"It has been nine months since the Green Bay Packers ended the Chicago Bears' season with a 21-14 victory in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field.

If you don't think the Bears spent that time rehashing the loss - either intentionally or subliminally - then you don't know the degree to which these teams want to beat one another.

You can almost imagine Bears coach Lovie Smith's off-season: He's watching an episode of "Dancing with the Stars" when suddenly Ralph Macchio takes on the appearance of B.J. Raji and the stage looks like the south end zone of Soldier Field.

Got to get back to the office and watch some more tape.

As losers of the NFC title game and a Lambeau Field regular-season finale three weeks before that, the Bears are the ones most inclined to sift through those games and analyze every single thing that went wrong. It's human nature for the loser to make changes and the winner to stick with what works.

Smith doesn't see it that way, however.

"We break it down to that length always anyway," Smith said of combing through the wreckage. "I think as we finished up the football season we knew we were a good football team based on being able to play that late in the season and losing the championship game by seven points.

"We realize that. Once you go through that, you just can't wait to get started.""