The Latest Chapter In The Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears ...

Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre and Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher meet in a 2003 ... [+] contest. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

LeRoy Butler, one of the coolest customers you’ll ever find, was nervous.

It was 1996. Butler’s Green Bay Packers were on their way to a historic season.

But in Week 14 that year, Butler and some of his pals weren’t sure they’d make it to Lambeau Field in time to face their greatest rival — the Chicago Bears.

“For a noon game, we could get there by 10 (a.m.),” Butler said. “If you were a healthy guy like me, you’d start driving over to the stadium about 9:30. You needed about 15, 20 minutes to get there.

“And I remember one game against the Bears, there was an accident. Me and Eugene Robinson and Sean Jones were sitting there in traffic and I called Gilbert Brown and told him we were stuck in traffic. And he said, ‘Man, you're going to miss a rivalry game.’ And I said, ‘No. We’ll leave the car and walk if we have to.’ ”

Things turned out just fine that day.

Butler and his friends arrived in the nick of time, Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass and ran for another, and the Packers downed their arch-rival, 28-17.

Seven weeks later, Green Bay won Super Bowl XXXI.

You can be sure none of the 2023 Packers will be tardy on Sunday, when the latest chapter of this unmatched rivalry will be written.

The first game between these legendary franchises was played back in 1921. Amazingly, the stakes for this contest match almost any in the last 103 years.

For the Packers (8-8), it’s win and they’re in the postseason. For Chicago (7-9), quarterback Justin Fields and head coach Matt Eberflus are trying to prove they deserve another year in the Windy City, while the Bears would love nothing more than end the Packers’ season.

Green Bay right guard Jon Runyan, a Michigan alum who played against Ohio State four times, knows more than most about rivalry games. And Runyan fully understands the intensity level Sunday will be off the charts.

“It’s a tremendous rivalry, and there’s probably more on the line than most times when we play these guys,” Runyan said. “We know we’re going to get their best. Hopefully we’re able to play our best and we’ll see what happens.”

What’s happened the past three decades defies logic. But the Packers hope it continues Sunday.

Heading into the 1992 season, Mike Ditka’s Bears had won 12 of 14 games against Green Bay and Chicago had surged to an 80-57-6 lead in the series. Then Green Bay hired general manager Ron Wolf and head coach Mike Holmgren, traded for Favre and the entire landscape of this rivalry immediately changed.

During Favre’s 16 seasons in Green Bay, he went a sensational 22-10 against the Bears, a .688 winning percentage. Aaron Rodgers took the reins from Favre in 2008 and went a remarkable 25-5 during his 15 years as a starter (.833) highlighted by a win in Chicago in the 2010 NFC Championship Game.

Backup quarterback Brett Hundley went 1-0 against Chicago, winning his start in 2017 when Rodgers was injured. And Jordan Love, the new face of the Packers’ franchise, won his first start against Chicago back in Week 1, 38-20.

Amazingly, the Packers now lead this series 106-95-6 — an incredible 34-game swing since the Favre-era began.

Green Bay is in the midst of a nine-game winning streak against the Bears and has gone 13-1 in the last 14 contests. Somewhere, George Halas, Walter Payton and Gale Sayers are resting uncomfortably.

“I think there’s so much tradition here in Green Bay,” Love said. “The main tradition is winning.

“I think obviously there’s been a lot of success in the past, but we try to focus on getting better every week, continuing that winning tradition and obviously getting in the playoffs. I think that’s what we’re looking forward to more than anything is going out, finishing the season off right and getting a shot at the playoffs.”

Green Bay was in this exact position 12 months ago and let its playoff dreams slip away.

All the Packers needed to do in Week 18 was win their home finale against a Detroit team that had already been eliminated from the postseason.

Instead, Rodgers was dreadful and had a fourth quarter passer rating of 2.8, Aaron Jones had a critical fumble and the defense melted down when it mattered most.

The result was a 20-16 Detroit win that knocked Green Bay out of the playoffs.

Of course, the 2022 Packers were an aging, past-their-prime outfit that sent many players packing shortly after that Detroit loss. The 2023 Packers are the NFL’s youngest outfit, one that has made gigantic strides since the start of the year and will be nearing full health Sunday evening.

“I think it’s just a totally different squad,” Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur said of today’s Packers vs. the 2022 bunch. “There’s a different vibe around here, a different mindset. We’ve got to go attack. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to go attack, we’ve got to go and play like we have been the last few weeks.”

On the flip side, Chicago is ascending team itself.

After beginning the year 0-4, the Bears are now 7-9 and have won four of their last five games. Chicago allowed nearly 35.0 points per game the first month of the season, and just 18.8 since. Meanwhile, Fields and the offense have found their groove, averaging 27.3 points per game the past month.

“This Chicago Bears team is as improved as any team in the league,” LaFleur said. “It’s evident when you turn on the tape.”

This unparalleled rivalry has had more memorable moments than any matchup in NFL history.

In 1924, the Bears' Frank Hanny and Green Bay’s Tillie Voss became the first players ever ejected for fighting during an NFL game. In 1941, Chicago downed Green Bay in a one-game-playoff to determine the Western Division championship.

Green Bay defeated Chicago in Sept, 1957 in the first game ever played at Lambeau Field. Vince Lombardi’s first-ever win came when the Packers rallied past the Bears, 9-6, on Sept. 27, 1959.

Chester Marcol caught his own blocked field goal and scored to give the Packers an unforgettable 12-6 overtime win in 1980. Green Bay coach Forrest Gregg and Chicago’s Ditka nearly came to blows in the tunnel at Soldier Field mid-1980s.

In 1985, Chicago nose tackle William Perry was inserted at fullback and ran over Green Bay linebacker George Cumby at the goal line on ‘Monday Night Football.’ Three weeks later, the Packers placed horse manure in the Bears locker room before their game.

This rivalry has seen Packers’ defensive lineman Charles ‘Hit Man’ Martin separate the shoulder of Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon after body slamming him to the turf several seconds after the whistle; Don Majkowski finding Sterling Sharpe for a miraculous, game-winning touchdown in the 1989 ‘Instant Replay’ game; Favre throw five touchdown passes while playing with an ankle the size of his midsection during a critical 1995 win; and Rodgers lead the Packers to the Super Bowl with a win in Chicago on Jan. 23, 2011.

Green Bay’s Curly Lambeau and Chicago’s Halas coached against other for 30 years to kick this rivalry off. Lombardi’s Packers dominated the 1960s, Ditka’s Bears owned the 1980s, and the Packers have controlled things since.

Today, Green Bay’s LaFleur is 9-0 against the Packers’ most hated rival. Sunday could be another epic clash as LaFleur tries to make it a perfect 10.

“That's what you want,” Green Bay defensive lineman Kenny Clark said. “The last game of the season to get in the playoffs, playing the Bears, what else can you ask for?”

Well, a win of course.

And as Butler can attest, no accidents on the way to the stadium.