GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay Packers tried. They tried to play things off as Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears being just another game, but one quote from Javon Bullard after the game was over said it all.
"They're still little bro, man," Bullard said. "They're still little bro. Sometimes big bro got a show up and that's what we did."
Bullard had the most noteworthy comments of the week when he stated what was a simple goal. He didn't care what time the game was played, but he had one thought in mind. Bullard said their goal was to kick Chicago's butt.
"Yeah, kick their ass. For sure," Bullard said after Sunday's game.
How did it go?
"I mean, what was the score 31-7? S***, you tell me."
Matt LaFleur tried to deflect the discussion surrounding his interactions with Ben Johnson from a season ago, which included the Chicago coach loudly yelling "F**k the Packers" in a postgame video that was posted on the Bears' X account. He continued to toe that line after the game was over.
"Here's what I'll tell you: I think we all are moving in the same direction, and we all got each other's backs. Players-coaches, coaches-players, players-players - and that's what great teams do," LaFleur said. "That is the essence of 'team,' is that you have each other's backs, that you're willing to stick together, not point fingers in times of adversity, and just keep moving forward, and really try to be reflective of."
LaFleur deflected to the players, and the players' message was loud and clear.
Bullard smirked. Evan Williams smiled. Tucker Kraft tried to choose his words carefully. Ditto for Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. They knew what had been said since last season ended.
"We definitely heard some of the things they were saying," safety Evan Williams said. "That might of fed into a little extra energy on the field, but it's a rivalry that's expected. I'm just glad we were able to handle ourselves like we did."
The words and body language of all of those players said a lot, while still leaving some to the imagination of those listening.
Zaire Franklin did not leave anything to the imagination. Earlier in the week, Chicago receiver Luther Burden noted that the Bears were up, the Packers were down and that they had a golden opportunity in front of him.
Chicago's goal was to make the Packers "quit," Burden said, while putting them down at 2-3 as the Bears improved to 4-1.
Franklin took exception to that comment along with a lot of the others that were made throughout the offseason in the aftermath of Chicago ending Green Bay's season.
"Man, I feel like since I been here, it's just been a bunch of them saying a whole bunch of stuff about us," Franklin said before taking aim at Burden's comments specifically.
"Them making a whole bunch of comments about us, doing a whole bunch of stuff about us and only thing we've been doing is focusing on being the best version of ourselves. And that's the message that Coach LaFleur been preaching, just being the best versions of ourselves. It's not about them. It's about us. And we see all the little weird stuff they be doing in the media and all the different stuff they be saying.
"You got guys that never really made a real play in this league talking about making somebody quit. That's weird. We don't do that. He quit today, by the way. He ain't want to play anymore. But we focused on ourselves, man. We ain't really worried about that. We ain't play that in a team meeting or nothing. We just focused on ourselves, being the best version of ourselves and we put out a good performance today because of that."
Burden finished the game with 49 yards on eight touches.
LaFleur's words may not have thrown expletives in the direction of Ben Johnson's team, but his demeanor certainly did.
One of the criticisms of LaFleur is his propensity to take his foot off the gas and try to start running the clock once his team has a lead. He wants to lean on his run game in those moments.
Sunday? That went out the window. LaFleur dialed up two play-action bombs with the team leading 31-7 attempting to go for the throat on every possession.
LaFleur can laugh it off saying that last year's game was a teacher in a game is never truly over. He can point to the lack of effectiveness from his ground game as a reason to keep throwing the ball down the field.
We're not buying any of it. LaFleur is smart. He knows the history of this rivalry. The Packers were 52-18 against the Bears in their last 70 games, including the postseason.
LaFleur also knows that he does not want to be the coach who allowed the rivalry to swing back in the favor of Chicago.
Of course he took things personally.
Of course his team took things personally with the way last season ended.
Of course they took things personally that they were an underdog at Lambeau Field against their oldest rivals, while facing a backup quarterback.
"That's disrespectful," Bullard said. "We came here to do what we were supposed to do. That's disrespectful when a team come in here and we underdogs in our own stadium and we're underdogs with a backup quarterback. No disrespect to any of those quarterbacks. Those guys have standing in this league. They play great in this league before, but we take that personal and I think was just a testament to how we felt about it."
That's what great athletes do. Every perceived slight is taken personally. Chicago's comments over the last nine months leave nothing to the imagination. Even if the Packers want to take the high road playing the role of the big brother, which the Packers have done for the better part of 30 years.
Kraft said during the week that his goal was to talk with his pads, a line that was reiterated for most of the week by those around him.
What did the pads say on Sunday?
A final score of 31-7 as the team he helps captain punched the bully back who dragged them through the mud for the last nine months. No matter what they said during the week, it felt good for them to get back on the winning side of the rivalry.
"Extra good, sure. It definitely feels gratifying to understand of course what we went through last year," Williams said. "All the hoopla of what this game is going to be and what it means as a whole I feel like our culture is just tuning that out and having a one play mentality but, yes, it does feel a little gratifying to make them eat their words."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/packers/onsi as 'Eat Their Words': Packers Make Statement In Blowout of 'Little Bro' Bears .
