During the 2009 season opener, NBC's Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth fawned romantically during the Packers-Bears contest about the National Football League's "most storied rivalry." They gushed at length about the legendary history between the two teams, who have been playing each other since the NFL's inception.
With all due respect to the Curly Lambeau and George Halas, move over, Chicago Bears.
While Packers-Bears will always rekindle nostalgic feelings and a "David vs. Goliath" attitude among the Fox Valley denizens, it's become nothing more than an annual battle for bragging rights. Quick, when was the last time the two teams battled for anything even remotely related to a playoff berth or championship? When's the last time a star player "jumped ship" from one team to another? When's the last time one of these games went down to the wire?
Nope, the Chicago Bears don't even come close. The Packers' true rival, who will come as shock to nobody, lies about 278 miles west -- if using Wisconsin 29 and I-94 -- in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Yes, those purple-clad goons from the Teflon-covered stadium.
The Green Bay-Minnesota rivalry has been brewing for years, long before Ryan Longwell and Brett Favre crossed the St. Croix River. The two teams have met 96 times since the Vikings joined the league as an expansion team in 1961 and the Packers hold a slight edge (49-46-1).
In the last 23 meetings, the Packers have outscored Minnesota by just three points (541-538) and have averaged 23.4 points to the Vikings' 23.2.
Of course, with Favre now slinging passes to the guys in purple, the animosity and intensity has been taken up another notch.
Earlier this week, former Packers safety LeRoy Butler discussed the rivalry -- and the Brett Favre factor -- with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Greg A. Bedard.
Butler, never one to mince words during his Green Bay career, didn't pull any punches this time, either.
"When you switch to the Vikings, that's the one team you hate and hate's a strong word," Butler told the paper. "That's the one thing you dislike. You enjoy beating the Bears, it's a great rivalry. But when you play the Vikings -- Hatfield and McCoys -- that's how it is. All the rules go out. You have to beat them. It's a must-win game. You can live with splitting with Chicago. You can't live and you can't sleep losing to the Vikings."
The early years
From the get-go, the Packers made mincemeat of their new neighbors. The Lombardi-led Packers handed the Vikings a 33-7 loss in the teams' first meeting (Oct. 22, 1961) and would win five more before suffering a 24-23 loss in 1964. The Packers would go 11-3 against the Vikings during the Lombardi era and took the inaugural NFC Central title in 1967.
When Lombardi stepped aside after the 1967 season and Super Bowl II, the pendulum shifted to Minnesota thanks to the first of many Wisconsin connections for the franchise. Superior native Bud Grant was named head coach in 1967, succeeding Norm Van Brocklin.
Grant would lead the Vikings to a 9-7 victory over Green Bay in his first meeting against his home-state team and he'd go 22-12-1 over the next 15 years.
In all, his teams win 11 of the next 13 seasons (only Green Bay in '72 and Tampa Bay in '79 would break that string) and went to the Super Bowl five times while the Packers faded from prominence.
The Vikings made the playoffs five times in the '80s while the Packers were largely forgettable, as the Walter Payton-led Bears steamrolled the division. That era is largely considered the height of hatred between the Packers and Bears, but it was the Vikings that killed any hope of a playoff berth during the memorable '89 season when Minnesota beat Cincinnati in the season finale to win the division and advance to the playoffs.
The tide turns ... slowly
The Lindy Infante years finally came to an end following the 1991 season. His replacement, Mike Holmgren, saw his coaching career get off to a rocky start with a 23-20 loss to the Vikings at Lambeau Field.
A few weeks later, Favre took over as quarterback and the Packers were off and running. Riding a six-game winning streak into the season finale, they needed only to beat Minnesota at the Metrodome to advance to the playoffs for the first time since 1972.
Favre, though, threw three interceptions and Green Bay dropped a 27-7 decision.
That loss was that start of Favre's troubles at the Dome. The Packers would lose five straight games at in Minnesota, often with fluke circumstances.
In 1993, much-maligned cornerback Terrell Buckley watched as Eric Guliford haul in a 45-yard bomb from Jim McMahon that gave the Vikings a 15-13 victory.
Green Bay opened the '94 season with a 16-10 victory over Minnesota at Lambeau, giving Holmgren his first victory over the Vikings. They'd lose, 13-10 in the rematch and took another victory at Lambeau again in 1995.
The teams next meeting, on Nov. 11 at the Metrodome, will go down in history as one of the flukiest games in the rivalry's history. It was the infamous "T.J. Rubley Game" when Rubley -- filling in after injuries to both Favre and backup Ty Detmer -- infamously audibled and threw an interception on 4th and 1 with 50 seconds to play.
"I made a poor decision," Rubley said. "That's what it comes down to."
The play capped off a frantic final five minutes, during with the two teams combined to turn the ball over four times. When Rubley committed his gaffe, the Packers were in scoring position but were beaten, 27-24, when Faud Reveiz kicked a 39-yard field goal as time expired.
After that game, then-general manager Ron Wolf didn't hide his disappointment.
"We're sick and tired of Faud Reveiz deciding the outcome of the game," Wolf said. "All this B.S., ‘Wait until next year,' is meaningless. The bottom line is, when you're playing a division opponent, you have to beat that division opponent. I don't care where it is.
"This team has never gone anywhere in anybody's back yard and beaten them. Until it does that, we're going to be one of these whining teams."
The Packers went on to win the NFC Central title that season, but Rubley wasn't around to celebrate. He was cut days after the Vikings loss.
The rivalry heats up
Green Bay would win three of four meetings between the two teams in 1996-97 but on Oct. 5, 1998, the Vikings took a step towards Green Bay's three-year claim on the division championship.
In front of a Monday Night Football audience the Vikings, led by quarterback Randall Cunningham and rookie wide receiver Randy Moss, lit up the Packers' secondary for bombs of 56, 52 and 4 yards in a 37-24 beatdown.
Cunningham completed 20 of 32 passes for 442 yards in the game while Moss had five catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Both teams came into the game undefeated and the Vikings would finish the season 15-1 before losing to Atlanta in the NFC Championship game. The loss also snapped the Packers' 25-game winning streak at Lambeau Field.
Holmgren left the Packers following that season and with Ray Rhodes in place, Favre provided dramatics when the teams met at Lambeau on Sept. 26, 1999.
On 4th and 1, Favre found Corey Bradford for a 23-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left to play, giving Green Bay a 23-20 victory. The Packers looked playoff bound until a 24-20 loss to Minnesota in Week 15 -- the second of a three-game losing streak -- all but sealed the door on the postseason and the Packers finished 8-8 while Minnesota went to the playoffs.
Familiar Faces in new places
After a contract dispute, safety Darren Sharper was released by the Packers and signed a free agent deal with the Vikings prior to the 2000 season.
The teams were again on Monday night football in November 2000 when Favre and Antonio Freeman teamed up for a play that still finds its way into highlight films.
In overtime, Favre launched a throw to Freeman that was tipped by Vikings cornerback Cris Dishman. The ball hit Freeman, knocked to the ground, in the shoulder and somehow wound up his hands. It looked like the play had been called dead, but Freeman got up and sprinted into the end zone to give the Packers a 26-20 victory.
"I don't know if I've ever been a part of something like that," Favre said afterwards.
The Vikings would be on hand Sept. 7, 2003, when the Packers rededicated Lambeau Field after an extensive renovation. Minnesota ruined the party in a 30-25 victory that was aided by four Favre interceptions.
In 2004, the Packers would twice beat Minnesota with identical scores of 34-31 en route to their third consecutive NFC Central/North championship.
The Vikings, though, clinched a Wild Card berth despite losing seven of its last 10 games and played at Lambeau Field in the first round of the playoffs. Green Bay had won both regular season meetings with a 34-31 score but the Vikings would have the last laugh, forcing four Brett Favre interceptions in a 31-17 upset -- just the second playoff loss for the Packers in Lambeau Field history.
Moss drew the wrath of Packers fans when he scored on a 34-yard touchdown throw from Daunte Culpepper with a little more than 10 minutes to play.
The wideout celebrated the catch by pretending to pull down his pants and moon the end zone fans.
"I just was having a little fun with the boys," Moss said. "I hope I don't get in trouble by it, but if I do, I'll take the heat."
That offseason was the first in which Favre's future came into question.
"It would be easy to walk off the field after that game, and say, ‘I've had enough,"' Favre said. "But I'm going to try to be as far to myself and my team as possible. I've had a lot of great games. This obviously was not one of them."
At the time, nobody had any idea what was in store down the line.
Mike Tice's Vikings would sweep Green Bay in 2005. In Week 7, the Packers blew a 17-0 halftime lead, allowing 23 unanswered points. Paul Edinger kicked a career-best 56-yard field goal as time ran out to clinch a 23-20 victory in a game that also ended the season for Packers running back Ahmann Green. In Week 11, the Vikings again won when Edinger kicked a game-winner as time expired.
The Packers finished 4-12 and Mike Sherman was shown the door after the season.
New sheriffs come to town
Brad Childress and Mike McCarthy were both hired prior to the 2006 season and since then, it's been McCarthy who has dominated the rivalry.
Among his first orders of business was to bring in several Packers free agents for workouts, including fullback William Henderson and kicker Ryan Longwell. Longwell would ultimately sign with the Vikings.
McCarthy would enjoy dominance over his counterpart, winning the first five meetings between the two teams. Favre reached a milestone against the Vikings in 2007, when he threw his 421st career touchdown at the Metrodome, moving past Dan Marino atop the NFL record book.
Obviously, things took a turn thanks to Favre's switch of allegiance. When the quarterback reneged on retirement the first time, his goal was to play for the Vikings. So confident were the Packers that Childress and his offensive coordinator -- and Favre's former quarterback coach -- Darrell Bevell worked behind-the-scenes to land Favre that they fired tampering charges against Minnesota.
"Let's put it this way, I look forward to the opening game in Green Bay," Vikings owner Zygi Wilf told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
McCarthy didn't make a lot of friends in Minnesota when he addressed trash talking that was coming out of training camp heading into last season.
"It speaks volumes about the way they go about their business," McCarthy said.
Much was made of the fact that McCarthy and Childress didn't shake hands following the teams meeting in the season-opener last year at Lambeau Field, but both coaches downplayed the incident.
Childress would finally get in the victory column last November when Mason Crosby missed a 52-yard field goal that gave the Packers a 28-27 loss.
From tackling sled to starting QB
A favorite story leading up to Vikings-Packers games during the Favre era involved the Vikings placing a Favre jersey on their tackling dummies during the season.
On August 18, though, it all changed.
Favre, despite retiring a second time and just three weeks earlier telling Childress he was done, landed at a Twin Cities airport and was chauffeured to the Vikings' Winter Park training facility by Childress, himself.
A few hours later, he put the purple helmet on his head and was officially a member of the Vikings.
As he did so many times with the Packers, Favre used late-game heroics to give Minnesota a victory last week when he found Greg Lewis for an improbable 32-yard touchdown pass with time running out.
Tonight Favre will suit up -- in purple -- to write another chapter in this storied rivalry. Green Bay trails the Vikings by a game in the North and would be 2-0 against divisional opponents with a victory.
Both sides have downplayed all the hype and hoopla -- made even bigger by ESPN's Monday Night Football cameras -- but it's apparent that the Vikings, though the Bears will always figure in the picture, are the chief rivals for the Packers and their fans.
