Ben Johnson didn’t arrive like your normal new head coach. When he stepped to the podium for the Chicago Bears in his introductory press conference, one thing was made clear from the outset. Everybody else outside of Halas Hall was officially the enemy. None more so than the Green Bay Packers and Matt Lafleur. Johnson didn’t even bother hiding his dislike for the Packers head coach, stating he always enjoyed beating him twice a year when he was with the Detroit Lions. It was a comment that caught many by surprise, including Lafleur.
It didn’t take long to recognize that animosity was building fast between the two, as evidenced by their frosty handshakes after all three of their games last season. According to Adam Hoge of CHGO, the truth is Lafleur was even more furious about Johnson’s comments than he’s been letting on in public.
People around the league are still trying to figure out where that beef came from and how real it is. Well, it’s surely real now, but I would say most of the true hatred is really one-way: from the Packers’ head coach in the direction of the Bears’ head coach.
From what I understand, LaFleur was completely caught off guard when Johnson stoked the flames at his introductory press conference in January 2025. And he didn’t like it. But Johnson had a purpose, and it sure worked. He’s in LaFleur’s head.
This makes you wonder if Johnson knew exactly what he was doing. One thing he recognized is that nobody had ever challenged LaFleur directly before. The Bears’ head coach may have sensed that, for all the Packers’ head coach’s offensive brilliance, he might not have the mental fortitude to be directly challenged.
Ben Johnson is using a classic psychological tactic.
One of the things that helped Lafleur dominate the Bears for so long is the obvious mismatch between himself and previous Chicago head coaches. It certainly didn’t hurt that neither of them was as committed to the rivalry as others might’ve been. Hell, he and Matt Eberflus were friends. Johnson had no intention of letting Lafleur off that easily. He felt the best way to attack the Packers was to take their focus off the games and put it on him. Having Lafleur angry at him for his comments meant he wouldn’t have his full attention on winning football games.
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This was a tactic the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons of the 1980s used to perfection. They knew their physical style of play got under opponents’ skin, eventually leading to retaliation. Once the focus became more on the fight than the game, the Pistons had the advantage. Ben Johnson is doing much the same thing. Go back and listen to how Packers players talked after the Bears’ overtime win at Soldier Field. They were more interested in getting revenge for what they felt was an injustice. It was all about shutting Johnson up and taking retaliatory shots. In hindsight, their massive collapse in the playoff rematch shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Johnson had no intention of letting Lafleur dictate the rivalry.
His declaration last year was a message that every game moving forward would be war. If Lafleur wanted to maintain his customary dominance, he’d have to fight for it. His usual tactic of building big leads and expecting the Bears to crumble won’t work anymore. Once that became apparent, the Packers coach didn’t know what to do. His growing hatred of Johnson only made matters worse. It’s one thing for a guy to talk trash about you. It is entirely another for him to talk trash and beat you on top of it.
That can drive a man crazy. Now you begin to understand why Lafleur didn’t take long to embrace hating Johnson. The losing is bad enough. Getting zero respect on top of it? That is brutal. Don’t expect the Bears head coach to change his tactics. He’s made it clear he isn’t in this business to make friends. Everybody else in the NFL is standing in his way of a championship. That makes them obstacles. Obstacles that must be destroyed. There is none bigger than Green Bay, and Lafleur is their leader.
