Sean McVay and Ben Johnson exchange high praise ahead of NFC Divisional Round chess match between two elite play-callers
Sunday’s game between the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams will feature two of the league’s best offensive minds.
Last Saturday, the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams each advanced to the second round of the NFC playoffs with thrilling fourth quarter comebacks from each team, setting up a head-to-head matchup against each other on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Both teams are eager to make a Super Bowl push but only one team is going to come out victorious this weekend and the league knows the excitement level for this matchup by putting this game in the “Sunday Night Football” slot.
This game will feature a chess match between two of the league’s top offensive minds in Bears head coach Ben Johnson and Rams head coach Sean McVay, and to kick off the week, both coaches shared nothing but high praise for one another.
Ben Johnson and Sean McVay exchange high praise going into Sunday’s game
“There is no question about it. He is on the upper echelon,” Johnson said of McVay on Monday. “He does a phenomenal job. He has ever since he got to L.A. All of his teams are really well prepared. There’s no doubt that he’s super sharp on the offensive side, but I think how he does it as a head coach bringing all three phases together is really critical to their success.”
Since hiring McVay in 2017, the Rams have found nothing but sustained success. McVay has led the team to seven different playoffs berths and Sunday’s game against the Bears will be the 15th different opponent McVay has led his team against in 15 playoff or Super Bowl games.
It’s incredible what McVay has done and what he’s built during his tenure in Los Angeles. What’s more incredible is the mark he’s leaving on the rest of the NFL has a whole when you consider the amount of former assistants McVay has developed around the league.
The Bears are hoping they have something similar in Johnson. A young and hungry offensive genius but one that’s quickly proven he’s much more than that. This season with the Bears, Johnson has been able to show off his leadership traits by re-establishing a winning culture for the organization while having a really strong coaching staff by his side.
“I think he does a great job,” McVay said of Johnson. “I’ve studied him really closely from when he took over and started doing it in Detroit. I think the guys that do the best job are the ones that you can see there’s a true understanding of what defenses are doing and an intent to try to be able to manipulate a lot of the rules and the coaching points and to really try to attack your front mechanics, your coverage contours, understand some of the percentages of what you’re doing situationally, and then being able to maximize his player skill sets.”
A moment for the quarterbacks in Sunday’s game
Outside of the head-to-head chess match between Johnson and McVay, this game on Sunday night will also feature an intriguing quarterback matchup of the future Hall of Famer vs. the rising star between Matthew Stafford and Caleb Williams.
Johnson has experience with what Stafford can bring to the table from his toughness to his high-caliber play-making ability after being on the coaching staff for two seasons while Stafford was still in Detroit before being traded to the Rams.
“I’ve got so much respect for that guy,” Johnson said of Stafford. “You talk about the ultimate competitor. He’s one of the more supremely talented throwers of the football I’ve ever been around in my life. He’s outstanding. I think he’s a great teammate. But, what I think is second to none with him, is his toughness.”
Look no further than last Saturday’s game for a prime example of that. After injuring a finger on his right hand in the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers, Stafford battled through the pain in the final quarter, completing 12 of his 15 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns to win the game. Even at age 37, Stafford is still playing his best ball after leading the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns.
On the other sideline, the Bears have a supremely talented player of their own in Williams, who shines brightest on the biggest stage and was born for postseason football with high stakes. Last season, McVay got his first taste of going against Williams with the Bears taking down the Rams. 24-18, at Soldier Field. Since that game, Williams has taken major strides of improvement under his new head coach and has been playing with a ton of confidence the last two months.
“He’s an explosive play waiting to happen,” McVay said of Williams. “It’s why they can get back into games and finish the way that they have. I think there’s a belief that they’ve established and I think when you have those types of successful outcomes, no different from Matthew the other day… I feel that when I watch Caleb, and I watch that team. There’s a belief that they can find ways to finish and that’s why they’re in this situation. He is gonna be a nightmare to defend, and were excited about diving into this prep.”
One thing’s for certain. This game, between these two head coaches and these two quarterbacks, will come down to the wire and neither team would want it going any other way on Sunday night.
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