Yes, the Chicago Bears have defeated the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs — exactly once. And it was a long time ago.
On Dec. 14, 1941, Chicago dismantled Green Bay 33-14 at Wrigley Field in a Western Division playoff that sent the Bears to the NFL Championship Game. That win came one week after Pearl Harbor, in 16-degree weather, in front of 43,425 fans who’d lined up at box offices less than 24 hours after the bombing.
Tickets for the Packers game sold out in four hours. The title game against the Giants the following week? Only 13,341 showed up. Chicago fans knew this was the real championship. That was 84 years ago. The Bears haven’t beaten the Packers in a playoff game since, but they’ll have a chance to end that drought on Saturday night.
Why the Bears-Packers Playoff History Is Surprisingly Thin
Here’s a fact that may surprise you: Despite 213 all-time meetings — the most between any two NFL franchises — Saturday’s wild-card matchup at Soldier Field will be only the third playoff game between these teams. Ever.
The math makes sense once you break it down. For most of the rivalry’s existence, only division winners advanced to the postseason. The Bears and Packers have always played in the same division. When one was good enough to make the playoffs, the other usually wasn’t. The wild-card era, which began in 1970, theoretically opened more opportunities for a postseason collision. It took until January 2011 for that to happen.
That NFC Championship Game ended in heartbreak for Chicago. The Bears started Jay Cutler, lost him to a Grade II MCL sprain in the third quarter, cycled through Todd Collins and third-stringer Caleb Hanie, and fell 21-14. The Packers advanced to Super Bowl XLV and Aaron Rodgers hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.
From 1992-2024, the Packers went 50-16 against the Bears in regular-season games, including 11 in a row from 2019-2024.
“I own you,” Rodgers famously taunted fans at Soldier Field in 2021.
Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson’s arrival changed the trajectory. The Bears snapped the losing streak in Week 18 of Williams’ rookie season with a Cairo Santos walk-off field goal at Lambeau. This year, they split the season series for the first time since 1999-2000.
What a Playoff Win Would Mean for These Bears
A win would give Chicago its first playoff victory since the 2010 divisional round, which was right before that infamous NFC Championship loss to the Packers. It would make Williams the first Bears quarterback since Jim Harbaugh in 1991 to beat the Packers twice in one season.
The 11-6 Bears enter as the NFC’s No. 2 seed after winning the NFC North for the first time since 2018. Williams set a franchise single-season record with 3,942 passing yards, threw 27 touchdowns against just seven interceptions, and led six fourth-quarter comebacks (the most in the league).
Green Bay limps in at 9-7-1 as the seventh seed, having lost four straight to end the regular season. Jordan Love hasn’t played since a helmet-to-helmet hit versus the Bears knocked him into concussion protocol on Dec. 20.
History says the Bears can beat the Packers in January. It just hasn’t happened since George Halas prowled the sideline and World War II was one week old. The 1941 Bears went on to win the NFL Championship that year. We’ll find out if the 2025 Bears can finally match that postseason success against their oldest rival on Saturday night.
