Over the course of the NFL's 100-plus-year history, no two teams have played more games against one another than the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. And it's no secret that Green Bay has gotten the better of the rivalry in just about every aspect imaginable.
Dating back to the first matchup between the two historic franchises in 1921, the Packers and Bears have battled one another 210 times, with Green Bay currently holding a 108-96-6 advantage.
And from an overall standpoint, the Packers hold the all-time edge over the Bears in regular-season wins (810 to 798), postseason wins (37 to 17), overall championships (13 to 9....Green Bay technically has 15 if you think about it), Super Bowl appearances (5 to 2), and Super Bowl victories (4 to 1).
Now, everyone knows that the most important position in football—some would argue the most important position in sports—is the quarterback. And when one compares the Packers and Bears in that regard, there genuinely is no comparison.
We'll admit to Sid Luckman being a bit of a boss back in the day, but when Jay Cutler is your franchise's all-time leader in most major categories, that's a problem.
The Packers, meanwhile, have employed three of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers. And they may have another one in the making in Jordan Love, who's led Green Bay to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons as a starter.
The Bears, of course, are hoping for an all-timer of their own in 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams, who already ranks 22nd in franchise history in passing yards, by the way, after throwing for 3,541 as a rookie. That same figure also already represents the fifth-highest total in a single season for Chicago, which has famously never had a quarterback throw for more than 4,000 yards, Erik Kramer coming the closest in 1995 with 3,838.
Recently, the fine folks at PFF took a look at the six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 draft and opined on what would be the floor and what would be the ceiling for each in their respective second seasons.
For Williams, they listed his floor with one word: Bust. He was the only one of the six to receive that designation, by the way. As for the alternative, well, it was impossible for us to ignore, as they listed his ceiling as none other than Mr. Jordan Love.
You gotta love it, right?
PFF lists Caleb Williams' second-season ceiling as Jordan Love
Here's exactly what John Kosko of PFF had to say on Williams:
"Williams entered the NFL with a tremendous amount of hype, only to disappoint as a rookie. Especially when compared to the rest of the class, Williams' season was, at best, underwhelming. He flashed big-play potential and incredible arm talent, but he struggled with accuracy and took on pressure and sacks far too often."
"Granted, top prospects who don't put it all together as rookies are still capable of turning things around — Jared Goff is one notable example, and Bryce Young appears to have turned a corner ahead of 2025 — but struggling as badly as Williams did usually does not end well. Still, he has the talent and one of the best supporting casts in the NFL to turn it around in 2025."
Since this dropped, many Bears fans have taken the assessment as disrespect, pointing to the fact that Williams, who completed 62.5% of his passes for 3,540 yards with 20 touchdowns against six interceptions, had 152 more passing yards than Love did last season, threw five fewer interceptions, and tossed only five fewer touchdowns.
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While those are decent arguments to make, let's not forget that Love dealt with several nagging injuries throughout the season, particularly at the beginning, and missed two games (and left two others early). He was far better toward the end of the year, throwing zero interceptions over his final seven regular-season games. (We'll just gloss over what happened against the Eagles in the playoffs.)
For those who really want to get into it, we could easily point to the fact that in his first year as QB1 in Green Bay, a healthy Love completed 64.2% of his passes for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, earning a 96.1 passer rating. And for what it's worth, even with lesser stats, he actually had a higher passer rating last season at 96.7. Williams' passer rating as a rookie was 87.8.
But stats don't even tell the whole story, and that goes for any quarterback. Decision-making, control, and poise all play a part in a signal-caller's success. While Williams has loads of talent, he simply isn't at Love's level in those areas at the moment. And perhaps that's the point PFF is trying to make.
Given the new coaching staff and all the new weapons around him, Williams certainly has the tools he needs to succeed. And if he can match Love's decision-making, control, and poise, he's undoubtedly going to be dangerous in 2025. If not, however, that "bust" label will be thrust upon him sooner rather than later.
What shouldn't get lost here is that Love has some new weapons as well and could easily be in for his best season yet. And if that is indeed the case, the Bears could once again be chasing the Packers in the standings and wishing their quarterback were as good as the one in Green Bay—you know, the usual.