Few players have filled the role of villain in Chicago Bears lore over the past few decades more than Clay Matthews. Not only was the former linebacker an excellent player, one of the best pass rushers of his era, but he also happened to be an arrogant prick who didn’t mind playing dirty at times. He seemed to take a particular twisted satisfaction in torturing the Bears with both his play and his mouth. The fact that he retired before they had a chance to get proper revenge felt like we were cheated by the football gods.
Retirement hasn’t stopped him from taking shots at every opportunity. Matthews saved his biggest for the NFL draft in Green Bay, where he concluded his announcing of a Packers pick by loudly declaring “the Bears still suck.”
Well, they say karma catches up to you eventually. It started that weekend when the Bears put together what appears to be one of their best drafts in a decade, headlined by Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Kyle Monangai. However, it hammered home several months later when Chicago stunned the Packers in the wild card round with an 18-point comeback to win. Matthews, who’d bet on his former team to win, suffered a cruel fate as a result.
Clay Matthews had that coming for years.
Seeing him take his medicine for once is incredibly cathartic after what he put the Bears through for a decade. Perhaps no photograph better encapsulates how satisfying that victory was than Matthews in that cheese grater hat. Here’s hoping the Bears get more chances to humble his ego in the coming years. It certainly looks like the rivalry is back on, which is something he never had to deal with during most of his career in Green Bay. He played against some rough teams. One can only imagine how he would’ve handled Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams twice a year.
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It doesn’t matter. Clay Matthews is the past. The Bears can finally look to the future. They have a chance to further the most storybook playoff run in franchise history on Sunday with an upset of the powerhouse Los Angeles Rams. It’s asking a lot. So much emotion was poured into the victory last week. Do the Bears have enough left in the tank to bring their best against Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford? We’ll find out. No question it’ll ruin Matthews’ day if they do.
