Origins of the Packers-Bears Rivalry
Going back to 1919
Origins of the Packers-Bears Rivalry
This technically doesn’t count, but I’m going to mention it anyway.
As some of you probably know, the Chicago Bears originated as the Decatur Staleys back in 1919. Decatur, of course, is a medium sized town in central Illinois, with a population of probably around 42,000 in 1919.
This was back in the primitive days of professional football, a year before the American Professional Football Association was formed — and 3 years before it changed its name to the National Football League.
The Decatur team was an athletic program organized by A. E. Staley and was composed of employees of his manufacturing company. Many of the players had experience playing college football. Of course, in those days even the best college football player had no chance at a professional career, since professional teams did not exist.
The Staleys didn’t move to Chicago until 1921, and didn’t change their name to the Bears until 1922.
Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers were also formed in 1919, and managed to cobble together a team of high school and college standouts that managed to go 10-1 against regional rivals.
The part you probably didn’t know, though, is that the Packers actually did play a Chicago team in 1919. And they won by quite a large margin:
Unfortunately, the November 10 issue of The Chicago Tribune is missing from the archive, which means all we’ve got is the Green Bay report.
According to this page, Hagermeister Park had a capacity of less than 5,000 in those days. It’s not clear how many people attended this game.
I’m not sure if it actually counts as the official start of the rivalry — but, hey, it’s something.