Story byPaul NoonanSat, January 10, 2026 at 5:45 PM UTC·5 min readAs a Packer fan who lives in Chicago (fine, Chicago-land, but we’ll get to that), this is an extra stressful week. I’ve lived in every city that contains an NFC North football team (yes, fine, except for Green Bay, but I’m old enough to have seen several Packer Games at Milwaukee County Stadium, so I am still technically correct, the best kind of correct), and I can tell you that there is just an entire new level of emotional stakes involved in this situation. If the Packers lose on Saturday you normal people can just move on with your lives after an appropriate mourning period. For me, this turns into a solid week (or longer should the Bears progress further) of constant reminders.