Ben Johnson Gives Green Bay Packers Fans Another Reason to Hate Him

Ben Johnson has always had a firm grasp of just how much the rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers means to both franchises. He's embraced it from the very beginning, throwing a shot across the bow at Packers coach Matt LaFleur in his introductory press conference.

The next stage of the rivalry came when the two teams shared two heartfelt handshakes following their regular-season matchups. No love lost, clearly.

All 3 of Ben Johnson's and Matt LaFleur's hand shakes. pic.twitter.com/nm9zvvNhDc
— ✶Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️✶ (@_MarcusD3_) January 11, 2026

The next chapter was written after Johnson's Bears pulled off a miraculous come-from-behind win over the Packers in the Wild Card matchup. He sent the Packers home with the quickest handshake yet and a loving endorsement of their rivals in an exuberant locker room celebration.

Ben Johnson to his team in the Bears locker room postgame:

"MAN, F**K THE PACKERS. F**K THEM!
F**KING HATE THOSE GUYS!"

pic.twitter.com/OJ7awQW3AR
— NFL Memes (@NFLMemes) January 11, 2026

That one really threw the green and yellow faithful for a loop. I'm sure it had a handful of people pen a strongly-worded letter to the league office begging to have him removed.

Johnson clearly doesn't mind being their boogeyman, though. He doubled down on his disdain for the franchise while speaking to Mike Florio at the NFL Scouting Combine today.

Mike Florio: what’s the deal with the Packers?

Ben Johnson: Who likes the Packers?

The Bears packers beef is real and that’s how it should be. #DaBears #Bears #ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/IwaNxjD72z
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) February 24, 2026

Oh Packers fans are surely going to react appropriately with this one.

Ben Johnson still has a punchable face and I will die on this hill https://t.co/mTfuijSqNP
— Marissa (@marissagrace___) February 24, 2026

Yup, that's the gist of it.

Removing my obvious bias (or trying to, anyway), I don't see how anyone could disagree with Johnson. Are rivals supposed to be friendly? Do we want to go back to the days when Matt Eberflus and Matt LaFleur were yucking it up at a college basketball game a few years ago? Now that almost made me lose my lunch.

I like that my head coach and the head coach of their hated rivals aren't on speaking terms. That's how things are supposed to be. Full disclosure, I love that my head coach is the reason that's the case.

It would be an issue if there weren't any mutual respect there, but that isn't the case. The mutual respect was evident in the postgame press conferences from all three of their (highly competitive) clashes this season.

Packers fans will use his comments as a reason to further their hatred for him, but the reason they hate him most is that he turned the Bears into a contender overnight. The days of the rivalry being a one-sided pushover are behind them, and they know it. And they're scared of it.

Johnson clearly doesn't care what Packers fans think about him. He's already made it known how he feels about their team, and he's content knowing the feeling is probably mutual.

Things are right as they should be for one of the league's most storied rivalries.