Nearly two months after yelling "I own you" in the direction of a Chicago Bears fan who reacted to his touchdown celebration with two middle fingers, Aaron Rodgers isn't backing down.
If anything, he's doubling down.
Rodgers' highly publicized, off-the-cuff utterance will be put to the test again Sunday night as the Packers host the Bears for the second of their twice-annual meetings. His confidence remains unshaken.
"I don't know if you can question a whole lot of what I said. We've had a good record over the years against them and won a lot of games," Rodgers said Wednesday, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Rodgers improved his career record against the Bears, including playoff games, to 22-5 with the 24-14 win at Chicago's Soldier Field on Oct. 17. His remark, picked up by broadcast microphones, came after Rodgers clinched the win with a 6-yard touchdown run.
Bears veteran tight end Jimmy Graham, for his part, took no offense to Rodgers' hot-mic moment.
"We've just got to stop them," Graham said.
That's easier said than done, although Rodgers hinted that his ownership of the Bears isn't above an eventual day of reckoning.
"At some point, it will be used against me. It is what it is. I don't regret saying it at all," Rodgers added.
To use Rodgers' own words against him without waiting until next year, Bears fans will need their team to pull off an unlikely upset on Sunday.
Promising Bears rookie QB Justin Fields has been medically cleared from an injury to his ribs for his first action since Week 11, but toppling the Packers will be no easy task. Since Green Bay's road win over Chicago, the Packers have run away with the NFC North, holding the biggest division lead in the NFL (along with the Buccaneers), while the Bears have reeled to 4-8.
The Bears' last win over Green Bay came in 2018 at Soldier Field, 24-17.
For Bears fans, and one in particular, the next one can't come soon enough, as long as Rodgers is the losing quarterback.
