The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears will always have an intense rivalry no matter what year or season it is and regardless of who plays for and who runs those teams.
But it’s gotten noticeably more intense in 2025, thanks in large part of the arrival of Ben Johnson into the rivalry’s picture as the head coach of the Bears.
It can be recalled that Johnson said during his introductory press conference with the Bears that he loves beating Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur twice. He actually did it in the 2025 season; Chicago went 2-1 (including the NFL playoffs) against the Packers.
Bears-Packers rivalry with Johnson gets a reaction from Chicago GM
Meanwhile, Johnson’s role in intensifying the rivalry has recently drawn a reaction from Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
“That’s what you want to play for. You want to play for a guy that’s not scared, that’s aggressive and someone that wants to compete. It raises the level of both organizations to be completely honest with you. We needed that. I think we needed that jump start,” Poles said, per Hoge & Jahns (h/t Bearsszn).
“When I first got here, it was all about just getting beat by them a lot and it was this mountain to climb. Ben’s like screw it, we’re just going to take this head on and take this rivalry over and we’re not going to be scared to talk about it…..I think it makes it exciting and the NFL exciting. People want to see that. I’d be shocked if those games aren’t in primetime. Everyone wants to be tuned into that game.”
The 2026 NFL season will bring new chapters into this heated divisional hatefest between Chicago and Green Bay, and it should grab everyone’s attention again.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
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