Rodgers’ Ownership of Bears Is Real and It’s Spectacular

Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has owned the Chicago Bears during his prolific career. Check out these jaw-dropping numbers.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 1, 2022 7:59 PM EST

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers’ “I still own you! I’ve owned you all my (bleeping) life!” will live forever in Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears lore.

Rodgers’ ownership of the Bears runs so deep that the exclamation mark on his touchdown run last season is “not even the top five” on his personal memory list at Soldier Field.

He mentioned the 2010 NFC Championship Game that led to a triumph in Super Bowl XLV and the game in 2016 – Game 4 of “run the table” – that was won with a 60-yard completion to Jordy Nelson on third-and-11 to set up Mason Crosby’s field goal as time expired. He also referenced the 2013 finale, with Rodgers returning from a broken collarbone and finding Randall Cobb for a 48-yard touchdown on fourth-and-3 with 38 seconds to go.

“To win the game and know we were going on to the playoffs was really special. There’s been a lot of great moments,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers could be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his accomplishments vs. the Bears alone. He’s 23-5 in 28 starts with 63 touchdowns vs. 10 interceptions. One of those losses came in 2013, when he suffered a broken collarbone on the opening series.

Getting another shot at the Bears at Soldier Field “for sure” was part of the motivation for playing this week despite suffering injured ribs last week at Philadelphia on top of his broken thumb.

“I’ve enjoyed the rivalry over the years and been a part of a ton of these games,” Rodgers said. “This is the 37th I’ll be a part of, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. It’s a great rivalry, been around for a long, long time. Happy to be on this side of it, but a lot of good memories at Soldier Field.”

If inserted into the Bears’ record book based only on his 28 games against Chicago:

- Rodgers would be tied for fifth with Ed Brown and Erik Kramer with those 63 career touchdown passes. Mitchell Trubisky is fourth with 64, Jim McMahon is third with 67 and Bobby Wade is second with 68.

- Rodgers would rank No. 1 with 53 more touchdown passes than interceptions. Jay Cutler holds that record with his franchise-record 154 touchdowns vs. franchise-worst 109 interceptions giving him plus-45.

- Rodgers has seven games of four-plus touchdowns vs. Chicago. Cutler has the Chicago record with only four.

- Rodgers would be tied for No. 1 with Cutler with 13 games with a 110-plus passer rating.

- Rodgers would rank No. 1 with his 109.9 passer rating. Among quarterbacks with more than 300 career attempts in Bears history, Trubisky is No. 1 with a mark of 87.2.

Remember, Cutler played seven-plus seasons for Chicago. Rodgers has played less than two seasons’ worth of games vs. Chicago.

In 13 career regular-season games at Soldier Field – less than a full season:

- Rodgers would rank seventh with 25 touchdown passes.

- Rodgers would be third with six games with a 110-plus passer rating. McMahon and Trubisky have seven.

- Rodgers would be third with four games of three-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions. Jay Cutler has six and Trubisky has five.

This version of Rodgers, dealing with injuries and age, obviously isn’t the same as the vintage version of Rodgers who routinely carved up the Bears like Thanksgiving dinner. Indeed, he is having one of the worst years of his career from a statistical perspective, a byproduct of playing seven games with a broken thumb, the stumbles in replacing Davante Adams and his own miscues.

If he can do more than play through the pain but rather play well in spite of the pain, he could have a big day against a Bears defense that isn’t nearly as good as he’s faced in past seasons. The Bears traded their best front-seven defenders, pass rusher Robert Quinn and linebacker Roquan Smith, and placed former All-Pro safety Eddie Jackson on injured reserve this week. They enter the game ranked 27th in points. Jets backup Mike White looked like in-his-prime Rodgers against them last week.

“Well, they’re young. They’re young,” Rodgers said. “They’re playing young players. That gives you an opportunity to see what you have for the future. We’ve played against young players – young great players – over the years who’ve ascended into special, special guys, much like Roquan did, where he became one of the top backers in the league.

“Obviously, they’re playing more young guys but they still have a lot of good, talented players. I think 33 [Jaylon Johnson] is one of the top corners in the league. They’ve got a couple young guys in the secondary who’ve been battling injuries but, when they’ve been playing, they seem to be playing a lot better. 99 [Trevis Gipson] is a real solid end, rush guy off the edge. It’s a talented group. They’re simplifying things probably for them, but they’re still professionals.”

Bears fans, if not the Bears’ players, will be out for blood on Sunday. Rodgers has been like the bad dream that just won’t end. Including the NFC title game, he’s 11-1 in his last 12 games at Soldier Field. In three trips to Chicago under Matt LaFleur, he’s thrown seven touchdowns vs. zero interceptions. Overall under LaFleur, he’s 7-0 with 18 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

“I’ve been hearing it from fans for 15 years down there,” Rodgers said, “so I don’t expect anything to be different.”