Muller: Bears Can End Packers Season Sooner Rather Than Later
By Shawn Muller--
Alright Bears fans, here it is. The final week of the 2010 NFL regular season on the first Sunday of the new year.
Chicago has already achieved about as much as any fan could have asked heading into Week 17, but the Bears still have a lot of unfinished business to attend to. Yes, I know the Bears have already clinched the NFC North Division Title. And yes, I know the Bears have already clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. I am also fully aware that a Bears win in Green Bay, coupled with a loss by the Falcons and a loss or a tie by the Saints, means home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Needless to say, there will be plenty of scoreboard watching by Bears faithful throughout the country on Sunday afternoon.
So, die-hard fans of the Monsters of the Midway, I ask you: with Chicago playing it's heated rival Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, what would be mean more to you?
1). Beating the Packers on Sunday, thus ensuring Green Bay will be staying home for the playoffs?
2). Beating the Packers in the playoffs, thus killing all Super Bowl title hopes of our neighbors up North?
Obviously, a win on Sunday and losses by Atlanta and New Orleans would be the ideal scenario, but it is a pipe-dream at best. Atlanta plays host to NFC bottom-feeder Carolina and New Orleans hosts Tampa Bay. Sure anything is possible, and crazier things have happened, but anyone who honestly believes BOTH Atlanta and New Orleans will lose (or tie in the case of the Saints), is off their rocker. So, barring some major miracle, the fate of the Bears playoff position has already been set.
As for myself, I would love nothing more than to see the Bears club Green Bay on Sunday, thus ending all playoff talk for the Packers. Out of sight, out of mind if you will. Anytime the Packers lose a game is a good day for me. But losing the last regular season game…at home…with a spot in the playoffs on the line…to the Bears? That would just be priceless.
Few things in life give me more satisfaction than watching that loyal band of idiots, affectionately known as the "Cheese Heads", pouting in the corner of the kitchen like a four-year old child sitting in a time-out chair when things just don't go the way they had hoped or planned.
Don't get me wrong. Beating the Packers in the playoffs would be a pretty sweet consolation prize if the Bears do happen to lose on Sunday. Chicago and Green Bay have met on the gridiron over 180 times since 1921, making it the longest played rivalry in the National Football League. But, for as many time as these two teams have met., and for as many combined championships (21) both teams have, the Bears and the Packers have only met one time in the playoffs. That meeting took place back in 1941, when the Bears beat the Packers 33-14 to clinch the Western Division Championship.
Seventy-years of football seasons have come and gone without a Bears-Packers playoff game. While a playoff match up would be fun and is one that is long overdue from a historic standpoint, I just don't want Green Bay to even have the opportunity to eliminate the Bears.
So, I will ask you again Bears fans: what would you like to see unfold between Chicago and Green Bay on Sunday and potentially in the future come playoff time?
Do you agree with Shawn? Post your comments below.
Shawn Muller has lived in Chicago for 7 years. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and just recently received his certificate in radio broadcasting in October of 2010. Sports have always been a passion of Shawn's. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, "Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser" at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24.
