Matt LaFleur, it appears as if you’re on the clock, sir. No, the Green Bay Packers aren’t going to fire LaFleur if he doesn’t win a Super Bowl next season. General Manager Brian Gutekunst has put some pressure on him, without a doubt, but LaFleur isn’t going anywhere just yet.
It’s more than notable, though, that the newest head coach in the NFC North and LaFleur’s biggest rival is already taking shots at him, though. New Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson met with the media on Wednesday to discuss his new role as well as his hopes and aspirations for the Bears.
Johnson has been the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions for the past three seasons, so he’s gotten to know LaFleur and the Packers very well. Johnson’s Lions were 6-1 against the Packers during his time as offensive coordinator, and that included season sweeps in 2022 and this past season, 2024. The Packers’ lone victory against the Lions during Johnson’s time as offensive coordinator in Detroit was on Thanksgiving last season when the Pack went into Ford Field and stunned the Lions, 29-22.
Other than that, it’s been coming up all aces for Johnson anytime he sees the cheeseheads on the other sideline, and he took the time to rub it in a bit against LaFleur and the Packers in his introductory press conference.
Johnson was talking about his respect for Dan Campbell, his former boss in Detroit, and Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. He then took his shot at LaFleur.
“Dan Campbell, Kevin O’Connell, you talk about two guys that are up for Coach of the Year awards as the season ends here,” Johnson said of his coaching competition in the NFC North. “And to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.”
This is the Packers-Bears rivalry, so nothing is off-limits. Remember, it’s not all that long ago that Aaron Rodgers yelled expletives at the whole city of Chicago while telling Bears fans that he “owned them”. This is the NFL’s oldest rivalry, and it gets heated, so frankly, good on Johnson for adding some logs onto the fire.
He clearly knew what he was doing as well with that goofball smile, and he also clearly knows that he’s undoubtedly going to earn some major brownie points and street cred with Bears fans thanks to that comment.
It’s good fun in a rivalry, and frankly, the NFL could use a bit more heat between teams in this buddy-buddy era where all the players are seemingly best friends as soon as the game is over. It’s all good, and props to Johnson for going there in his very first opportunity to do so as head coach of the Bears, but this should not go over well in Green Bay.
LaFleur was called out, and now he needs to respond.
Matt LaFleur and the Packers must respond on the field
No, we’re not talking about an old-school mix tape battle or a rap feud like we’ve seen brew between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Johnson can talk as much as he wants — and he will for now — but the Bears are always known to be great “offseason champs”.
They seemingly win the offseason every year, while in reality, they’ve made the playoffs just twice since losing to the Packers in the 2010-11 NFC Championship game at home and they’ve gone through a ton of coaches as well as “savior” quarterbacks in that time period.
The Bears can talk all they want, but the fact of the matter is that the Packers have still won 11 of their past 12 matchups. Yes, the Bears got the upper hand in this last one, but there’s nobody in Chicago who wouldn’t give an arm and a leg to switch around that 1-11 record.
Talk is talk, so now Johnson has to go prove that he can do it on the field in 2025 and beyond, but the same can be said of LaFleur in this instance. LaFleur’s Packers have made the playoffs in four of his six seasons as head coach — including this past season — but the Packers limped into the dance this time around and they barely showed up to get basically blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round.
Meanwhile, Johnson is incredibly right. His Lions did own LaFleur over these past three seasons and the dynamics have drastically changed in the NFC North. When LaFleur replaced Mike McCarthy, he was known as the young, hotshot offensive mind who helped Rodgers win two more MVPs and kept Green Bay’s Super Bowl window open.
Now, there’s a case to be made that he’s the third-best offensive mind in the NFC North behind O’Connell and Johnson and if Johnson can quickly prove himself in Chicago, a strong case could be made that the NFC North’s coaching rankings would go Campbell, O’Connell, Johnson and LaFleur.
Gutekunst recently revealed that he wants Green Bay to have more urgency to win a Super Bowl as soon as possible, and urgency and fire to win is a direct reflection of the head coach. Johnson’s comments aren’t just a rivalry thing. That’s an open admission that other coaches think LaFleur is slipping a bit.
LaFleur must respond in 2025, or he and the Packers could very well slip to the bottom of the NFC North in a hurry.
