He was being interviewed on the sideline while their game against the Browns was going on. The very last question the reporter asked him was. "When I say 'Green Bay Packers' what is the first thing that comes to mind." Lance responds, "sucks". Then that was the end of the interview. Now...I'm all for having fun and poking fun at your rival. But the thing is...he said it without hesitation..and without any sort of tonal change in his voice. I took it as he was "very serious". I'm all for having some swagger in your step too. But...I think this is a bit overboard. Thoughts?

Scoreboard Lance! The Bear's D has been in decline for several years. The whole Country is talking about the explosive Pack offense.

Sounds like bulletin board material to me.

Exactly what I was thinking.

favre 95,
Remember, at his first press conference, Lovie Smith (being introduced as the Bears HC) was asked what his first priority was as head of the Bears. His answer: "Beat the Green Bay PAckers".

Lovie is "old school" enough to 'get it'.To many of the younger posters (I'm 59, so a lot of you are probably younger) believe the Vikings are "the enemy". Baloney. What will it take for the Packers to have a successful season? Beat the Bears twice, by a wide, if not embarrassing margin.

I'm "old school"- I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and was brought up to back the Packers and HATE the Bears. That hasn't changed. The Vikings, even with what's his name? Who cares. The Bears? That is a SB win for me. Though a real SB win would be sweet.

What ricky said.

Ooh Lombardi wanted to whup Halas' ass. Bear week. Bring it on!

Good thing they did not ask him his first thing comes to mind they they say moron because he would have had to say himself. AKA wrecking your car then fleeing the scene.

thank you very much Mr. Briggs. Apparently you haven't heard this song before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvY2LNjkIh0...feature=related

Nature vs. Nurture.......

I wonder....were your parents from Wisconsin?
If so, do you think the gene pool from which you were born resulted in this predisposition to back the Packers and HATE the Bears (?) or rather the your experiences growing up?

IMHO it's nurture...

Forrest Gregg's thuggish Packer teams and Charles Martin's slamming of McMahon back in the '80s was an embarrassment to me as a Packer fan, and forced me to be a little less "hateful" of the Bears. During this period I needed to focus my "rival" disdain elsewhere, and the Vikes were the perfect target. I'm 45 and barely remember the '60's glory days/Vince's teams, so switching targets was probably easier for me.

With the proper training and nurturing any person can be taught to hate the Bears AND Vikes. Until Detroit gets an NFL franchise they won't qualify. What? You mean they DO have an NFL team?

Yeah, they got uniforms and everything!

Pics or it didn't happen.

Thanks Lance for the indepth analysis, Im sure the University of Arizona is putting you front and center of its academic showcase program.

What ricky said.

In my case it is having good genes and having my Parents perceptions reinforced in my adult life by reality on the field

Where do you live in Wisconsin ricky? I'm as old as you and if like me you live in NW or W Wisconsin you have had to bear watching the NFL every Sunday on a Minnesota TV channel.Thus, missing many Packer games over the years in favor of the Vikings. Plus there are always Viking supporters in our bars and workplaces and bowling leagues. Many of our relatives or friends live and work in Minnesota.

Rivalries aren't always historical. While I am well aware of the Bears rivalry, especially in mid to south Wisconsin Packer fans, up here we hate the Vikings first. It's a matter of perspective. We have very much in common our love of the Green Bay Packers.

What in the sam hell is that? I just woke up man, there should be a warning in this thread!

That is Brett's invisible friend.

Is that the invisible friend that keeps telling him to retire? Or is it the one keeps telling him to un-retire?

Brett plays for the Lions? I don't get it.

I grew up hating the Bears more than the Vikings and that was because of my father's hatred of them, although the Vikings got their due as well during that time. As I got a little older and spent most of my life in western wisconsin right next to Viking country, my priorities have changed and I gradually started hating the Vikes more that the Bears. I still understand and appreciate the rivalry between the Pack and Bears, and I do hate the Bears, but I absolutely despise the Vikings. It is mostly due to their fan base that I put up with on a daily basis. I have seen enough Viking Favre garb around here this last week to make me want to throw up....and I live in Wisconsin!

No, they were just having a friendly chat over game strategy, obviously!

On speaker with a number of coaches in the room.

What Ricky said from this corner too.

Chewdog beat me to it, but ya' gotta' remember, we've been singing that the Bears suck for years.

Of course, the Bears (GM and owner) got the Packers thrown out of the NFL, remember. That, as Vito Corleone might say, was unforgivable. (And all because one of their ringers spotted one of our ringers in an unofficial game!)

What the heck would you expect him to say, that he loves the Packers.

I'm sure many Packer players think the Bears still suck.

I agree with this. I guess I'm "new school" in that I hate the Vikings more than the Bears. I look at it like this. I love to hate the Bears. It's the oldest rivalry in football. But while the hatred is there, there's also a mutual respect. Both teams have won tons of games and championships and have gone to war against each other for 90 years. Their fans are rugged and loyal, like ours.

The Vikings are a girly team that plays it's games in a dome. They've never won anything, their stadium is a dump, and their fans only support the team when they're winning (and then, just barely). I have nothing but comtempt for the Vikings.

Not to mention the Bears typically have players you can respect (Urlacher, Sweetness, Singletary), while the Vikes employ such hate able players as Moss, Jared Allen, The Williams, and that freak who used to wear eye makeup and played D-line in the 90's. Heck, they tried using a pro wrestler, Brock Lesnar. And they love to scoop up former Packers like Ferguson, Sharper, and Longwell (who then turned around and bashed the city of Green Bay) Lots more to hate with the Vikes. The Favre thing has put it over the top!

Here is a link to a Brian Urlacher 'column' about this week's Packer game. He kind of echoes what has been said here (in a much more juvenile writing style, however); there is a rivalry, but also a mutual respect:


Urlachers Poorly Written Column

John Randall, I believe is the guy you mentioned as a D-lineman in the '90's. Dirty player. Dove at QB's knee's on a regular basis. Bad guy. Only guy I despised more in all of sports was Detroit Piston Bill Lambeer.

That might have been one of the most painful reads of all time.

Brian didn't like English class in High School. Still don't. Never will. Blah. Blah. Mutual respect. Peanut.

That's pretty much what I got out of that article.

Well, I guess that represents the flip side of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

But still, to be fair, it was ok. No need to bash the guy for his writing. Besides, his accomplishment is football playing, not writing. And if you think that was painful, you ought to try James Patterson - and he keeps churning out best sellers!

Yeah, there is. He's a Bear. Haven't you been following?

Lance Briggs is a Bare.
Did you expect him to use a bigger word???

Go Pack!!

Packers and Bears hate each other in a brotherly, competitive way. I respect the organization, the history, the players, but I still hate them and that stems from how closely the two franchises have been intertwined for the past eight decades. I want to kick their asses every time we play, but at the end of the day it's still a storied franchise and they play outside like you're supposed to. I'll stick up for them.

Hating the Vikings, on the other hand, is like hating OJ. Just an absolute disgrace. Like OJ, they were once respectable but no longer. Also like with OJ, by all rights the franchise should be on death row awaiting the moment it's finally put out of its misery. How can they continue to exist? They're slimy from head to toe. There's nothing redeemable about them. Get it over with.

Thank you! I would much rather read a Brian Urlacher thriller over anything from Patterson. Brian could call it "Maximum Roides" about a Detective/Psychologist/former-NFL linebacker who is trying to solve a serial killer case but keeps getting blocked in his efforts by Politicians, Lawyers, poorly written Italian stereotypes, and offensive linemen.

As for who to hate more, the Bears or the Vikings, I think I have enough in me to despise each of their poorly run, hideous franchises equally.

A special thanks to Lance Briggs for reminding me it's Bears week!

That sums it up really well

LOL!!!

Touché and deserving of a 'Well Done!' You made me laugh out loud - no easy task, I assure you.

I thought Alex Cross was a Bear!

(Oh wait... that was Alex Karras and he was a different animal altogether, a lion... oh well, lions and tigers and bears, what's the difference?)