GREEN BAY, Wis. — When Aaron Rodgers last saw the Chicago Bears, he was telling them and their fans at Soldier Field about the power he held over them with his memorable, “I still own you” boast following his touchdown in another Green Bay Packers victory.
Eight weeks later, they meet again on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.
When asked whether he expects any trash talking or retribution in return from the Bears players, he made a point to say he directed it toward the fans who were “giving me the bird.”
Either way, it sounds like he wouldn’t change anything about it.
“I don’t know that you can question a whole lot of what I said,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “We have gotten the better of them the last, I don’t know, 27, 28 times we’ve played them for the most part … A lot of times in situations like this, the trash talk is only going to be used if you’re getting after that individual that was trash talking. So in order to trash talk, you have to have a lot of confidence in what you accomplished and what you’re going to accomplish in the future.
“At some point, what I said will be used against me, that’s just part of it. But I have no regrets for saying what I said, and obviously I think the record kinda speaks for itself. But I get it, at some point that will be used against me. It is what it is. I don’t regret saying it at all.”
Rodgers has won five straight against the Bears and is 22-5 overall as a starter against the Packers’ NFC North rival. It’s the third-best winning percentage (.815) by any quarterback with at least 25 starts against a single opponent since 1950, behind only Tom Brady against the Buffalo Bills (32-3, .914) and Ben Roethlisberger against the Cleveland Browns (24-3-1, .875).
“I’m sure they will have some comments maybe, but it’s not untrue,” Packers receiver Davante Adams said. “It’s not like you can get too upset about the comment that ’12’ made. It is what it is. We’ll see if they have anything to say on Sunday.”
Rodgers did not practice on Wednesday, continuing the pattern of sitting out to rest his fractured pinkie toe. Coach Matt LaFleur said it was unclear yet whether Rodgers will practice on Thursday or Friday. Rodgers did not practice at all leading up the last game, the Nov. 28 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
The Packers (9-3) had the bye last week, and Rodgers opted not to have surgery and instead used rest to see how much it can heal before the stretch run.
“I’ve got to see how it reacts on Sunday when I get back out there and play,” Rodgers said when asked how his toe felt. “But this was really, really positive, the time to heal and not doing anything for now going on 10 days. That’s been really, really helpful. So we’re hoping that we can get on the other side of this.
“Again, we don’t know until Sunday after the game and Monday how it’s going to react to all the healing that’s taken place and then the pounding that will happen on Sunday. So we’ll see what happens, how it recovers on Sunday or Monday.”