On Sunday, the Packers play Da Bears, with the winner winning the NFC North title and the loser watching the playoffs from home.

As stated before here, Da Bears are the Packers’ biggest regardless-of-record opponent.

Sunday’s game is juicier because Aaron Rodgers is finally returning for the Packers after his collarbone injury, and because the Bears are embroiled in yet another quarterback controversy.

Regardless of that, Bleacher Report reports on why Bears fans hate the Packers:

Since 1921, The Chicago Bears andGreen Bay Packers have engaged in the league’s longest and most heated rivalry. The two sides have met 186 times with the Bears winning 92 of thematchups. Close proximity, gritty battles and hated foes are just a few of the reasons why a Bears fan hates the Packers.

No player haunts Chicago fans more than Brett Favre. He was able to win 11 consecutive times in Chicago, but it was a meeting at Green Bay back in 1995 that cemented hatred for him from Bears fans.

In the November meeting of that season, the Bears were 6-4 and on top of the division, one game over the Packers. Favre was not supposed to play due to an ankle injury and had not practiced all week. A loss for the Bears meant a tie in the standings and a season sweep to Green Bay. Not only did Favre play, but he torched the Bears to the tune of 336 yards and five touchdowns. The Packers went on the win the division while the Bears finished third.

The name Charles Martin brings up terrible memories for Jim McMahon and the Bears. In a meeting the year after the Bears’ Super Bowl win, Martin inexplicably picked up McMahon and threw him to the ground, causing McMahon to separate his shoulder and miss the rest of the season. The Bears lost in the divisional round of the playoffs that year and McMahon was never the same again. Martin’s action garnered a two game suspension, which was the longest in league history at the time.

You can credit the November 23, 1924 meeting between the two teams as the first time the league ever saw an ejection. The Bears’ Frank Hanny and Packers’ Walter Vosswere tossed after a war of words turned into punches thrown. The Bears won the game 3-0. …

The last time the Bears played the Packers with so much at stake, this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIimJZhMs5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8pJlCJjrrU

And yet, the Bears’ and Packers’ common history is remarkable, writes Martin Hendricks:

George Halas is synonymous with the Chicago Bears, a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who founded, played for and coached the franchise he loved.

“Papa Bear” also pioneered the growth and expansion of the National Football League and is one of the league’s most revered figures. Halas was a fierce competitor and wanted badly to beat Chicago’s most heated-rival Green Bay at every opportunity.

“Believe me, Coach Halas loved to beat the Packers,” said Mike Ditka, former Bears tight end and head coach. “I had no clue about the rivalry, but I quickly found out. Every year, we had to play them twice, and those were the most important games of the year to him.”

But Halas also had a soft spot for the league’s smallest franchise.

“Coach Halas had tremendous respect for Vince Lombardi,” Ditka said. “There may not have been any (love lost with Curly Lambeau), but he had great respect for Lombardi and the Packers organization.” …

Green Bay was expelled from the league during its winter meeting in January 1922. While it was Halas who was instrumental in bringing the infractions to the league’s attention, he also fought to reinstate the Packers.

Lambeau bought back the franchise in 1922 for a $250 fee, including $50 of his own money.

Green Bay returned the favor in 1932, when the Chicago franchise was struggling. According to the Packers media guide and the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Halas accepted a $1,500 loan from the Packers to meet his payroll.

“We (the players) always heard of the stories of the hard financial times for both the Packers and the Bears in the early days,” said former Packers back Herm Schneidman, who played from 1935-’39.

“Lambeau hated to lose to the Bears, and Halas hated to lose to the Packers. Those guys could scream pretty good at us fellows during the games. It was pretty intense. Curly got all worked up leading up to the Bears game every time.”

Green Bay faced tough times on and off the field at the end of Lambeau’s tenure in the late 1940s. The Packers won their sixth world championship in 1944, but they had losing seasons in 1948 (3-9) and 1949 (2-10) and continued to struggle financially.

Lambeau fell out favor with the team’s board of directors for the purchase of Rockwood Lodge as a training site in 1946 and was embroiled in an internal power struggle before resigning in 1950 to coach the Chicago Cardinals.

How ironic that Lambeau coached in the same city for two seasons against Halas, whose Bears were the superior franchise at the time. Green Bay endured the 1950s with three head coaches before hiring Lombardi from the New York Giants in 1959.

The team desperately needed a new stadium to replace City Stadium in the mid-1950s, and the league brass watched closely as it considered whether Green Bay could continue to be a viable NFL franchise.

Halas spoke at an emotional rally at the Columbus Club on March 31, 1956, in support of a new stadium as voters flocked to the polls to decide the stadium bonding funding issue.

More than 1,000 fans packed the auditorium to hear city officials, Lambeau, Halas, Gene Ronzani, Lisle Blackbourn, and former Packer Johnny “Blood” McNally and Tony Canadeo push for a “yes” vote to build a new stadium.

Headlines in the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s issue stated, “Dramatic Appeals Made: Halas, Lambeau urge ‘Yes’ Vote at Pep Rally.

The “yes” vote prevailed and a new stadium was unveiled for the season opener in 1957 against the Bears, with Halas, who had stepped down as coach of the Bears for two seasons, in attendance.

Green Bay edged Chicago, 21-17, to complete a weekend celebration christening the only stadium in the country designed exclusively for football. A new stadium did not change the team’s losing ways. They finished 3-9 in ’57 and hit rock bottom in ’58 with a 1-10-1 record under Ray “Scooter” McLean.

McLean was let go, and Packer President Dominic Olejniczak asked Halas for advice during the ensuing head coaching search. Halas endorsed Lombardi, a New York Giants assistant, stating “Lombardi is your man.”

And the rest is history.

“George Halas was a towering figure in the NFL,” former Green Bay guard Jerry Kramer said. “Without question, coach Lombardi had a lot of respect for Halas. More than respect, even a reverence.”

None of what you read prevented this from happening: Before one ’60s game, someone knocked at the Packers’ locker room door. It was Halas. Lombardi asked him what he wanted. Halas’ reported response: “I jsut want to tell you that we’re going to kick your ass!”

By the way: Lombardi’s Packers were 13–5 against Halas’ Bears.