Ben Johnson sets the record straight on his relationship with Matt LaFleur

RC Nazemi

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Ben Johnson sets the record straight on his relationship with Matt LaFleur image

NFL on Prime Video / Screengrab

The Chicago Bears pulled off one of the most impressive playoff comebacks of all time this weekend.

Against their biggest rivals, the Green Bay Packers, the Bears overcame a 21-3 halftime deficit and outscored the Packers 28-6 in the second half. 

This was a monumental moment for Bears fans due to the bitter history and downright disdain these two franchises have for each other. One way the fire of that disdain has been stoked this past season is by some of the comments made by first-year Chicago head coach Ben Johnson. 

Johnson has made no mistake in identifying Green Bay as a team he wants to beat

One person specifically who’s come up within the Packers organization has been their head coach, Matt LaFleur. From comments coming from Ben Johnson to icy postgame handshakes, their relationship has been in the spotlight this season. 

Johnson has since set the record straight on exactly that. 

MORE: Ben Johnson's NSFW postgame speech goes viral after Bears comeback wild-card win

Ben Johnson sets the record straight on his and Matt Lafleur’s relationship 

When Ben Johnson took the Chicago Bears job, he made his feelings on the Packers and LaFleur abundantly clear in his first press conference. 

"I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for the coaches and players in this league, having competed with them for the last six years… and to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year," Johnson said on the NFC North.

That quote sent shockwaves through the division, and Packers fans were not happy. The two’s icy and brief post-game handshakes have done nothing but fan the flames of the talk around the two coaches. 

Today, Johnson took the podium and set the record straight. 

"This is a rivalry. The city of Chicago and Green Bay, this needs to be a rivalry."

Johnson partially took the high road by deflecting the answer towards the overall rivalry between the two teams, but the message remains the same. 

This is a rivalry now. Not what Packers fans are used to either.

In the last five games, the Bears hold the winning record at 3-2, with one of those being a massive playoff win. 

If there was any question whether the Chicago Bears were for real, those questions have been answered, and the Packers, plus the rest of the NFC North, are going to have to deal with a problem for the next decade or so. 

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Contributing Writer