Chicago Bears tight end Jimmy Graham wasn’t all that offended by Aaron Rodgers telling home fans he owned them before the Green Bay Packers left Chicago with a win back in Week 6.
The Packers QB caused quite the stir by shouting “I still own you” to the home support nearing the end of the contest. And, with the teams set to square off again this coming Sunday at Lambeau Field, Graham is keen on shutting Rodgers up.
The TE didn’t take offense to Rodgers’ comment as he admitted he’s been known to say similar stuff to opponents after scoring. In his 12-year career in the NFL, the 35-year-old has scored on every team except for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I’ve said that to almost every organization that I’ve scored on,” the player told the Chicago Sun Times this week. “I’ve said it to everybody.”
“We’ve just got to stop them,” he said of the Packers.
Stopping the 9-3 Packers is certainly easier said than done and the NFL odds put out by the bookmakers reflect as much. The Bears are 5/1 to win on Sunday, with the Packers 1/7 for a win.
The Packers are also among the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl this season and Rodgers will be particularly hungry to win his first chip in what could be his last season with Green Bay. The Packers are the third favorites for Super Bowl Glory at 15/2, behind defending champs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5/1) and the Kansas City Chiefs (6/1).
Rodgers, meanwhile, is 22-5 as a starter against the Bears – that includes playoff games – and has been victorious in each of his last five starts. Should he lead the Packers to victory on Sunday, he will tie Brett Favre for most wins by a QB against Chicago with 23 (since at least 1950).
His 22 victories vs. Chicago are tied for eighth-most by a quarterback against a single franchise since 1950. Only Tom Brady (Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins), Favre (Detroit Lions, Bears), and Ben Roethlisberger (Bengals, Cleveland Browns) have more.
While Graham is itching for a win on Sunday, he doesn’t feel like the comment added any additional incentive as far as the Bears are concerned. After all, “I own you” is pretty mild by trash talk standards and he’s probably said worse himself.
“I’ve never been mic’d up as a player, and that’s for good reason,” Graham added. “I don’t want anybody to hear the stuff I say out there, for sure. This isn’t golf. … It’s a game of whupping the man across from you, simple as that, so there’s not a lot of niceties.
“It’s a part of the game that I love. I’ve got to figure out a way to talk to people once I get out of here because you can’t be talking to people like that in real life. So I’m going to enjoy each and every snap I get here for the rest of my career.”
Rodgers has swept Chicago in seven of the 12 seasons that have seen him start both games against them, including each of the last two under head coach Matt LaFleur. The Packers have also made the playoffs every season Rodgers has beaten the Bears twice.
Green Bay has won the NFC North before losing the NFC Championship game in each of the last four seasons Rodgers has won both games against the Bears. As it turns out, they could clinch the division in Week 14 if they win on Sunday and the Minnesota Vikings lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The last time the Packers played the Bears, Aaron Rodgers rushed for a touchdown and yelled, “I still own you” to the Chicago crowd.
Does he have any regrets?
“I have no regrets for saying what I said.”
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Rodgers claims to have no regrets over taunting Chicago fans and doesn’t reckon the Bears will have retribution on the mind. For one, he does have a spectacular record against Chicago and also claims to have directed the comment at fans who were “giving me the bird.”
“I don’t know that you can question a whole lot of what I said,” the reigning MVP said on 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.”
