The Cobra
01-20-2011, 08:38 PM
As per TSN
There will be no love lost between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears when the two NFC North clubs meet to decide the NFC Championship this Sunday.
With a berth in Super Bowl XLV on the line, the NFL's oldest rivals are preparing to do battle once again at Soldier Field.
"With the number of times we've played each other, how familiar the two cities and the two teams are with each other, it's almost like a little mini Super Bowl," said Bears' QB Jay Cutler.
"They don't like us, we don't like them, so it's going to be a dogfight," stated Packers' WR Donald Driver. "They say the dog that comes out and bites the hardest is going to be the one that wins, so we're going to come out and bite."
Despite finishing with a better regular season record, which earned them the advantage of hosting this week's matchup, the Bears will take the field as underdogs.
"It's not like a lot of people expected us to be in this position," admitted Bears' head coach Lovie Smith. "The Packers were supposed to be in this position, so I guess I can see why [they are favoured]."
While the Bears quietly put together an 11-5 campaign, en route to an NFC North division title, the Packers, who entered the year as contenders, were hit hard by injuries and struggled through part of the 2010 season.
It wasn't until the end of the year when Green Bay began to find their stride, finishing 10-6 and sneaking into the post-season as the sixth seed.
The Packers have now won four straight, including two road playoff games where they put an end to the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons chances of capturing the Lombardi Trophy. The Bears will try to avoid becoming the third home team in a row to fall victim to the surging Pack.
"I know Chicago will be really disappointed if we don't win this game." said Cutler. "It's going to be big."
While the Packers may be favoured in Sunday's game, WR James Jones doesn't think his club will underestimate their opponent.
In 2007, Green Bay was in a similar situation, favoured heading into the NFC Championship against the New York Giants. The game was pushed to overtime and it was the Giants who came away with a field goal that sent them to the Super Bowl.
"When we played the NFC championship against the Giants, we thought we were untouchable. We thought we were going to the Super Bowl automatically and we got our bubble busted," said Jones.
"We don't want to walk off the field knowing we let another one slipping away."
There will be no love lost between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears when the two NFC North clubs meet to decide the NFC Championship this Sunday.
With a berth in Super Bowl XLV on the line, the NFL's oldest rivals are preparing to do battle once again at Soldier Field.
"With the number of times we've played each other, how familiar the two cities and the two teams are with each other, it's almost like a little mini Super Bowl," said Bears' QB Jay Cutler.
"They don't like us, we don't like them, so it's going to be a dogfight," stated Packers' WR Donald Driver. "They say the dog that comes out and bites the hardest is going to be the one that wins, so we're going to come out and bite."
Despite finishing with a better regular season record, which earned them the advantage of hosting this week's matchup, the Bears will take the field as underdogs.
"It's not like a lot of people expected us to be in this position," admitted Bears' head coach Lovie Smith. "The Packers were supposed to be in this position, so I guess I can see why [they are favoured]."
While the Bears quietly put together an 11-5 campaign, en route to an NFC North division title, the Packers, who entered the year as contenders, were hit hard by injuries and struggled through part of the 2010 season.
It wasn't until the end of the year when Green Bay began to find their stride, finishing 10-6 and sneaking into the post-season as the sixth seed.
The Packers have now won four straight, including two road playoff games where they put an end to the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons chances of capturing the Lombardi Trophy. The Bears will try to avoid becoming the third home team in a row to fall victim to the surging Pack.
"I know Chicago will be really disappointed if we don't win this game." said Cutler. "It's going to be big."
While the Packers may be favoured in Sunday's game, WR James Jones doesn't think his club will underestimate their opponent.
In 2007, Green Bay was in a similar situation, favoured heading into the NFC Championship against the New York Giants. The game was pushed to overtime and it was the Giants who came away with a field goal that sent them to the Super Bowl.
"When we played the NFC championship against the Giants, we thought we were untouchable. We thought we were going to the Super Bowl automatically and we got our bubble busted," said Jones.
"We don't want to walk off the field knowing we let another one slipping away."