Ben Johnson continues to needle the Packers, Matt LaFleur

The most storied rivalry in football is generating some good stories.

After the Bears beat the Packers in the playoffs (it was only the third postseason meeting between the franchises), Chicago coach Ben Johnson declared in the locker room, "Fuck the Packers! Fuck them!" Addressing his reaction later, Johnson's explanation was simple, "I don’t like that team."

In a visit this week with PFT Live, Johnson was asked to elaborate.

"Who likes the Packers?" Johnson said.

The next question focused on whether Johnson is simply leaning into his job as head coach of the Bears, or whether he truly doesn't like the Packers.

"The Bears and the Packers, they should not like each other," Johnson said. "I think it's as simple as that. And I think that's gonna make this rivalry, this game, something that people are going to watch here going forward."

He's right about that. Even though the NFL tends to market itself, a WWE-style effort to stir things up a bit only makes an upcoming game more compelling. Case in point: Every network and streamer will be jockeying with 345 Park Avenue to televise one of the two games between Chicago and Green Bay during the 2026 season.

But there's another side to it. Johnson has made Packers coach Matt LaFleur a periodic pin cushion, starting with Johnson’s introductory press conference more than a year ago. Within the high-turnover coaching industry, where relationships among coaches with other teams fuel future employment prospects, open hostility from one head coach to another is rare.

Johnson was asked whether he has talked to LaFleur, who seems to be confused by all of it.

"We don't talk," Johnson said.

Does he want it that way?

"I'm good with it."

Has he tried to reach out?

"No."

Bears fans love it. The YouTube version of the full interview and the social-media clips drew significant attention, with nearly 600,000 views. Chicago sports radio was buzzing.

So, yes, it's good for business — ours and the NFL's — for Johnson to embrace and to reflect the basic reality that the Bears and Packers should not like each other. In an age where players come and go far more often than they did in the days before free agency and the salary cap, the hatred the fans feel toward a rival isn't shared by the men in uniform.

Johnson is taking a very different approach. To the delight of everyone in Chicago, and Bears fans everywhere.