Packers 'every day' at Halas Hall. I'm sure it comes up in conversation frequently, given the fact that both teams are expected to compete for the division title in 2026, but maybe not literally every day. Regardless, some Packers fans had a field day mocking Loveland's response.

For years now, Packers fans have put on an air of aloofness when it comes to the Bears, even going so far as to insist that the Vikings and Lions were their true rivals. Matt LaFleur seems to share that sentiment. He's never fired public shots at the Bears and was even seen hanging out with Matt Eberflus when he was still the head coach in Chicago.

After the way their 2025 season went, however, the Packers may want to consider an attitude change. Caleb Williams beat Jordan Love in ESPN's top quarterback rankings, and he's likely going to end up higher on the player-voted Top 100 list, too. The Bears stole the Packers' lunch last year, and they seem poised to do it again in 2026.

This nonchalant gimmick worked as long as the Packers were routinely spanking the Bears. Now it comes across as lazy, even apathetic, and that's a dangerous attitude for a team that less than one year ago went all in on a Super Bowl with a blockbuster trade for Micah Parsons. With that in mind, it's good for the Packers to have Javon Bullard and Keisean Nixon taking shots at the Bears. Maybe it will give them the motivation they need to take back control of the rivalry.

Then again, maybe this is the beginning of another era of one-sided domination, but not for the team that's grown accustomed to it.

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google