In the past couple of days, Chicago Bears fans have been having themselves a blast. It all began when the Bears officially announced they had hired Ben Johnson as their new head coach.
Chicago did, indeed, land the guy everybody had been wanting for a very long time, now. Dating back to last year, even after the Bears had kept Matt Eberflus, it was Johnson getting much attention from a large portion of this fan base.
Alas, it has come to fruition, and it is oh, so sweet.
Fans, players, and media have had plenty of time to react and form initial opinions. But, what about Johnson's former players back in Detroit? How have they taken the news?
Surely, that locker room knew this was coming. Johnson was going to get a head coaching job. There's no way this was any sort of shock to the likes of Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs or Amon-Ra St. Brown, among others.
But, knowing their opinions on the matter would still be entertaining, to say the least.
Ask and you shall receive.
After taking the Bears job, Johnson reportedly spoke to his former wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown about leaving. And, part of St. Brown's response was pretty comical.
Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ben Johnson wasted no time fueling the Bears-Lions rivalry
According to St. Brown, on the most recent episode of the St. Brown Podcast, this is how the exchange went down between he and his former offensive coordinator:
"For two times a year, Ben, we're going to f**k you up," St. Brown said.
As for what Johnson's response was to his former wide receiver?
"I'm gonna f**k you up," the head coach told St. Brown.
More Ben Johnson news:
Alright then. A simple and effective exchange between the two did more than enough to add more fuel to the fire that is this NFC North rivalry.
Actually, this hasn't been much of a rivalry in recent years. Whether or not it's the Lions or Bears who have won, this matchup hasn't exactly invoked the same amount of emotion as a Bears-Packers or Bears-Vikings contest.
Call it fatigue, I suppose. But, seeing the Lions as bottom-feeders for a good amount of the past few decades is still at the forefront of most fans' minds.
Now, there's a chance for this to turn into a real rivalry going forward. And, thanks to Johnson making this highly-controversial move (at least, if you're a Lions fan) we can look forward to adding the Lions back into the mix or a real, legitimate NFC North rivalry with the Bears.