I’ve riffed before about how football fans around here don’t typically take a liking to what some derisively call “the Sunday game.”

Stay with that opinion if you will, but you can’t deny that Sunday’s NFC Championship game between Chicago and Green Bay just reeks of National Football League tradition.

You can almost hear the voice of John Facenda, the longtime “Voice of God” for NFL Films, intoning over slow-motion footage from Bears-Packers games of yore: “The frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.”

Just two problems with that: This game is at Soldier Field in Chicago, not in Green Bay. And Facenda never actually uttered those words — it was ESPN’s Chris Berman doing his famous impersonation of Facenda’s baritone voice.

Be that as it may, this game is the pro equivalent of Alabama-Auburn. The Monsters of the Midway play the Pack twice a year as NFC North division rivals, but only once before have the legendary sides faced each other in an NFL playoff game.

That was in 1941, and it was played at Wrigley Field, which the Bears shared with the Cubs back then. George “Papa Bear” Halas was in the second of his three separate stints as head coach, and “Curly” Lambeau was in his 23rd season at the helm of the Packers. Tickets were a whopping $1.65, about $25 in today’s dollars. (Seatgeek.com shows the cheapest ticket available for Sunday at $385.)

It was only a week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the game wasn’t even a scheduled playoff. It was a tiebreaker game to determine the Western Division team in the NFL Championship Game. And yes, they were still using leather helmets — plastic ones weren’t even invented until a few years later.

Sunday’s renewal may be one of the few conference championship games to actually out-hype the Super Bowl that follows. With the Saints, Patriots and Colts out of the hunt, this game has taken center stage, largely due to its heritage.

But the game itself could shape up to be a real doozy.

The Bears are known for their defense, much as they have been since the days of the Model T. ESPNChicago.com writer Jon Greenburg calls Chicago “the land of the middle linebacker,” and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. Brain Urlacher is the name even casual fans know, but the Bears defense is truly an ensemble, with Tommie Harris, Anthony Adams, Lance Briggs in head coach Lovie Smith’s cover-2 base defense — a scheme often criticized by analysts and fans, but which has proven effective. And that’s a good thing, because QB Jay Cutler’s offense leaves a lot to be desired.

Not the Packers. Offense is how they make their living, with QB Aaron Rogers leading the way. The Chicago defense did harness Rogers most of the way in their last matchup in Week 17, only to see him break down the cover-2 with a 46-yard strike to Greg Jennings to set up the winning score. Rogers has a knack for freezing the safety, as he did with Danieal Manning on that play.

This game could be an all-time classic by the time it is finished. The only thing missing will be the voice of John Facenda.

What the heck — lets pick a winner:

Chicago 17, Green Bay 13.