-
Courtney Cronin
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Bears coach Ben Johnson isn’t apologizing for for his reaction to Chicago beating the rival Packers in the NFC wild-card round.
From his drive-by handshake with Matt LaFleur to his emphatic «F— the Packers» declaration in the locker room, the Bears coach doubled down on how he celebrated knocking off Chicago’s longtime rival on the biggest stage of the season thus far.
«This is a rivalry,» Johnson said Monday. «And [for] the city of Chicago, Green Bay — it needs to be a rivalry.»
Johnson’s postgame remarks went viral after the team shared a video of the celebration inside the locker room at Soldier Field.
Tremaine Edmunds said. «You could just see the energy in the locker room. Everybody was like, ‘OK, Ben got a little swag about himself.’ Know what I mean? We all put a lot into this. To be able to act off your true emotions and your true personality, I think that’s what it was for him.
«I don’t know if he’s had regrets about it, but I know the fans loved, I know every[thing] about this rivalry that we been talking about, it goes so far back. You know there’s a lot of emotion built up into it and any time that you can win in that fashion, you’ve got to show a little bit of emotion for sure.»
Johnson foreshadowed that emotion when he said he enjoyed beating LaFleur twice a year during his introductory news conference in January 2025. The commentary coming out of Green Bay last week provided added motivation for the Bears after Packers wide receiver Christian Watson and cornerback Keisean Nixon both said that they wanted to play Chicago in the playoffs.
Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley went a step further last Wednesday, implying that Green Bay would beat Chicago when he told reporters «we are not going to be done, so I will see you guys next week.»
The Bears and Packers have played more than any other NFL teams with 210 regular-season meetings. Chicago’s 31-27 wild-card win was just the third time the Bears have faced Green Bay in the postseason and marked the organization’s first playoff win since Jan. 16, 2011.
«It’s a big game: first playoff game at home in a while,» Johnson said. «And we hadn’t won a playoff game in 15 years or so. But certainly, the opponent, in of itself, it means a lot to the city, this organization, and that’s something that we certainly play into a little bit as coaches and players is we know how big it is when Chicago plays Green Bay.»
