Rivera admits there's truth to Aaron Rodgers 'owning' the Bears originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Like most around the NFL, Ron Rivera saw the words Washington's next opposing quarterback yelled into the stands at Soldier Field in Chicago this past Sunday after scoring a touchdown.
"I own you! I still own you!" Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers exclaimed after his fourth-quarter rushing score.
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On Monday, the Washington head coach with plenty of familiarity when it comes to the Bears-Packers rivalry admitted Rodgers wasn't wrong.
"You know what though, unfortunately there's a little bit of truth," Rivera told NBC Sports Washington's JP Finlay in an interview airing on Washington Football Kickoff Live on Sunday. "There's a little bit of truth there to it."
Though Rodgers may own the bragging rights against his franchise's arch rival thanks to a dominant 22-5 regular season record since taking over as the Packers starter under center in 2008, NBC Sports Washington's Ethan Cadeaux points out that isn't the case against the Burgundy and Gold. Rodgers sports an even 3-3 overall record against Washington.
No stranger to the emotions that can run high during the Packers-Bears rivalry games, Rivera played an integral role in those marquee matchups as a linebacker for nine seasons in Chicago colors.
"Hopefully those guys over there can figure it out because the Bears-Packers rivalry I think is a tremendous one in the league," Rivera said.
Rivera also knows all about how one-sided the league's biggest rivalry can be. From Rivera's rookie season in 1982 to his last NFL season in 1992, Chicago won 15 of the 20 meetings with Green Bay. During the Bears' prime years around their 1986 Super Bowl triumph, Chicago won eight in a row from 1985-1988.
With plenty of stories to tell from those games, one memory comes to Rivera's mind when reminiscing on how feisty those division affairs could get.
"You know one I do remember is I do remember how bitter the Bears-Packers rivalry were," Rivera said. "In '84, we played them in Lambeau and it got very chippy and there was actually a situation where they took one of our players and basically tried to rough up -- Walter Payton. And it turned into a pretty good – I don't want to call it a brawl, it wasn't quite that – but it turned into a pretty good shoving match."
Rivera will hope his side can be the disciplined aggressors against a red-hot Packers team coming off five straight wins this Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Tune into Washington Football Kickoff Live noon on Sunday for full coverage ahead of Washington's Week 7 game against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
