Bears’ Ben Johnson expecting Vikings’ Brian Flores to open bag of tricks

Due to their respective longevity in the NFC North, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores have already faced off six times. The franchise’s Week 2 matchup will write the next chapter of their storied history.

Both coaches operate at the highest level on their respective side of the coin. Johnson is considered one of the best offensive minds in the league whereas Flores is deemed a defensive mastermind. It’ll be a battle between a rock and a hard place in Week.

Johnson has gotten the better of Flores overall, holding a career 5-1 record. But his one loss did come during his head coaching debut with the Bears. Furthermore, the defensive coordinator is unpredictable in what he’ll scheme.

After dropping 59 points in Week 1, everyone will be expecting Chicago to soar once more on offense. But Johnson knows it’ll be a much more difficult task for the Bears to put up points with Flores calling the defensive shots.

Bears’ Ben Johnson preparing for Brian Flores battle

For how long Flores has been in the league, you’d think Johnson has all the film he needs to analyze the defensive coordinator. But even after all this time, the head coach know Flores could always pull something new out of his bag of tricks, via Johnson’s Wednesday press conference.

“He’s been in this division three years now. You’d like to think he’s put anything they could possibly do on tape until you play him next and you realize he hasn’t yet,” Johnson said. “There will be something new, there always is with him. That’s what makes him such a great coordinator. It’s a great challenge. The week of preparation is not as fun. There’s a lot of back-and-forth that goes into it.”

The head coach is trying to balance what he knows and what he’ll have to adjust. He wants to use his history with Flores to his advantage. But at the same time, he knows the only thing that matters is the game in front of him.

Johnson is ready for a battle. The only question is if the Bears at-large are too.

“I’m in that path right now,” Johnson said. “End of the day, I want our guys to go out and play fast. I want to make sure we’re sound. It’s not very different from what we talked about a week ago, making sure we have a hat for a hat as often as we can. If he gets us on something, that’s fine, we’ve got to come together, make sure it gets corrected and move on from there.

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