{"id":509047,"date":"2026-01-11T18:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509047\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T18:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:13:14","slug":"bears-coach-ben-johnsons-postgame-handshakes-with-packers-coach-matt-lafleur-somehow-keep-getting-shorter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509047\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears coach Ben Johnson’s postgame handshakes with Packers coach Matt LaFleur (somehow) keep getting shorter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bears<\/a> coach Ben Johnson said when he took the job that one of the perks was he could continue his hobby of beating Packers coach Matt LaFleur. He did that in his debut season by splitting their two games in the regular season and winning Saturday in their playoff game. The Bears stormed back from a 21-3 hole to beat the Packers 31-27 and advance to host the Eagles or Rams in the divisional round.<\/p>\n

Johnson and LaFleur\u2019s first meeting was at Lambeau Field in early December, a 28-21 Packers win, and their postgame handshake was as frigid as the weather.<\/p>\n

It was even more tense Saturday. LaFleur appeared to say, \u201cGood job,\u201d as he approached Johnson, and Johnson didn\u2019t even stop. He shook LaFleur\u2019s hand as he ran elsewhere and pulled LaFleur into a Packers staffer.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a highlight reel of all three of their exchanges in Johnson\u2019s first season in the rivalry:<\/p>\n

Johnson certainly had a target on LaFleur the week leading up to their wild-card game.<\/p>\n

After the Bears lost their regular-season finale to the Lions, Johnson remarked that, \u201cSome teams, they rest their starters. We don\u2019t. We play football.\u201d The Bears had gone all out in that game, whereas the Packers sat their key players in their final regular-season game against the Vikings. That comment was up for interpretation, but Johnson\u2019s thoughts on the Packers overlooking the Bears on Saturday<\/a> were undeniable meant to get LaFleur\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was probably a little bit more noise coming out of their building up north to start the week, which we heard loud and clear, players and coaches alike,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThis one meant something to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"BEARS-260111-70.jpg\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

From free pizza and cookies to complimentary coffee, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the Bears\u2019 win across the Chicago area.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
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\"Packers<\/p>\n

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The Packers have had a voodoo curse on the Bears through most of the Aaron Rodgers era and into the Jordan Love era. But this time, it was the Bears and Caleb Williams who willed themselves to an unlikely victory.<\/p>\n

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\"BEARS-260111-71.JPG\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Johnson told the team that it was \u201cgoing to have the greatest comeback in Bears history,\u201d tight end Cole Kmet said.<\/p>\n

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read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bears coach Ben Johnson said when he took the job that one of the perks was he could…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":509048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-509047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115877826464624788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}