Sean McVay has game-planned against Ben Johnson before, when Johnson was the Lions’ offensive coordinator.
But Sunday’s matchup between the Rams and Bears will be the first contest between the two as head coaches.
Asked what stands out about Johnson as a play-caller during his Monday news conference, McVay said he thinks Johnson does a great job.
“I’ve studied him really closely from when he took over and started doing it in Detroit,” McVay said. “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. You could see there’s a philosophy and core beliefs in terms of how he wants to build it.
“You look at the four free agents they signed, you look at the guys that they drafted high up, taking the tight end [Colston Loveland] and in a lot of the instances where he was able to take advantage of [Sam] LaPorta in Detroit.”
McVay specifically noted how Johnson has been able to create systems that are based on quarterbacks with different skillsets.
“I think what shows his flexibility is the ability to have one of the best offenses with a player like Jared [Goff] who’s really special and then being able to have some similar foundational principles with Caleb [Williams], but also be able to accentuate the things that make him really unique with the athleticism, the ability to move the spot and then take advantage of their skill around it,” McVay said. “He does a damn good job. I think he’s got a timely feel for wanting to be able to mix in some things like he did with the screen and go that allowed them to take the lead the other day.
“We’re excited about these challenges. This is what it’s about.”
Now that the Texans have beaten the Steelers in the wild-card round, the NFL has finalized the schedule for the divisional round.
On Saturday, the Broncos will host the Bills at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The Seahawks and the 49ers will play in Seattle at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox.
On Sunday, the Texans will visit the Patriots at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Rams will face the Bears at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
The decision to put the Texans-Patriots on Sunday afternoon fits with the theory that Steelers-Patriots would have been the late game on Sunday. Instead, the Rams and Chicago will meet in the postseason for the first time since the 1985 NFC Championship on Sunday night.
Nine years ago today, the Rams hired coach Sean McVay. (He still isn’t 40.) In six days, he’ll coach his 15th career postseason game.
And here’s a nutty stat, as noted by John Breech of CBS Sports. McVay’s 15th career playoff game will happen against his 15th different playoff opponent.
Here they are: Falcons (2017), Cowboys (2018), Saints (2018), Patriots (2018), Seahawks (2020), Packers (2020), Cardinals (2021), Buccaneers (2021), 49ers (2021), Bengals (2021), Lions (2023), Vikings (2024), Eagles (2024), Panthers (2025), Bears (2025).
The only NFC teams McVay hasn’t faced in the playoffs are the Commanders and Giants.
If the Rams win on Sunday at Soldier Field, McVay will have his first career repeat postseason opponent, in the Seahawks or the 49ers.
When the Rams and the Bears get together in the postseason for the first time since the 1985 NFC Championship, it will be cold in Chicago. As it usually is there in January. And it will be windy in Chicago. As it almost always is there.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has no qualms about his team’s next assignment.
“I think as far as the wind goes, you’re right, it is always windy in Chicago,” Stafford told Jim Gray on the latest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast. “I played a handful of games there throughout the years. The good thing for us is it was windy this past week in Carolina. I think every kickoff, it seemed like somebody had to come out and hold it. It was getting blown off the tee, blown off the tee, blown off the tee. We’ve dealt with that before.
“And then when it goes to cold weather, we played the Jets last year in what was, I think it was like 12 degrees at kickoff. And you just adjust to whatever the weather allows you to do. And I think if it’s just cold with a little bit of wind, we go play. You know, I love that kind of stuff. I mean, that’s playoff football, right? Cold weather in Chicago, windy day, there’s nothing better than that in my mind, so I’m excited for it.”
The current forecast calls for a high of 21 and a low of eight on Sunday in Chicago. The kickoff time (3:00 p.m. ET or 6:30 p.m. ET) has not yet been set.
For Stafford, his injured finger is another potential issue, when it comes to gripping a cold football. He downplayed that factor.
He up-played the overall significance of playing a playoff game in Chicago.
“I mean, I sit there and I think to myself, I was a kid once playing football in the backyard, throwing the ball up against a tree or into the fence, just thinking about, ‘Man, what if I was doing this someday in a playoffs in Chicago against the Bears?’” Stafford said. “I mean, there’s so much nostalgia in this game and so much reverence I have for the people who played before and all that. Just, hey, enjoy this, right? Let’s go prepare like we know how to prepare and let’s go cut it loose on Sunday and enjoy the opportunity to play together. We have such a great group, both coaches and players. We love coming to work and finding ways to get better, finding ways to win football games, doing all the things that you have to do. Let’s go earn the right to continue to work together.”
It’s one thing to say it from L.A. It’s another thing to deal with the cold and the wind. And while it may not affect Stafford (does anything affect him?), other players on the Rams may find those conditions to be challenging.
Coaches don’t want to see their quarterbacks throw interceptions. Usually. But Bears coach Ben Johnson didn’t mind an interception Caleb Williams threw on Saturday.
With the Bears facing fourth-and-6 at the Packers’ 40-yard line, Williams threw a deep ball for wide receiver Luther Burden. Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine had Burden covered, and if Valentine had just knocked the ball down, it would have been a good play for the Packers.
Instead, Valentine made a diving interception, where Burden touched him down at the 13-yard line. Valentine got up celebrating the interception, but he had actually made a bad play, costing his team 27 yards of field position.
Johnson said today that while he needs Williams and Burden to make sure they’re on the same page about that route going forward, he had no complaints about the result.
“Actually, that was one of the better interceptions you could have, to be honest with you,” Johnson said. “If you’re not going to convert a fourth down, then flipping the field like that is a big deal. There was a miscommunication on that play, and it’s one that we’re fixing.”
Johnson’s comments are a reminder that defensive players should be aware of the game situation and not intercept a pass on fourth down if they’re not going to be able to return it past the line of scrimmage. The Bears would have preferred a completion, but an interception was better than an incompletion.
