There’s something about those cold gray eyes.
They belong to Aaron Rodgers, and they have the look of a predatory animal.
I’m talking about expressionless gray circles with black pinpoints in the middle, and I believe I’ve seen those eyes in still shots of lions closing in on oblivious wildebeests.
But because Rodgers’ eyes seldom seem to blink, I’m thinking more of a ball python, an eyelid-free reptile constrictor whose eyes turn milky blue as it prepares to molt and become shiny and new. And eat something else.
Rodgers squeezes the lifeblood out of the Bears and has for the last 15 years. It’s gotten embarrassing, this squashing, this ‘‘owning’’ of an entire franchise.
It’s like he stares into Chicago’s soul and grins in his own cold soul.
The Packers’ 27-10 victory against the Bears on Sunday night makes Rodgers 24-5 against the ‘‘big team from Chicago.”
Add in his predecessor, Brett Favre, whose record against the Bears was 22-10, and you get a 46-15 domination that goes back more than a quarter-century.
This is a rivalry?
No, it’s meat-feeding at the zoo. It’s the lion chewing. The python digesting. A whole generation of Bears fans have grown up assuming the Packers will slaughter the Bears. Smart kids.
It wasn’t always this way, you know. Before Favre and after coach Mike Ditka’s reign in Chicago, the Bears held an 80-57-6 lead. That was 1992. Now the Packers are ahead 104-95-6.
The Rodgers effect must have trickle-down value because some guy named Brett Hundley played quarterback for the Packers and won a game against the Bears in 2017. Hundley’s career record against other NFL teams was 2-6.
‘‘It’s been a great rivalry,’’ Rodgers said the week before the game. ‘‘I’m proud to be a part of it.’’
Please feel free to laugh here — or slam your fist through a wall. This is part of that cold reptilian heart. Rivalry? Rivalry? Hilarious. And Mike Tyson was proud of his rivalry with Pinklon Thomas.
On Sunday night, it might have been the Packers’ running game that paved the way for the victory, with Bears quarterback Justin Fields’ sad non-touchdown call on a one-yard run aiding the mess. But it was Rodgers doing those little things he does that made it all come together, his lightning darts and ability to hit a receiver whose hands are just beyond the defender’s reach.
Fields scrambled on a play and stupidly threw a pass when he was two yards past the line of scrimmage. Rodgers scrambled on his 38-year-old legs and hit a receiver just before his scramble took him past the line of scrimmage. The difference? Tiny but huge.
We could ask where Bears top receiver Darnell Mooney was. One reception for minus-4 yards?
We could ask a lot of things about this pairing that goes back to the beginning of the NFL. Nowadays, though, it always would come back to Rodgers.
He has had different receivers, different offensive linemen, different head coaches (four), different offensive coordinators (seven), and the result is the same.
Rodgers threw 25 passes and completed 19 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, with a long of 55 yards and a rating of 131.1.
Young Fields’ rating was 43.8, far lower than Rodgers’ worst rating against the Bears of 62.4 in December 2015.
The Packers under Rodgers’ direction don’t just own the Bears; they own the NFC North. Since its creation in 2002, the Bears have won the division four times, the Vikings four times and the Packers 12 times. The Lions, of course, barely count.
And it has been even worse in the last 12 seasons. The Bears have won the NFC North just once, the Vikings twice and the Packers nine times.
The Bears and Packers play twice every season, year after year, so it matters not what happens against other teams. If the Bears can’t beat the Packers, not much else is important.
Before the season, Fields said: ‘‘I want a Super Bowl. That’s all I care about, and I want to beat the Green Bay Packers.’’
Well, son, you won’t do the former without doing the latter. One wonders whether the Bears best bet is to twiddle their thumbs until Rodgers becomes feeble or retires. Remember, he’ll be 39 in December. Remember, however, that the Buccaneers’ Tom Brady is 45 and playing well.
Six more years of elite-level Rodgers is horrifying to ponder. It’s like a nightmare where a python slowly squishes you to death. And stares at you the whole time.
