Bears head coach Ben Johnson faces his first test at Lambeau Field since his candid post-playoff declaration against the Packers.
The last time Ben Johnson stood in a locker room after facing the Green Bay Packers. he did not mince words. Following a come-from-behind playoff victory in January. the Bears head coach addressed his team with a raw. visceral sentiment: “F— the Packers. ” he said. “F— them. F—ing hate those guys.”.
He offered no apologies then. insisting that for the city of Chicago. the matchup needed to feel like a true rivalry. But as he prepares to lead his team onto the turf at Lambeau Field this Sunday, the atmosphere has shifted. There were no outbursts in his postgame speech following last Sunday’s win. Instead, he offered a brief, focused directive: “You guys know what next week is?. Enough said.”.
Johnson seems eager to let the scoreboard do the talking. Receiver Luther Burden senses the intensity behind that restraint. “I feel like he wants to beat them really bad,” Burden said. “Like everybody else in the room, every Chicago fan. We just want to beat them real bad and make them quit.”
This tension has defined the start of Johnson’s tenure. During his introductory press conference. he publicly noted his enjoyment in beating Packers coach Matt LaFleur twice a year while serving as a Lions assistant coach. LaFleur. who does not know Johnson well. has remained largely detached in public. telling Green Bay reporters Monday that he prefers to keep the focus on the players rather than himself. The two men have traded quips through the media. and their postgame handshakes are notoriously swift. mechanical affairs where neither man breaks stride.
While stars Caleb Williams and Micah Parsons sit out with injuries. the two coaches have become the public faces of a rivalry that currently finds their franchises moving in opposite directions. On December 7, the Packers defeated the Bears at Lambeau after a late-game interception by Williams. Since then. the Packers have lost five consecutive games—including two at Soldier Field—and their only two wins this season came against a Jets team the Bears previously beat by 11. and a Buccaneers squad starting an undrafted rookie quarterback for the first time. LaFleur, despite receiving a contract extension following last year’s playoffs, is now facing mounting pressure from a frustrated fanbase.
Conversely, the Bears have opened the season 3-1 despite rotating through three different quarterbacks. Under Johnson’s play-calling. the team has outscored opponents by 47 points—the third-best margin in the league—while the Packers have been outscored by 32. the fourth-worst margin in the NFL. The Bears currently lead the league in total yards gained, while the Packers rank 19th.
History looms heavy over this matchup. Before the Bears’ 31-27 wild card playoff win. the Packers had dominated the series. losing just three of the previous 20 meetings and seven of 37. Past coaches have frequently declared the tide turned, only to be humbled. Matt Nagy won a division title in 2018 before losing 11 straight to Green Bay. John Fox and Marc Trestman both notched early wins against the Packers before suffering lopsided losses and eventual termination. Johnson. however. split his regular-season games last year before that playoff win. giving him more victories over the rivals than any Bears coach since Lovie Smith.
Bears chairman George McCaskey acknowledged the weight of the moment back in April. noting that while he supported Johnson’s passion. the words eventually require validation on the field. “If we don’t beat them in the playoffs. then the narrative is still. ‘Well. you still can’t get past them. ’” McCaskey said. “The rivalry is 100 plus years old. And, sad to say, the last 30 years they’ve had the better of us.”.
For Johnson, Sunday offers the opportunity to prove that the recent shift in the series is more than a momentary flicker. “This is a big week for us,” Johnson said. “It’s important to our organization, it’s important to theirs as well. It’ll be really good competition here on Sunday.”
Ben Johnson Chicago Bears Green Bay Packers NFL Lambeau Field Matt LaFleur