Including their first-ever meeting in 1921, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have squared off with one another 212 times over the 100-plus years, marking the most meetings between any two teams in NFL history. The Packers lead the all-time series, by the way, going 109-97-6 against their longtime rivals.
It may surprise some to know, however, that of the 212 meetings between the two winningest franchises in league history that only two of them have taken place in the postseason, the first being the first-ever divisional playoff game in NFL history in 1941 and the second being the NFC Championship Game of the 2010 campaign.
Of course, the third postseason meeting between the two clubs is set for Saturday night, as the seventh-seeded Packers and the second-seeded Bears will battle it out at Soldier Field in the Wild Card Round. And not only will this matchup serve as the rubber match for this 2025 campaign, as they split the regular-season series, but it will also serve as the playoff tiebreaker, as the two teams also split their first two playoff contests.
The Bears knocked off the Packers for the right to go to the 1941 NFL Championship Game
In 1941, the Packers and Bears each finished 10-1 during the regular season, with each team's lone loss coming at home at the hands of the other, as Chicago earned a 25-17 win at City Stadium in Week 3 while Green Bay took a 16-14 victory at Wrigley Field in Week 8.
With the two clubs tied atop the Western Division, the league set its first-ever divisional playoff to decide who would host the Eastern Division champion New York Giants (8-3) in the NFL Championship Game.
The matchup took place on December 14, 1941, at Wrigley Field, and while the Packers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run from Clarke Hinkle, they were dominated the rest of the way, with the Bears, who'd set several offensive league records during the regular season, scoring the next 30 points en route to a 33-14 victory.
Chicago then went on to take an easy 37-9 win over the Giants in the title game, thus becoming the first team since the institution of the Eastern-Western playoff in 1933 to repeat as champions.
The Packers beat the Bears to earn a trip to Super Bowl 45
The 2010 season saw the Bears claim the NFC North and the No. 2 seed in the conference at 11-5, while the Packers snuck into the postseason at 10-6, winning a three-way tiebreaker with the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to take the sixth and final slot in the NFC.
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As the top two seeds in each conference earned a first-round bye back then, Chicago sat home during the Wild Card Round and watched Green Bay go on the road and upset the third-seeded Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 21-16.
In the Divisional Round, the Packers went into Atlanta and easily took down the top-seeded Falcons, 48-21, while the Bears defeated the NFC West champion Seahawks, 35-24, thus setting up a Green Bay-Chicago showdown in the NFC Championship Game, which was contested at Soldier Field on January 23, 2011.
Aaron Rodgers, then in just his third season as the Packers' starting quarterback, kicked off the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and James Starks helped Green Bay to a 14-0 lead with a four-yard rushing score in the second.
The Bears, who lost Jay Cutler to a knee injury early in the third quarter, finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run from Chester Taylor, cutting Green Bay's lead to 14-7, but just under six minutes later, the Packers took a 21-7 advantage after B.J. Raji recorded a pick-six on Chicago backup Caleb Hanie.
The Bears bounced right back to cut the lead to 21-14 on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Hanie to Earl Bennett. And after the Chicago defense forced a quick three-and-out, Hanie put his team in a position to tie, leading an 11-play, 82-yard drive before being intercepted by Sam Shields at the Green Bay 12-yard line with less than a minute to play, thus giving the Packers the seven-point victory.
Green Bay then went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 45 by a score of 31-25, with Rodgers earning MVP honors after completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns.