ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ) – This weekends Packers-Bears game continues one of the NFL’s biggest rivalries, and Bears icon George Halas had a lot to do with making that happen.
Some say Halas saved the Packers and was a good friend to the team.
Packers Team Historian Cliff Christl says it was more for selfish reasons.
“He was mostly a friend when it was to his benefit.”
In 1921, the Packers first year in the league, they wanted to play the Bears (known as the Staleys at that time). They were the flagship franchise in the league at that point.
Christl says if it was not for George Halas agreeing to play the Packers during their first year in the league in 1921, the Packers would not have survived, but Halas did not do that for that reason.
“He was trying to win the second NFL Championship and he needed another victory, so he was willing to play anybody and I think it just happened to be the Packers,” says Christl. “He really only played them because he needed a win and the Packers were nearby, and that launched the rivalry.”
Christl says he also did it because it was their biggest draw at the gates in Chicago and eventually Halas requested playing the Packers three times a year, twice in Chicago.
“So whatever was in George Halas’s financial interest was his number one priority. With that said he was a good friend.”
Regardless of his intentions, the rivalry continues and Sunday marks the 197th meeting between the two teams.
