After toppling Matt LaFleur, Bears coach Ben Johnson has a chance to beat one of LaFleur’s best friends: Rams coach Sean McVay.
Earlier this week, McVay was asked whether he’d spoken to LaFleur, with whom Johnson sparked a rivalry in his first season, as part of his game prep. He demurred.
“What would you guess?” he said with a smile. “No, we watch the tape. We do our work and Matt [LaFleur] is a very close friend of mine.”
LaFleur’s little brother Mike is McVay’s offensive coordinator, too. Still, Johnson said Friday he wasn’t worried about information sharing between Matt LaFleur and the Rams. It happens anyway, he said, whether coaches have close relationships or not.
“That’s this league in general,” he said. “I think every week everyone tries to share what they had from the week before with your next opponent. I think that’s common practice. That’s something that you just keep on doing. Like I said all along, there’s a million ways you can do things, a million plays you can call. We’re going to do what we feel like is best for that particular week for the player that we have going against the opponent.”
McVay and Matt LaFleur were young position coaches in Washington together. When McVay was hired to be the Rams head coach in 2017, he brought Matt LaFleur with him as his offensive coordinator.
Blue pants?
Johnson said he didn’t know what color pants the Bears would wear Sunday — and said it wasn’t his decision to break from tradition and pair navy pants with a navy jersey last week, anyway.
“It’s never been the head coach’s call here,” he said
George McCaskey, the team chairman and a noted uniform aficionado, makes such decisions. McCaskey said in August that the team wouldn’t wear any alternate uniforms this season to honor his late mother Virginia, who always preferred the Bears wear their traditional garb.
Johnson said that last week he “showed up at the stadium, and there’s blue pants.”
As for this Sunday?
“Shoot, I don’t even know that yet,” Johnson said.
The Rams will wear a white jersey over royal blue pants with royal blue socks.
Notes
• When the Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn last month, they turned to assistant Ben Kotwica.
Kotwica, 51, grew up in Tinley Park and starred at linebacker at Andrew High School before playing at Army. He served eight years in the U.S. Army and was a helicopter pilot, earning the rank of captain, and got into NFL coaching as an assistant on defense and special teams in 2007.
Kotwica laughed off the frigid forecast for Sunday and the 1985 Bears team was “right in my wheelhouse” growing up.
• McVay said right guard Kevin Dotson, who hurt his ankle in Week 16, will start.
• Jimmy Garoppolo, the former Rolling Meadows and Eastern Illinois star who now serves as the Rams’ backup quarterback, is questionable because of a back problem, McVay expects him to be fine. The Rams are hopeful defensive end Desjuan Johnson will play after fighting an illness.
• Johnson said he was “pretty excited” to hear country star Chase Rice would be doing the halftime show Sunday.
“We grew up together — middle school, high school, college — and we’ve stayed friendly throughout,” he said.
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