Dear Green Bay...The Joke's On You, Now
I remember a few short years ago, I was bored outta my mind, doom-scrolling on my phone, when I opened my BLK app.
IYKYK. 😂
Anyway, I'm swiping left, left, left...then I come across a profile that immediately caught my attention. The pictures? Fire. The bio? Even better. The interests? We had quite a bit in common.
But above all else...
She was Pro Black ✊🏾.
"Oh, hell yea."
I swiped right and what happened next, sealed it.
IT'S A MATCH.
A few messages turned into exchanging numbers. That turned into texting. Texting turned into phone calls. Phone calls turned into FaceTimes. FaceTimes turned into our first date.
And honestly?
We had a dope ass time.
Then...
BOOM.
The other shoe dropped.
She was...
...a Green Bay Packers fan.
Yuck 🤮.
But hey...nobody's perfect, right?
Her other qualities were pretty amazing, so I stuck it out.
UNTIL...
Eventually, my Bears played her Packers, and we decided to make things interesting.
Whoever lost had to wear the other team's gear.
In public.
...
The Packers won.
And to this day...
I still haven't talked to that damn girl.
LMAOOOOOOOOOO.
Now, had I met her just a few years later, when my Bears actually had a quarterback capable of ruining Green Bay's Sundays, maybe we'd have celebrated an anniversary or something by now.
Instead...
...GHOST.
But God...
For the better part of the last 34 years, Green Bay Packers fans have lived a football life the rest of us couldn't stand.
First it was Brett Favre.
Then Aaron Rodgers.
Then Jordan Love looked like he might become Hall of Fame quarterback No. 3. In a row!!!
Meanwhile?
The Chicago Bears have spent the last quarter century conducting quarterback tryouts.
Our QB history since 1999 has been rivaled by only one franchise...
The Cleveland Browns.
That's not even funny.
That's traumatic.
Once again...
BUT GOD.
Because everything changed the moment Caleb Williams walked into Halas Hall.
You can see it.
You can feel it.
And apparently...
So can everybody else in the entire world.
News on Monday sent Packers Twitter into absolute meltdown mode after ESPN released its annual Top 10 quarterbacks list, compiled from the opinions of NFL coaches, scouts and executives.
Not fans.
Not podcast hosts.
Not Facebook uncles.
Actual football professionals!
Not Twitter.
Not Facebook.
Not your cousin who's been wearing the same cheesehead since 1997.
Again, NFL coaches. Scouts. Executives.
According to the polling, the league's Top 10 quarterbacks are:
- Josh Allen (Bills)
- Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
- Matthew Stafford (Rams)
- Joe Burrow (Bengals)
- Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
- Dak Prescott (Cowboys)
- Justin Herbert (Chargers)
- Drake Maye (Patriots)
- Jared Goff (Lions)
- Caleb Williams (Bears)
Notice who's missing?
Jordan Love.
Cue the tears.
Cue the excuses.
Cue Packers fans suddenly acting like NFL executives, coaches and scouts, a third time for those in the back, forgot how to evaluate quarterback play overnight.
See...this isn't about disrespecting Jordan Love.
He's a good quarterback.
But Caleb?
Caleb is just...DIFFERENT.
Love plays quarterback.
Caleb creates magic.
There's a difference.
Jordan Love makes the throws he's supposed to make.
Caleb Williams makes throws that shouldn't even exist.
Those "How in the hell did he do that?" moments.
Those Superman plays.
Those "rewind that immediately" highlights.
He's been doing that since high school.
He did it at Oklahoma and then USC.
Now he's doing it in the NFL. For our Chicago Bears 😁.
And here's the part Packers fans hate hearing...
If there's one fanbase qualified to recognize elite quarterback play, it's Green Bay.
Y'all watched Favre.
You watched Rodgers.
You know exactly what it looks like when someone can single-handedly flip a football game upside down.
So stop acting like you don't recognize it when you see it wearing navy and orange.
And if the rankings weren't enough...
Let's revisit January.
The Bears and Packers split the regular season 1-1.
Fair enough.
Then came Wild Card Weekend.
Chicago trailed 21-3 in the first half.
Season looked cooked.
Until Caleb Williams reminded everyone why Bears fans spent years praying for someone exactly like him.
The Bears stormed back.
31-27.
Ball game.
Season over.
Pack your bags.
Drive safely back to Green Bay.
So not only did Caleb Williams and the Bears end their season, Packers fans have spent this entire offseason watching the national conversation completely shift.
Now they're hearing Caleb is a Top 10 quarterback.
They're hearing early MVP chatter.
They're hearing he's going to rank higher than Jordan Love on the NFL Top 100.
They're hearing that Caleb has the #1 selling jersey in the NFL right now.
They're hearing Chicago finally has THAT guy.
And judging by the reactions...
They're absolutely sick about it.
Good.
Because after three decades of listening to Packers fans remind us about Favre.
Then Rodgers.
Then Love...
It's finally our turn.
For years they "lil bro'd" us.
Now?
It's time to return the favor.
Remember Aaron's "Discount Double-Check" Belt?
Well Williams is in town and now it's Chicago's turn to put a little belt to ass.
Hopefully for long enough that this next generation of Packers fans grows up knowing exactly what Bears fans endured for the last 30-plus years.
For majority of my life being the quarterback of the Chicago Bears was a punchline.
Today?
The punchline wears green and gold.
And Green Bay...
The joke's on you.
— Jamor J. Pearson | By Chicago. For Chicago.