The Chicago Bears have their head coach for hopefully the next few decades, hiring Ben Johnson to lead the charge. The new head coach raised some eyebrows during his introductory press conference, he said that he enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur and the Packers twice a year when he was the offensive coordinator in Detroit.
A few days later, Johnson was asked to clarify those comments while appearing on First Take. Johnson chalked it up to "friendly banter".
“I have a lot of respect for Matt [LaFleur]. I’ve told him that as recently as a month ago, and so it comes from a good place. It’s -- Listen, there’s a strong rivalry here between the Bears and the Packers. I’m well aware of it. I’m well aware of this division. I have a ton of respect, obviously, for all the coaches.”
Ben Johnson says shot he took at Matt LaFleur was "friendly banter"
Bears fans certainly didn't care about Johnson saying he liked beating up on the Packers. In fact, the majority of them were probably psyched about it and hoping that he can bring that same energy when the two teams meet up during the 2025 season. It's no secret that the Bears have had a tough time getting past the Packers with their win against them earlier this month being the first time they had done so since December 2018.
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The entire division is stacked with, as Johnson mentioned in his introductory press conference, Dan Campbell and Kevin O'Connell both coming off Coach of the Year-caliber seasons and LaFleur doing the same kind of coaching wizardry that he's been doing for several years now with the Packers. Johnson's not walking into a cakewalk of a division but Bears fans are hoping that he was worth all of the hype he got and that Chicago can turn into an offensive juggernaut.
"Friendly banter" is fine but what would be even better is if Johnson can continue his winning ways against the Packers and make them as miserable as the Packers made the Bears in recent years.