REAL FOOTBALL IS HERE AT LAST.

Tonight the NFL makes its triumphant return in the form of a game pitting the Detroit Lions against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

But more importantly, it’s Bears Week for the Green Bay Packers, and we are just three days away from finally having some sort of conclusion to an entire offseason’s worth of chatter from both fanbases.

There’s always plenty to talk about when these two teams. This week, one of the main subjects of conversation has been whether Bears vs. Packers can actually qualify as a rivalry any more, given the Packers’ uninterrupted three-decade run of dominance.

The point here is pretty plain; the Packers have three times the number of victories the Bears have in the rivalry since 1992, when Brett Favre took over the reins as the Packers’ starting quarterback. As dominant as Favre was in the rivalry, Rodgers was somehow even more dominant, to the point where the sight of the Bears defeating the Packers is now about as common as sightings of an actual bear in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Rasul Douglas made some headlines when he said he doesn’t really feel the rivalry that much, and doesn’t really harbor any particular hatred for the Bears, having never lost to them. One of his points was that players move around more than they used to, so there’s never really a built-in feeling of actual hatred or rivalry for a team. Instead, it’s more a sense of “well, we’re supposed to hate these guys, so I guess they’re our rivals.”

Probably easier to make this statement when you’re always on the winning side, but it definitely is an interesting point. The league has significantly evolved, and most players aren’t playing their entire careers with a single team any more due to free agency and contract structures being what they are. Rivalries between teams had much more juice to them in past decades when they were able to build up with mostly the same faces playing each other over the course of numerous years.

The loss of a player like Aaron Rodgers, who had been with the Packers for 18 seasons, really hurts the rivalry even more. He’s one of a few players who had a historical appreciation for the rivalry based on extensive personal experience. Really at this point, the only other Packer with that same sort of experience in the rivalry is David Bakhtiari. The Bears have also seen significant turnover, mostly because they suck.

Now, all that being said, rivalries are just as much for fans as they are for players. While players and coaches come and go, fans remain for decades. 

In my life, I have known nothing other than the Packers beating the absolute tar out of the Bears ad nauseum. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t consider what they’ve got a rivalry. While competitive games might help increase the intensity of a rivalry, the history these two teams have alone make it a rivalry that cannot be topped by any other in the league.

It’s big city versus small town America. It’s single ownership versus community ownership. It’s NFL football in its midwestern roots. It’s the only rivalry in the league that dates back to the league’s origins.

I don’t need to preach to you all about the history of the Packers and Bears, about Halas vs. Lambeau and Lombardi or about all of the players and moments over the course of a century.

But I do find any fans who state, even when doing so to troll, that this isn’t a rivalry to be rather disingenuous. This isn’t just a rivalry; it’s THE rivalry. 

Embrace it and enjoy it, because that rivalry starts a new chapter this weekend.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

With the calendar having turned over to September, it’s time to start drinking some beers that are a bit on the maltier side. This, of course, means I can welcome Oktoberfests back into my diet. But there’s also the overlooked Scotch Ale, a malty favorite that really works at any time of year, but especially in the fall and spring.
Raised Grain recently made a good one that is barrel aged, so you get that nice brown ale texture with plenty of bourbon barrel flavor seeping into it. It’s called Six Stone, and comes in at a high (but not unreasonable) 8.91 percent ABV. 

Despite the bold sharpness one would expect from barrel aging, this is overall a pretty smooth, malt-forward beer. You can tell there’s a bit of Belgian influence here with some of the aftertaste.

According to Raised Grain, the beer’s name comes from the weight of the grain (in stone) that gets put into every barrel of beer. 

I purchased this one relatively recently, so if you’re interested in giving it a shot, you should definitely be able to find it around southeast Wisconsin, and probably other areas as well. Check it out!

Injury concerns already for the Packers

There were collective gasps all over the platform formerly known as Twitter when it was revealed that Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs were both surprising no-gos in practice on Wednesday. At the time I’m writing this their status for Thursday (and the weekend) remains unclear, which, of course, leads one to wonder whether they’ll be ready in time to play, or if they’ll be effective if placed on the field.

If the worst-case scenario occurs and neither Doubs nor Watson are available and ready to go on Sunday, the only member of the receiving corps with any NFL regular season experience will be Samari Toure (and that’s just barely). 

If such a scenario were to arise, I’d have to expect that the Packers would lean heavily on Luke Musgrave and short passing attacks over the middle. Jayden Reed would get plenty of looks as well, but Musgrave seems to be a guy the Packers already want to get heavily involved in the passing game anyway, and Love’s top two targets being out would be plenty of reason for him to get bumped to the top. There’s also always the option to get Aaron Jones more involved as a receiver, but he can only do so much to make up for the loss of Doubs and Watson.

It could certainly be a major challenge in the first official game of the Jordan Love era, especially playing on the road against a division rival. However, the Packers are certainly capable of still managing to make up for those losses and eke out a win against what was the league’s worst team a season ago.

Around the NFC North

As always, it’s time to go around the NFC North. 

• The CHICAGO BEARS have an opportunity to kick off the season by taking down their hated rivals for the first time since 2018, the final year the Packers played under Mike McCarthy. Bears fans seem to have fairly lofty expectations for this team this year, which is hard for me to understand given the team’s additions and still-existing roster holes. They will likely not be the league’s worst team, but they have a long way to go even just to get out of the basement of the division. My prediction for the Bears this year: 5 wins, and a lot of questions about what to do with the quarterback position when the year is over.

• The DETROIT LIONS are another team entering the season with high expectations, and have a chance to really surprise us all tonight in Kansas City. Basically everyone is chalking this game up as an easy win for the Chiefs. If the Lions come in and even play Kansas City tight for four quarters, it’s going to give a lot of credence to the idea that this isn’t the same old Lions. And I really do believe that these AREN’T the same old Lions, but that doesn’t mean they’re great, either. I think around 9 wins is probably what one could reasonably expect from them this season, so that’s what I’m going to predict.

• The MINNESOTA VIKINGS are probably the one team in the NFC North where there aren’t expectations for them to exceed their production and success of a season ago. With no real stars outside of Justin Jefferson and with no real identity to the team, it’s hard to imagine the Vikings making another playoff push unless the rest of the NFC North allows them to get there by default. I’ll put in a prediction of around 8-9 wins for the Vikings this season as they enter a slight decline.

My 2023 season predictions

What other predictions do I have for this season? Here are just a few:

• Packers have a winning season and achieve a playoff berth (this probably says more about the NFC than it does about the Packers)
• The league champions will be either the Chiefs, Bengals or Bills, and the season leading up to the Super Bowl will have felt rather pointless because of how predictable it all was.
• The New York Jets will push for a wild card berth but will not make it past their first playoff game. Aaron Rodgers will play at least 65% of their snaps.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers will be the surprise team in the AFC that does better than everyone expects. In the NFC, it will be the Packers.
• Division champions in the AFC: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Jacksonville. In the NFC: Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Francisco.
• League MVP will be whichever of Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, or Patrick Mahomes throws the most TDs.
• While most people expect the Cardinals to have the league’s worst record this year, it’ll end up being the Colts instead.
• The first coach to be fired will be Brandon Staley of the Chargers.

Back to school

Hoping everyone affected who’s reading this had a successful transition back to school, if you hadn’t already made the leap!

I had my first day in the classroom with students on Tuesday, and WHEW I am exhausted. I forgot just how much the “teacher tired” hits during that first week. I came home and fell asleep on my living room chair before dinner time. Last year during the first month of school my wife and I would be watching TV on Friday evening after eating our usual takeout dinner, and I kept passing out and missing the shows because my body hadn’t adjusted yet.

I think I’m a little bit more prepared for that feeling of exhaustion this year, but full-time edutainment really does a number on you! You’ve got to be *on* ALL DAY, and staying on top of so many different things. 

Meanwhile, my kids had their first days of kindergarten and 3k, so it was a big day all around in the Backes household. I was anxious all day as my son went into all-day school for the very first time, but he ended up doing quite well. I don’t think I’ll stop feeling some anxiety about him during the school day for the next 13 years. Parenthood, right?

For those of you in school or who have kids or grandkids in school, my next beer is dedicated to you and your success this school year!

Imagine what happens if the Packers win this weekend

I don’t think it’s possible to understate just how tragic a Packers win would be for the Bears.

They FINALLY are rid of Brett Favre AND Aaron Rodgers. The Packers move on to a relative unknown at quarterback, while they have a quarterback with promising athleticism that has been the subject of a great deal of hype from their fanbase. They spend an entire offseason talking trash, despite their team having defeated the Packers just five times since the Bush administration. 

Then, week one, in their own house, the Packers come out with a brand new quarterback and win anyway, keeping Matt LaFleur’s record against the team unblemished and allowing Packer fans continuing to assert their superiority in just about every single debate over football.

If this really happens, Chicago sports radio is going to be an absolute must-listen, and I’m going to spend SO much time on the Bears subreddit just to soak in the schadenfreude. Get your popcorn ready, folks.

Predictions for Packers/Bears and Week 1

Okay, it’s put up or shut up time after all the talking.

And here’s the thing–I just can’t pick the Bears to win. I can’t do it. They were awful a season ago, and Justin Fields has to be able to prove he’s capable of throwing the football at a professional level for me to have any faith in this team to win more than a handful of games. The Packers are better on both sides of the football and, as of this year, significantly better in the trenches, which is going to be critical to their success all season long.

Yes, it’s a very young team playing on the road in a hostile environment on an awful playing surface, potentially down a couple playmakers (or at least having those playmakers hampered by injury). But I see the Love era starting with a win that is certain to get Chicago sports radio humming in the aftermath.

Packers 24, Bears 19

With that being said, here are the rest of my predictions for the week. Feel free to play along with me!

Chiefs over Lions

Bengals over Browns

Ravens over Texans

Vikings over Buccaneers

Falcons over Panthers

Commanders over Cardinals

Jaguars over Colts

Steelers over 49ers

Broncos over Raiders

Titans over Saints

Eagles over Patriots

Rams over Seahawks

Chargers over Dolphins

Cowboys over Giants

Bills over Jets

Going to be an interesting week to kick things off, and you know that there are always some wacky things that happen week one. Can’t wait for it all to get started!