The Green Bay Packers will host the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and it will be the biggest NFC North game of the year. The Packers will enter the game at 8-3-1, and Chicago will enter at 9-3, as the top seed in the NFC. The winner of the game will hold the top spot in the division, giving them a chance to secure the No. 1 seed in the conference with just four weeks remaining in the season.
While all of that is important, Sunday's game will be about much more. This is Packers vs. Bears: the best rivalry in the NFL. For the first time in a while, both teams are good, and the Bears, the team that's usually struggling, believe they are ready to declare themselves Kings of the North.
This is an opportunity for Green Bay to show Chicago it's not built for that yet. Nothing would ruin Bears fans' newfound joy like the Packers reminding them that nothing has changed.
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In the grand scheme of things, this is just one game. It is an important game considering the division and playoff standings, but with four games after this one, and another meeting against each other, the loser would still have a chance to rebound. However, the narratives at stake may not be as easy to bounce back from.
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The Bears feel like they turned the tide. After losing 11 straight games against the Packers, Chicago finally got a win against Green Bay in Week 18 of last season. Green Bay had its sights on the postseason, and the Bears were just a five-win team, but they felt it was a promising win they could build on.
Since then, Chicago has hired Ben Johnson and battled to a 9-3 record to start the season. The Bears are coming off a dominant win against the Philadelphia Eagles and are the top team in the NFC. There's no better way for Chicago to cement its arrival than going into Lambeau and beating the Packers.
Green Bay can spoil the Bears' party, though. A win by the Packers on Sunday would send a few messages. It would tell the Bears they aren't ready yet. It would give Chicago's fans a reason to doubt their team again, and it would remind the Bears franchise that the Packers still own them.