The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers hate each other's guts. It's been like that since the early days, and it'll be that way until the end of time. That's just the way it goes, and the rivalry transcends both fan bases.
Ben Johnson has made it loud and clear that he has no love for the Cheeseheads or respect for Matt LaFleur. He holds bragging rights over his colleague dating back to his days as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator.
That's why Luther Burden III didn't hesitate to pour gasoline on the fire ahead of Week 5. When asked about facing the Packers, the second-year wide receiver was pretty blunt about his team's mindset and desire.
The Bears want to make the Packers 'quit' in Week 5
“I feel like he wants to beat them really bad, like everybody else in the room, every Chicago fan,” Burden said (h/t Michael Dwojak). “We just want to beat them real bad and make them quit.”
Johnson has beaten LaFleur twice in three tries as a head coach, including an epic comeback win in the Wild Card round. He's 7-2 overall against the Packers, including the 5-1 run as Dan Campbell's offensive coordinator.
The Packers and Bears are two teams trending in opposite directions right now. The guys at Lambeau Field have the worst offensive line in football, though adding Kevin Zeitler and Laken Tomlinson should help. Even so, they can't run the football to save their lives, and they still don't have Micah Parsons and have just lost Edgerrin Cooper for the remainder of the season.
The Bears, on the other hand, have more weapons than they can feed right now. Their defense has been much better than advertised, and have won games with three different starting quarterbacks this season. Clearly, there are levels to this.
Of course, this doesn't mean the Bears should look down on their lifelong rivals, and they definitely won't. Knowing a football psycho like Coach Johnson, he must have had some special stuff in store for this game for months. As Burden said, it's not just about beating the Packers; it's about humiliating them and making them tap out.
For too long, Bears fans had to suffer through Aaron Rodgers' prime and his utter dominance over the Windy City. That hasn't been the case with his lesser replacement, and there's only so much he can do behind that borderline amateur offensive line.
Unfortunately, Caleb Williams won't be out there in Week 5, but with the way this offense has operated regardless of who's behind center, this should be a fun watch. And after dropping the first divisional game of the season, the Bears should be even more motivated to get the job done on Sunday.
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