Be sure to catch your Green Bay Packers as they open the 100th NFL season on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. You can watch all the pregame festivities (6 p.m.) and game (7:20 p.m.) Thursday only on TODAY'S TMJ4.
The Green Bay Packers don’t take on the Chicago Bears until Thursday night, but the green and gold got the party started Wednesday at a pep rally in Chicago.
About 100 Packers fans poured onto the street outside a Packers bar called Will’s Northwoods Inn in Chicago. Marcus Fair came all the way from South Carolina.
"It’s in my blood, Aaron Rodgers, 12, Brett Favre, 4, go Pack, go,” he said.
Marcos Flores traveled from Texas.
“The energy in Chicago, this is probably the best energy I’ve felt so far,” he said.
Some won free prizes, others met Packers greats including Super Bowl champion James Jones.
Terrance McClain grew up in Milwaukee, but he isn’t conflicted about his favorite team now that he calls Chicago home.
“They give me a hard time but I always show them love,” McClain said.
There’s plenty of love for the Packers inside Will’s Northwoods Inn, a bar that’s been filled with Packers memorabilia for nearly a century. General manager Kevin Cruse said you may be surprised by how well Packers and Bears fans get along.
“The energy in Chicago, this is probably the best energy I’ve felt so far." — Packers fan Marcos Flores, who traveled to Chicago from Texas
“Packers fans know that they’re in Chicago, and so there’s kind of a respect for that reason, and the Bears fans know this is the home for Packer fans so leave them alone,” Cruse said.
Bears fan Jaclyn Emich found herself surrounded by the competition.
“They can have tonight; they can have this,” she said. "We’ll be out tomorrow. There will be a lot of Bears fans here tomorrow.”
