Bears-Packers Clash In Playoffs For Second Time Ever

As we prepare for the brutality of NFL Conference Championship betting, much ado will be made about the rivalry between the NFC North rival Chicago Bears hosting the Green Bay Packers. However, these two teams have somehow almost always avoided each other in the postseason. In fact, the two teams have only met once in the playoffs and that was way back in 1941.

To say that this game is of crucial importance to both teams is an understatement, but neither of these teams have really played against each other with such high stakes. And it doesn’t get much bigger for conference rivals than the NFC Championship game, and a berth in Super Bowl XLV.

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The line has been inching away from the Chicago Bears and now stands at -3.5 in favor of the Green Bay Packers. What’s astonishing about this is that Green Bay and Chicago are both considered public teams, and Green Bay is playing in its third road game of the postseason. What’s more is that the Packers went just 3-5 SU and 4-4 ATS when travelling this season. That being said, they’re 2-0 SU and ATS on the road in the playoffs so far.

It’s impossible to overlook the play of Aaron Rodgers, who is heading into Championship Weekend on the verge of setting quarterback records. Rogers has posted a total of 546 passing yards on a 76.4 completion percentage with 7 total touchdowns, zero picks and an astonishing quarterback rating of 129.65 in the postseason thus far.

He’s also led decisive routs of Philadelphia and Atlanta on the road. Just as Rodgers seems undaunted about the challenge of playing on the road, he seems even less intimidated by the seeding of the conference. Green Bay is the lowest seed left in the NFC playoffs, ranking sixth.

It’s also difficult to overlook that Chicago allowed 246.7 passing yards against when playing at Soldier Field this season. That’s a dangerous statistic to bet against, especially with Rodgers showing no signs of slowing down.

The other reason that the Packers are being touted this weekend is that we really don’t know that much about the Chicago Bears in a playoff setting. With a regular season record of 5-3 SU and 4-4 ATS at Soldier Field, they’re hardly the most trustworthy home bet of all time. We also didn’t see much last week as they held on to a gigantic lead against a Seattle team that didn’t belong in the playoffs to begin with.

What’s alarming about last weekend’s game is that Matt Hasselbeck was able to make throws to his receivers all day. The issue was that Seattle’s receiving corps didn’t start catching passes consistently until the fourth quarter. You can’t exactly bank on Green Bay’s disciplined set of pass catchers to make the same kind of mistakes.

Chicago, however, is being wildly undersold in this matchup. Beyond the home field advantage, Jay Cutler put together a very strong effort last weekend, and the Bears rank 4th in scoring defense, allowing just 17.9 points per game.

What the NFC Championship tilt will come down to, however, is whether you truly think Green Bay is a team peaking at the right moment, or if the Chicago Bears are an undervalued bet. For my money, I’m following the crowd on this one with Green Bay for now…but that doesn’t mean I’ve turned my back on Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears.

After all, this is football betting and anything can happen. Heroes are born every year in this round of the playoffs. Will it be Cutler or Rodgers? It’s harder to tell than you might imagine.