The Green Bay Packers achieved a massive victory on Sunday, defeating their division rivals, the Chicago Bears, by a score of 28-21 at Lambeau Field. After the game officially ended, players exchanged handshakes and pleasantries.
The two head coaches, Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur and Chicago’s Ben Johnson, also had their moment in the spotlight, albeit a brief one. LaFleur quickly shook hands with the rival coach before sprinting away to handle postgame business.
As one might expect, this particular handshake caught plenty of attention, with commentators and various individuals online pointing out the brevity of the moment, following Johnson’s previous comments about the Packers.
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The Bears landed Johnson after he’d been the offensive coordinator for another division foe: the Detroit Lions. He once mentioned how he enjoyed beating LaFleur and the Packers twice a year, but that was when he was with Detroit.
After the game, LaFleur spoke with the media, and naturally, the question about his surprisingly fast interaction with Johnson came up.
“It was a quick handshake, and we’ll see them again in two weeks,” he told reporters, per Rob Demovsky.
LaFleur also downplayed getting any personal joy out of the win after Johnson’s previous comments about beating him, “Absolutely not. It’s Packers-Bears.”
“It’s a great rivalry. Certainly with what’s at stake in the NFC North, that’s all that matters,” he said, also praising Chicago as “a really good football team.”
With their first game against the Bears resulting in a victory, LaFleur spoke about moving forward to face their next opponent. That’s the impressive Denver Broncos, who are among the AFC’s Super Bowl contenders.
“We got a great challenge in front of us. I don’t think you can focus on anything other than that. Obviously, we’re gonna get together, we’re gonna watch this past game tomorrow,” he said.
According to the Packers coach, the team had “a lot of stuff to clean up” after their victory, based on how he thought they might pull away in the second half and didn’t.
The Packers moved to 9-3-1 and ended the Bears’ five-game winning streak. Chicago, now 9-4, will face the Cleveland Browns at Soldier Field next Sunday.
Despite grabbing a crucial win over the Bears to regain the NFC North lead, LaFleur kept the focus on what’s ahead for his team.
“There’s four weeks left, and you gotta take it day by day,” he said, adding, “It’s not gonna be easy from here on out.”
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