Tom Brady congratulated Aaron Rodgers for becoming a “shareholder of the Bears” after the Green Bay Packers quarterback’s celebration in which he could be heard saying he “owned” the Chicago team.
After scoring a six-yard rushing touchdown in the Packers 24-14 win over their division rivals, microphones close to Rodgers heard him goading fans in Soldier Field in Chicago.
“I’ve owned you all my f**king life!” Rodgers shouted. “I own you. I still own you.”
And Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brady humorously congratulated Rodgers on his new ownership role, after he improved his all-time record against the Bears to 22-5.
“I wanted to say congrats to Aaron Rodgers,” Brady said on his weekly SiriusXM NFL Radio show on Wednesday as he prepares to face the Bears this Sunday. “Obviously, I know he’s a great quarterback, but I guess he’s now a shareholder of the Bears.
“I saw a clip of him really enthusiastically telling the crowd how happy he is to own Soldier Field. And that’s really great stuff. He owns the (Milwaukee Bucks) now. Part owner of Soldier Field. So he’s got a great career beyond football.”
When asked about the celebration in the press conference after the win, Rodgers said it was not unprovoked.
“Sometimes, you black out on the field, in a good way,” Rodgers said. “But I looked up in the stands, and in the front row, all I saw was a woman giving me the double bird. So I’m not sure exactly what came out of my mouth next.”
Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videos
And having had some time to consider the celebration, Rodgers said it was definitely a “spur of the moment” action.
“When I got down to my knee and looked up, all I could see and hear was obscenities,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday. “I didn’t plan on telling the crowd that I own them. I think based on the statistical reference of my career, win percentage down there against them, definitely our teams have done some good things.
“I know I used ‘I’ a few times, but I do feel like it’s a ‘we’ thing. Really since (Brett) Favre took over, we’ve flipped that entire series on its head. When Favre-y took over, we were double-digits in the hole in the all-time series.
“This series has been going on for 100 years plus, and now we’re seven up, so it feels good to be on this side of it. That was a special moment looking back. I didn’t realize how crazy it would go … I love the response of my teammates backing me up.”