Patch vs. Patch: Wisconsin Editor Gives 3 Reasons the Pack Will Win

As the Bears get ready to face the Packers during Sunday's NFC Championship, Patch sites in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois are busy brewing their own battle.

New Lenox Patch has teamed up with Port Washington-Saukville Patch in Wisconsin, where Local Editor Lyssa Beyer is busy bulking up on reasons the Bears are likely to fall to her home team, the Green Bay Packers.

Yeah. Right. Beyer will give her reasons, and I'll come back with three reasons the Bears will win.

And, oh yeah, whoever's wrong will have to publish an apology video on our sites next week, decked out in the other team's gear.

3 Reasons Beyer thinks the Packers have got what it takes:

I'm a Packers fan and a Favre ... disliker (to put it nicely.) Different than other fans, my feelings toward Favre began before he left the Packers. Playing for us, he threw so many interceptions I think I finally learned the meaning of infinity.

Forget his stats — the man is old. Of course, he holds a bajillion records (yes, that's probably another number he was able to give definition). But in thinking about my reasons why the Packers are going to beat the Bears this Sunday, the man finally gave me something useful.

3. Favre recently e-mailed ESPN's Ed Werder to tell him the Packers are by far the best team in the NFL playoffs. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently blogged about Favre's comments, reporting Favre as having written, "I think they will win it all! I hope they do, if you are wondering."

2. Remember last week's game, when the Packers played the Atlanta Falcons? The one where they scored 48 points and only gave the Falcons 21? Anything is possible. Plus, we have Aaron Rodgers, and there's a million reasons to love Aaron Rodgers.

1. The blatantly obvious reason that the Packers are going to win on Sunday, and it almost goes without saying: The Bears. Still. Suck.

And here's what I have to say to that:

I'm not going to lie; it's hard to know what to expect from this game. Their first game was between two entirely different teams still learning how to play together, and the result was a sloppy Bears win. The second game got the Packers into the playoffs, and even though the Bears played their starters I think they were already in clinched-mode and didn't put up as good a fight as we here in Chicago know they can, and will.

So why are Da Bears going to get da win? See if you can wrap your cheeseheads around this, Packers fans:

No. 3: It's Chicago's year. Not that it's ever really Green Bay's year, or Wisconsin's year. Sports is just a bigger deal in our city, and part of that is we've got better teams. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. The Bulls will compete for an NBA title. And the White Sox are built to win again after just five years removed from the World Series. It's the Bears' turn to come up big now. We're the true Title Town USA, and our champion fans will prove it this week.

No. 2: Fast Don't Lie. OK, the Bulls' Derrick Rose has been using that slogan in his commercials, but another Chicago athlete is just as fast. If all-purpose kick returner/wide receiver Devin Hester gets a shot, he can change the course of the game more than anyone else on the field. We saw what Hester did returning the kickoff for a touchdown to open the 2007 Super Bowl. Expect more fireworks this weekend.

No. 1: Offense will win the game. This probably sounds good for Green Bay after the Packers just put up 48 on the Falcons and the last time these two met the Bears managed just three points. But these are two fantastic defenses, and whichever teams gets the edge on offense will win.

The difference in this game is that the Bears' No. 2-ranked run defense (second only to the Steelers) will shut down the shell of a run game the Packers have left, and that will make Aaron Rodgers one-dimensional. The Bears, on the other hand, are hitting a stride on offense.

They put up 40 points against a good Vikings defense and 38 against a very good Jets defense. The three points against the Pack was simply because the team had locked up the 2-seed and didn't care. But now this team, including the offense, is in a balanced attack, prove-you-wrong, screw-you Rick Reilly mode. The Packers' defense is great, but the Bears will have their number this week.

This article was also published on Port Washington-Saukville Patch in Wisconsin. We encourage you to follow that link, find this article on their site and comment with some good (clean) smack talk.