When the Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson 11 months ago, the first-time head coach had already been exposed to NFC North rivalries from six seasons as a Detroit Lions assistant coach. He understood the division's intensity and how words can serve to motivate, as well as to agitate.

"I've got a tremendous amount of respect for the coaches and the players in this [ division ] ," Johnson said at his introductory news conference in January. "I've been competing against them for the last six years."

He complimented a couple of the coaches, and if he would have left it at that, few would have remembered what he said that day.

But he wasn't done.

"And to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating [ Green Bay Packers coach ] Matt LaFleur twice a year," he added.

It wasn't

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