Packers-Bears Week 16 Dope Sheet

*Two years after he co-founded the Packers with Curly Lambeau, George Calhoun began writing a piece called The Dope Sheet, which served as the official press release and game program from 1921-24. *

*Honoring Calhoun, the first publicity director, the Packers are running this weekly feature as their release, which is being made available to fans exclusively on Packers.com. This is an abbreviated version of the Packers-Bears Week 16 Dope Sheet. To read the full version, download the PDF by **clicking here**. *

Here are some highlights from thePackers-Bears Week 16 Dope Sheet:

CHICAGO (7-7) AT GREEN BAY (13-1)
Sunday, Dec. 25 - Lambeau Field - 7:20 p.m. CST

PACKERS AND BEARS SET TO SQUARE OFF ON CHRISTMAS

• Green Bay returns home after three road games in four weeks to face the division-rival Chicago Bears on Christmas, only the second time in franchise history that the Packers have played on the holiday.
• Green Bay's only other Christmas game came in 2005, also against Chicago, a contest the Bears won, 24-17, at Lambeau Field. The Packers and Bears are joined by the Cowboys (2006 and 2010) as the only teams in the league to have two Christmas games over the past six seasons.
• The Packers can clinch home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a win over the Bears on Sunday or a San Francisco loss. Green Bay is aiming to be the top seed in the conference for the first time since 1996.
• Green Bay's loss at Kansas City this past Sunday marked the first defeat for the Packers in nearly a year, with their last loss coming at New England on Dec. 19, 2010, at Gillette Stadium.
• The loss to the Chiefs snapped the Packers' 19-game winning streak (including playoffs), the longest winning streak in franchise history (12-game streak in 1961-62). It is the second-longest winning streak in NFL history, including the postseason, behind only the 2003-04 New England Patriots' 21-game winning streak.
• The Packers will be looking to set the franchise record for the most wins in the regular season this Sunday. They have already matched the 13-win totals posted by the team in 1962, 1996, 1997 and 2007.
• This will be the fourth meeting between the Packers and Bears in 2011, only the sixth time in NFL history that two franchises have met four or more times in a calendar year (see page 3 for more details).
• Green Bay will be looking to become only the second NFL team to beat another club four times in a calendar year (L.A Raiders over Denver, 1994). The Packers beat the Bears in the 2010 season finale at Lambeau Field and the 2010 NFC Championship in Chicago, and also topped Chicago earlier this season in Week 3 at Soldier Field.
• This Sunday will mark game No. 184 in the NFL's oldest rivalry. The Bears hold a 92-85-6 edge in the series, which includes two postseason meetings. Green Bay has won five of the last six meetings between the teams and will be looking to sweep the season series for the second time in the last three seasons (also 2009).

HOME COOKING

• The Packers have won 11 straight contests at Lambeau Field and 17 of their last 18 at home. It is the longest regular-season home winning streak by Green Bay since an 11-game streak from 2001-02 and thelongest current home winning streak in the NFL.
• Green Bay's 17-1 (.944) home mark since Week 10 of 2009 ranks No. 1 in the NFL over that span, ahead of New England (16-1).
• The Packers are off to their first 6-0 start at home since 2002. That season, Green Bay went on to post a perfect 8-0 mark at Lambeau Field.
• The Packers are one of only three teams in the league that are unbeaten at home this season (Baltimore, 7-0; New Orleans, 6-0).
• Green Bay is averaging a league-best 40.2 points per game at home this season. The Packers' franchise record is 38.0 ppg at home in 1942.

WITH THE CALL

• NBC Sports will broadcast the game to a national audience. Play-by-play man Al Michaels joins color commentatorCris Collinsworth in the booth with Michele Tafoya reporting from the sidelines.
• Fans also can check out the action online, where the broadcast will be streamed on NBCSports.com and NFL.com.
• Milwaukee's WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since 1929, heads up the 52-station Packers Radio Network, with Wayne Larrivee(play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro BowlerLarry McCarren (color) calling the action. The duo enters its 13th season of broadcasts together across the Packers Radio Network, which covers 43 markets in five states.
• Westwood One radio will air the game across the country. Dave Sims (play-by-play) and James Lofton (analyst) will call the action, with Hub Arkushon the sidelines.Scott Graham hosts pregame and halftime shows.
• For out-of-town listeners, the broadcast is available on Sirius Satellite Radio as part of the network's NFL Sunday Drive.

THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT:

• Packers vs. Chicago Bears:
• All-time regular season:84-91-6
• All-time, postseason:1-1
• All-time, in Green Bay:30-22-0
• Streaks:The Packers have won five of the last six meetings.
• Last meeting, regular season:Sept. 25, 2011, at Soldier Field; Packers won, 27-17
• Last meeting, in Green Bay:Jan. 2, 2011; Packers won, 10-3

COACHES CAPSULES

• Mike McCarthy: 66-35-0, .653, (incl. 5-2 postseason); 6th NFL season
• Lovie Smith:73-59-0, .553 (incl. 3-3 postseason); 8th NFL season
• Head to Head:McCarthy 7-5
• vs. Opponent:McCarthy 7-5 vs. Bears; Smith 8-8 vs. Packers

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MIKE McCARTHY…Is in sixth year as the Packers' 14th head coach.

• Having led Green Bay to the playoffs three of his five seasons with the team, he joined Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren as the only coaches to guide the Packers to a Super Bowl title with a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.
• His .714 winning percentage (5-2) in the postseason is tied for first among active NFL head coaches, matching the mark of New England's Bill Belichick (15-6) and Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin (5-2).
• One of only two coaches, along with New Orleans' Sean Payton, to have his offense ranked in the top 10 in total yardage each of the last five seasons.
• Was named Packers head coach on Jan. 12, 2006, his first head-coaching job after 13 years as an NFL assistant.
• Honored as the 2007 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year and NFL Alumni Coach of the Year.
• Became the first Packers coach since Lombardi to lead the team to a championship game in his second season.

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LOVIE SMITH…Is in eighth year as the Bears' 13th head coach.

• With 70 regular-season wins, ranks third in franchise history behind Hall of Famers Mike Ditka and George Halas.
• Led Bears to his third NFC North crown in 2010, the most in the division since 2004.
• Guided the team to its first Super Bowl appearance in 21 years in '06.
• Named the AP NFL Coach of the Year in 2005 after he led a worst-to-first revival in the NFC North. The Bears' six-win improvement from the previous season was tied for the biggest in the NFL that year.
• Came to Chicago from St. Louis, where he served as defensive coordinator from 2001-03, helping the Rams return to the Super Bowl in 2001. Prior to that, coached LBs for Tampa Bay from 1996-2000. 

THE PACKERS-BEARS SERIES

• No two teams have met on the gridiron more than the Packers and Bears. Sunday they face off for the 184th time.
• Last season, the teams squared off in the postseason for just the second time in the history of the series. With a berth in Super Bowl XLV on the line, the Packers emerged victorious, 21-14, at Soldier Field.  
• The Packers' 37-3 win on Nov. 16, 2008, marked the largest margin of victory in the series since Green Bay's 40-3 win on Dec. 11, 1994. Chicago's win in December of that year was just the second OT game in series history and first since Sept. 7, 1980, when Packers K Chester Marcol returned his own blocked FG for the winning score.
• The last time Green Bay led the overall series? On the heels of its three straight NFL championships, 1932, when the Packers led 11-10-5. Two months after Babe Ruth allegedly called his shot at Wrigley Field in the 1932 World Series, the Bears stole from Green Bay a fourth straight title (which at the time was determined by league standings). Chicago barely finished atop the league standings, which unlike today did not count ties. Had the league counted ties in standings, the Packers would have won. The next year, 1933, the NFL began determining its champion with postseason games.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Packers running backs coach Jerry Fontenot was a third-round draft choice of the Bears in 1989 and was a mainstay at C in his eight seasons (1989-96) in Chicago...Green Bay wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett finished his playing career in Chicago (1998-99)...Packers director of player development Rob Davis served as Chicago's long snapper for all 16 games in 1996...Bears head coach Lovie Smith was a University of Wisconsin assistant in 1987, while Bears linebackers coach Bob Babich spent two seasons on the Badgers' staff (1988-89)...Packers DE Ryan Pickett played in St. Louis for both Smith and Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz, when Smith served as the Rams' defensive coordinator and Martz as head coach…Bears assistant defensive backs/safeties coach Gill Byrd served as the Packers executive director/player programs and community affairs from 1999-2001...Packers T Bryan Bulaga earned all-state honors as a senior at Marian Central Catholic High (Woodstock, Ill.)...Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy was a teammate of Bears wide receivers coach Darryl Drake with the Redskins in 1979...Bears DE Julius Peppers was a key member of the Carolina defenses that Packers defensive line coach Mike Trgovac coordinated from 2003-08...Bears LB Nick Roach is a Milwaukee native who played collegiately at Northwestern...Packers head coach Mike McCarthy coached on the San Francisco staff in 2005 when Bears DT Anthony Adams played for the 49ers…Bears tight ends coach Mike DeBord coached on the staff at Michigan when Packers CB Charles Woodson played for the Wolverines…Packers secondary-safeties coach Darren Perry played at Penn State when Bears asst. special teams coach Kevin O'Dea was on the staff there…Bears running backs coach Tim Spencer played at Ohio State when Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was on the staff there…Packers offensive quality control coach Joel Hilgenberg's older brother, Jay, was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection (1985-91) at center for the Bears…Packers secondary-cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr. served as the cornerbacks coach/recruiting coordinator at Louisville when Bears DT Amobi Okoye played for the Cardinals...Packers QB Matt Flynn and Bears S Craig Steltz helped lead LSU to the BCS national title in 2007...Other former college teammates include Bears LB Brian Iwuh and Packers K Mason Crosby (Colorado), Bears DL Henry Melton and Packers TE Jermichael Finley (Texas), Bears S Brandon Meriweather and Packers CB Sam Shields (Miami), and Bears WR Dane Sanzenbacher and Packers RB Brandon Saine (Ohio State).

LAST MEETING, IN GREEN BAY

• Jan. 2, 2011, at Lambeau Field; Packers won, 10-3.
• Needing a victory to clinch a spot in the playoffs, Green Bay topped its division rival in the season finale to secure the No. 6 seed in the NFC.
• With the game knotted at 3 early in the fourth quarter, QB Aaron Rodgers found TE Donald Lee on a 1-yard TD pass after Rodgers completed a 48-yard pass to WR Greg Jennings down to the Chicago 1.
• Chicago had three possessions with a chance to tie the game and moved into Green Bay territory after starting at its own 2-yard line. At the Green Bay 32 with 20 seconds left, QB Jay Cutler's pass sailed over the head of WR Devin Hester and into the arms of S Nick Collins as the Packers clinched a playoff berth for the second straight season.

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STAT OF THE WEEK

• With his 2-yard TD pass to WR Donald Driver at Kansas City on Sunday, QB Aaron Rodgers placed his name atop the franchise record book and joined some select NFL company.
• The touchdown pass to Driver was Rodgers' 40th of the season, which topped the franchise record of 39 TD passes posted by QB Brett Favre in 1996.
• Rodgers became just the fifth quarterback in NFL history to throw 40-plus TD passes in a season, joining Dan Marino (1984, '86), Kurt Warner ('99), Peyton Manning (2004) and Tom Brady (2007).
• With two games remaining on the schedule, Rodgers now sets his sights on the franchise record for most passing yards in a season. Though 14 games, Rodgers has 4,360 passing yards on the season.
• Rodgers needs 99 passing yards to top Lynn Dickey's franchise record of 4,458 yards in 1983. Rodgers fell just 25 yards short of the single-season record in 2009 with 4,434 yards.

*This is an abbreviated version of the Packers-Bears Week 16 Dope Sheet. To read the full version, download the PDF by **clicking here**. *