Bears coach Ben Johnson put the NFL world on notice when he beat the Packers in a thrilling comeback victory in the wild-card round of the playoffs last weekend. He then created an instantly iconic moment to be cemented in Bears-Packers lore when he pulled off the quickest blow-by coaches handshake with Matt LaFleur before cursing out his NFC North rivals in his ensuing locker room celebrations.
Johnson’s viral antics polarized the NFL community, with some believing the first-year Bears coach had crossed a line with his profanity-laden tirade at Green Bay. Others thought Johnson had been disrespectful for barely shaking LaFleur’s hand after the game.
SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt recently gave his two cents on the matter and claimed Johnson had every right to “hate” the Packers given their fierce decades-long rivalry.
“Hate at the center of rivalries is the best,” Van Pelt said. “So I have no issue with the hate. When Ben Johnson screams, ‘F--- the Packers, I hate those guys!’ to the room, that’s for the room. And I get that too, because that might be how you feel in the room. But when you tell your social media, hit send on that, I don’t have a problem with that because hate is fundamental to great rivalries.”
That said, Van Pelt issued a blunt warning to Johnson for future Bears-Packers games, as he believed Johnson had set a ruthless tone for all divisional matchups moving forward.
“All I’m saying is, if I’m the Green Bay Packers, what Ben Johnson has effectively done is said, from this point moving forward, ‘F--- me? F--- you. This is what we’re doing? You hate us? We’ll meet that.’ As long as you’re there,” continued Van Pelt. “We cannot beat you by enough, ever. You want to throw out civility and how you’re going to act on a handshake for 10 seconds? We can do that too. ... If I’m the Packers, ‘Ok, buddy. You’ve won nothing in your life to be acting like this. But this is what you want to do? You got it.’”
"If I'm the Green Bay Packers... 'This is what we're doing? You hate us? We'll meet that... We cannot beat you by enough ever.'" – @notthefakeSVP
— SVPod (@_SVPod) January 15, 2026
On Ben Johnson's actions & words following the Bears' playoff win over the Packers ⬇️#DaBears | #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/yxUMVrU9Cc
But Johnson probably already knows that, based on his recent matter-of-fact comments on his win over the Packers. “This is a rivalry. The city of Chicago, Green Bay—it needs to be a rivalry,” Johnson said in a press conference.
Johnson, who’s hoping to lead Chicago to its first Super Bowl appearance since 2006, has unashamedly thrown fuel onto the flames of the Bears-Packers rivalry this winter, but he’d better know how to take it just as much as he knows how to dish it.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scott Van Pelt Sends Frank Warning to Ben Johnson Over Bears-Packers Postgame Antics.
