Ben Johnson, the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, said that as offensive coordinator for the Lions, he liked defeating Matt LaFleur of the Packers twice a year.

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur probably didn’t plan to spend a lot of time watching Ben Johnson’s introductory press conference as the Chicago Bears’ new head coach on Wednesday.

But by the time Johnson threw some shade at him, you can bet LaFleur was tuning in.

Johnson, hired by the Bears after six years in various offensive coaching roles with the Detroit Lions, acknowledged how he’s staying in a division with elite coaches.

“Dan Campbell, Kevin O’Connell, talking about two guys who are up for Coach of the Year awards as the season ends here,” Johnson said.

His former boss in Campbell and O’Connell with the Minnesota Vikings will likely be finalists for the NFL’s top coaching award after leading their teams to remarkable regular-season success. The playoffs were another story, as it was for the Packers.

Johnson didn’t forget about LaFleur, the longest tenured head coach in the NFC North. He had a zinger waiting for him.

“And to be quite frank with you,” Johnson noted in saying why he didn’t want to leave the NFC North, “I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.”

He had a sly smile after saying that.

Woah, Johnson certainly jumped right into this rivalry.

Ben Johnson vs Matt LaFleur

Have Johnson’s teams really beat LaFleur’s twice a year? Not so fast.

LaFleur and Johnson both joined the NFC North in 2019. LaFleur was hired as head coach of the Packers, while Johnson came to the Lions as offensive quality control coach that year. Johnson held other roles with the Lions offense before being promoted as the offensive coordinator from 2022-24.

While the Lions went 5-1 with Johnson as offensive coordinator against the Packers in the last three years, in the 12 total contests between Green Bay and Detroit since the start of 2019 with LaFleur and Johnson in the mix each team has won six and lost six.

The Lions swept the Packers in 2022 and 2024, though Green Bay also has two sweeps in 2019 and 2020. The teams split the series in 2021 and 2023.

Packers vs Bears rivalry

Meanwhile, Johnson comes to a franchise that hasn’t swept the season series with the Packers in 17 years. And before the Packers lost to the Bears in the regular-season finale, 24-22, earlier this month, Green Bay had defeated Chicago 11 straight times and had five straight seasons of series sweeps. The Packers’ Week 18 defeat was Matt LaFleur’s first loss of his head coaching career to Chicago.

At 5-12, Johnson’s new team was the only NFC North squad to not make the postseason last year.

“I know this is the toughest division in football right now,” Johnson said. “There’s three teams that made the playoffs this year. I’ve got tremendous amount of respect for the coaches and the players in this league having competed against them for the last six years.”

Well, maybe there isn’t much respect from Johnson to the Packers.