People don’t need to be a psychiatrist to recognize that Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is an intense individual. He takes the game of football very seriously. Not a single minute spent should be wasted. If you’re not trying to be great, whether you’re a player or coach, then why are you even in the game? This goes a long way in explaining his aggressive mentality. Johnson has said many times since taking over last year that his goal isn’t just to win games. It is to dominate the opposition.
If you think you understand the full depth of those words, you’re wrong. Johnson might be best known for his occasional pettiness when he feels the Bears are being disrespected. Yet when you hear players talk about what he’s really like behind the scenes, you start to realize the truth.
Johnson is a sadist.
He wants to inflict mental and physical agony on the opponent. None more so than the Green Bay Packers. Wide receiver Luther Burden and tight end Colston Loveland both alluded to this when speaking to Dan Wiederer of The Athletic.
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“I feel like he wants to beat them really bad,” Burden said. “Like everybody else in the room. Like every Chicago fan. We want to beat them really bad. And make them quit.”…
…Said Loveland: “We want to control the clock. We want to physically dominate. We want to score a lot of points. And Ben said this recently, ‘We want to impose our will to a point where we ruin the other team’s season.’ Where they lose to us and they lose the next couple games and then they’ve got guys falling by the wayside.”
Ben Johnson is that perfect blend of passionate and ruthless.
He has that mix of a burning desire to inflict pain and a lack of empathy for anyone he does it to. In a football sense, of course. There is no room for camaraderie or class in these games. Not from his point of view. There are 32 teams in the NFL. Only one of them gets to hoist the Lombardi trophy every year. If you’re not willing to exploit any possible advantage, including mind games, to weaken your opponent, you’re doing your own team a disservice. Johnson recognized immediately that Green Bay had something over the Bears.
The mental edge.
They’d beaten Chicago so many times that it eroded the confidence of fans and players alike. They always expected something to go wrong. Ben Johnson would not allow that. What is the best way to counteract a bully? Confront him head-on. So the Bears head coach immediately began taunting them, prodding them, and letting them know they’d better not expect the same docile rivals they’d seen over the past 15 years. All the while, he put his players through an intense grind in training camp, preparing them for the war he knew was coming.
The gambit worked beautifully.
Johnson’s constant jabs, mixed with the Bears’ rebuilt self-confidence, led to two epic victories late last season. Green Bay suddenly looked like the team that wasn’t sure of itself. That much has been reinforced in the months since their January playoff loss. They’re 2-2, and both of their wins were by the skin of their teeth against bad teams. It is completely foreign territory for them, and Johnson aims to keep them there on Sunday. He smells blood in the water and no doubt aims to deliver the kill shot.
Not just because it benefits the Bears. Also, because it brings him joy. So yes, a bit of a sadist indeed. Truth be told, the organization has probably needed someone like that for a long time. Looking back through the years, the Bears have always functioned at their best when they have a bit of a loose cannon in charge. You saw it with George Halas and against with Mike Ditka. Johnson is eager to carry on that tradition.
