Ben Johnson reveals the Bears' relentless comeback spirit, warning opponents they must earn every victory against this high-powered playoff contender.
The Chicago Bears are leaving the regular season behind and heading into the playoffs.
Chicago will be facing the Green Bay Packers in the first round after the Washington Commanders beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-17, giving the Bears the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
If that alone doesn't make you excited, I don't know what to tell you. Head coach Ben Johnson definitely is, as he stated just how much he's looking forward to getting another look at Green Bay in a recent press conference.
Johnson was fiery at Tuesday's press conference, noting just how tough it is to get a win against the Bears. This has become more and more true as the season has gone on. We've witnessed how many fourth-quarter comebacks have been engineered by this team.
It's going to be an all-out brawl for 60 minutes when you face the Chicago Bears.
"Yeah, we're never out," Johnson said. "Our guys know that, and I think to your point, we certainly don't want to have to lean into that each and every week. You know, we'd like to start off a little bit faster and make it more of a complete game for 60 minutes, but just the fact that I think teams understand when they play us now that they have to earn it. They've got to really close us out if they want to get the victory because we can score points in bunches. We can do it in a short amount of time, and I think we've proven that."
Take a look back at the last time that the Bears took on the Packers for example.
Chicago was down 16-6 in the fourth quarter and needed a rally. Cairo Santos hit a field goal to decrease the deficit to seven points, then the special teams recovered an onside kick.
The Bears capitalized and scored a touchdown to force overtime, before D.J. Moore delivered the game-winning touchdown.
That is the mentality Johnson has instilled in his team, and it's just the right one for the Bears as they head into the playoffs.
As he said in his introductory press conference, he looked forward to beating the Packers twice a season when he was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. He's going to get that chance on Saturday night.
Kickoff from Soldier Field will be at 7 p.m. CT on Prime Video. For local viewers, they can tune in via Fox 32.