Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard reveals the intense, ever-present animosity between Bears and Packers fans, a passion unlike anything he's encountered before.
Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard was voted to the third Pro Bowl of his career in 2025.
The 32-year-old is still playing his best football, recording seven interceptions, 93 total tackles and four TFLs for Chicago this season.
He entered the NFL in 2016 and spent most of his time in the league with the Tennessee Titans until 2023. He was then traded to the Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Bears in 2024.
Byard appeared on a recent episode of "Bussin' With the Boys" to discuss what it was like to go from a small-market team like the Titans to a large-market team like the Bears. Byard thought he knew what rivalries were like until he got his first taste of the Bears' hatred for the Green Bay Packers.
The Titans have minor rivalries with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans, but they didn't come close to the Bears-Packers rivalry. Byard found out really quickly how much "different" the vibes were in the rivalry.
"Who was our rival in Tennessee?" Byard asked. "Would you say Jacksonville? No, this **** is different, bro. So, no, listen, I'm going to tell you this, bro. When I signed here last year, I kind of you know, you know about the Green Bay, the Aaron Rodgers, I own Chicago, you all that stuff, but you don't really realize the hatred this city has towards Green Bay, and I don't think Green Bay feels the same way about Chicago, but Chicago hates Green Bay, bro."
To demonstrate how different the rivalry is from others, Byard mentioned that during a preseason game in Buffalo, fans began chanting, "Green Bay sucks." Even at other sporting events like Chicago Blackhawks or Chicago Bulls games, it can happen.
The entire city of Chicago shares their hatred for Green Bay.
"The first preseason game we had here, we might have been playing in Buffalo somewhere, I don't know where we was at, but all of a sudden just like a Green Bay sucks, f Green Bay chant just breaks out of nowhere," Byard said. "I'm on the sideline like, 'Bro, what is going on? Like, what are they saying?' They said, 'No, bro. They the fans, they hate Green Bay.' It can happen randomly. You can be at a Blackhawks game, a Bulls game. They're just going to do it all the time."
After experiencing the rivalry in full, Byard and the Bears look to eliminate the Packers from the playoffs on Saturday night. Now that he's been with the organization for almost two seasons, Byard gets it.
This is one of the most important editions of the rivalry, and the third time the Bears and Packers will meet in the playoffs in franchise history.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. CT on Prime Video or Fox 32 in Chicago.