Walk into the Peru fire station, and on the wall of Chief Jeff King’s office is a Bears flag. No, the chief is most definitely not a Chicago fan. He just lost a bet.

King is a fan of the rival Packers. He wagered with a co-worker that Green Bay would win the division. The loser had to display the division winner’s team flag.

“It’s going to be there for a year,” King said ruefully.

Here’s where things get really delicate: King’s wife is a Chicago fan, too. Jeff and Denise King have been married since 2018 and will remain so regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s playoff matchup between the Bears and Packers.

The Bears may be the pride and joy of Illinois, but here in the Illinois Valley, the Packers have a strong local following, resulting in many so-to-speak mixed marriages with a lot on the line Saturday when the Bears host Green Bay in the Wild Card round.

Will divorce lawyers get calls on Monday morning from the losing side?

Over in Ottawa, the newest family court judge in La Salle County is reasonably sure most couples will have kissed and made up before the circuit clerk’s office is open for business Monday.

“In my experience, Bears-Packers games create ‘temporary irreconcilable differences’ – emphasis on ‘temporary,’“ Judge Mark Anderson said. “Cooler heads usually prevail by Monday morning.”

His honor admitted that he’s unsure who’s going to win, however.

It’s true that the Bears and Packers are division rivals and play twice a year, but postseason matchups between the two are surprisingly rare. Saturday’s game will be only the third playoff meeting in the teams’ long rivalry.

Chicago beat Green Bay in the 1941 playoffs, en route to a Bears championship over the Giants. Seventy years later, the Packers beat the Bears in the NFC title game and advanced to Super Bowl XLV, defeating Pittsburgh.

That means Saturday’s matchup will be a test case for two La Salle newlyweds. D.J. Kilanowski is a Packers fan while his wife, Amber, roots for the Bears. They didn’t let the rivalry stand in the way of their union, but it was discussed.

“I remember my grandfather, when he was still alive, questioning my choice with dating D.J. because he was a ‘cheesehead,’” Amber recalled.

D.J. grew up in a mixed household himself – “My parents are actually split between the Bears and Packers themselves,” he said – and made a peace offering to his bride-to-be when he left a packaged Bears jersey on her porch. Amber thought it was a bomb.

Seriously.

“I really did think the jersey package was a bomb,” she said.

The happy couple have since reached a compromise. Their 2-year-old son, Hudson, wears a customized Bears-Packers jersey that reads, “I root for both.” Sleeping arrangements, too, will remain unchanged come Saturday. That’s D.J.’s hope, anyway.

“I did have to sleep on the couch when the Packers beat the Bears earlier in the season,” he said.