How Ben Johnson Just Gleefully Made The Bears-Packers Hostility Even Worse

Lovie Smith said his first goal upon taking over as the Chicago Bears‘ head coach was to beat Green Bay. It was an acknowledgement that the rivalry meant a lot, not just to the fans but also to his team’s actual fate. The Packers had owned the rivalry for a decade at that point. He needed to turn things around if the Bears wanted to reach the mountaintop. It seems Ben Johnson saw that playbook when he arrived last January and decided to crank everything in it up to 11.

He made his disdain for the Packers and their head coach...