The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings head into Sunday’s game having split last year’s season series. Both sides know this will probably be a dog fight. After their big comeback victory, the Vikings seem to have plenty of confidence. They are also eager to avenge their home loss last season, which resulted primarily from a special-teams breakdown late in the game. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels tried to give the Bears credit for finding a way to rally for the win. However, he may have lit a fire under head coach Ben Johnson instead.
It centers on comments he made about the play, which was a huge kick return by former Bears receiver Devin Duvernay that set up Chicago’s eventual game-winning field goal. Daniels stated that he believed there was nothing special about what the Bears did. It was more of a catastrophic breakdown by Minnesota’s coverage unit.
“I’ve been in the league now eight years, played football a long time in this league, and I’ve never felt the way I felt after that football game… A lot of respect for what the Chicago Bears, their unit, Devin Duvernay, all this and that, but I mean, it could have been anybody. If you got a son or anybody, all he did was just catch it and and run back to the field. Everybody just kind of got washed inside and it wasn’t anything that they did more so than a lack of us maintaining our leverage and keeping the football inside shoulder is as a result of what ended up happening.”
According to Adam Hoge on Hoge & Jahns, Johnson and his coaching staff didn’t care for those comments. They’ve been keeping them in the back of their minds as the game draws closer on Sunday. There is even more incentive than usual to stick it to the Vikings.
Ben Johnson never needs much to get himself going.
He is a maniacal competitor. Even a hint of disrespect or perceived slight is channeled into a burning desire to throttle the opponent during games. Michael Jordan was famously known for this mentality. Jonathan Toews and Walter Payton also had similar reputations. Johnson is hardly the first coach to have it, but he is the first to wear it so openly on his sleeve. He almost dares opponents to say something about him or his team. Any extra incentive is a good thing. The more dialed in he can be, the better he coaches.
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This case is an easy one. Daniels made it sound like the Bears did nothing noteworthy to achieve that kick return. It was all brought about by a series of blunders by the coverage unit. Yet when you watch the replay, Chicago players do a fantastic job of getting everybody blocked up. All Duvernay has to do is run. That was how good the execution was. It was born of special teams coordinator Richard Hightower’s message that there was more than enough time to affect the game. Everybody had to stay focused on their job.
Don’t be shocked if the Bears come out with some fire.
They’re already a well-motivated team. Ben Johnson has made sure of that. However, there could be a little extra juice in the blocking or in how hard the defense hits. The message will be made clear that Minnesota doesn’t respect this team. They feel the loss last year was a fluke. Chicago didn’t win it. The Vikings lost it. Fine. If that’s how they want to play it, let’s see how they handle getting an all-out blitz from all three phases. The Bears are out to prove something this year, and maybe the Vikings are in need of a message.
Johnson has been hearing about the Vikings and Brian Flores all week. He’s said the right things, giving respect where it’s due. Inwardly, he is likely foaming at the mouth. While the Packers may hold the reserved spot in his heart for the team he hates the most, you can bet Minnesota is a close second. Stomping them would be one of the most satisfying outcomes to a game he’s had in a long time.
