The Chicago coach did not hold back anything during the celebration for the victory in the Wild Card Round
The coach of the Bears, Ben Johnsonexchanged a very brief and cold handshake with the coach of the Packers, Matt LaFleuron Saturday night, moments after the victory of Chicago by 31-27 over Green Bay in the NFC wild card round.
And that was just the beginning of Johnson’s celebration.
“Fuck them Packers! “Fuck them!” Johnson shouted as part of his postgame locker room speech, which was shared by the team on social media after the biggest comeback in franchise postseason history.
When asked about his emotional reaction to the victory, Johnson acknowledged that the Bears They had extra motivation to beat the Packers in the latest matchup between the NFC North rivals.
“There was probably a little more noise coming from their stadium up north at the beginning of the week, and we heard it loud and clear, both players and coaches,” Johnson recalled. “This victory meant a lot to us.”
Ben Johnson did not elaborate on what comments he was referring to, but the recipient of the Packers, Christian Watson, and the cornerback Keisean Nixonboth said they wanted to face the Bears in the playoffs.
The defensive coordinator of the PackersJeff Hafley, went a step further on Wednesday, implying that Green Bay would beat Chicago when he told reporters: “We’re not done, so I’ll see you next week.”
“It definitely made us angry,” the team’s safety said. Bears, Kevin Byard III. “It gave us a lot of motivation for the game… I didn’t think we could top some of the wins we had earlier this season, as far as comebacks. But this one, this one was the most special.”
The oldest rivalry in NFL dates back to 1921, but Saturday night marked only the third playoff meeting between the two teams. The previous one occurred when the Packers they defeated the Bears 21-14 in the NFC Championship game at Soldier Field on January 23, 2011.
Los Bears (12-6), NFC North champions, extended their resurgent first season under Johnson with their seventh fourth-quarter comeback victory. They split victories in two very close games against Green Bay in the regular season, and this turned out to be an exciting game when it looked like it would be an easy game for the Packers (9-8-1). Los Chicago Bears They were down 21-3 at halftime and 21-6 at the end of the third quarter, but they managed to come back and beat Green Bay 25-6 in the fourth quarter, thus achieving their first playoff victory in 15 years.
This memorable victory came almost a year after the Bears hired Johnson, who, in his introductory press conference, declared that he enjoyed “defeating Matt LaFleur twice a year” during his time as the Lions’ offensive coordinator.
to the field marshal Caleb Williamswho orchestrated the historic comeback of Chicago with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, he was asked if the Bears had sent a message to their rivals this season.
“We are here,” he replied. “And we’re going to be here for a long time.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
