Leading up to the Green Bay Packers game against the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs, a great deal was made of comments made by rival head coach Ben Johnson. Multiple times throughout the season, and even before the year began, he made comments expressing his hatred for the Packers and how much he enjoys beating them.
After the game, which Green Bay lost 31-27, Johnson again went viral for his vulgar locker room statements about the Packers, his quick handshake with Matt LaFleur, and his postgame comments statements that this is a rivalry, and should be treated like one.
And while many Packers fans did not like Johnson’s comments, one former Green Bay star wishes his old team was more like Chicago.
Former Green Bay Packers Pro Bowler Mike Daniels blames the culture for team’s loss
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During a recent appearance on the Pack-a-Day podcast, former Pro Bowl pass rusher Mike Daniels explained that, in his opinion, the problem in Green Bay is that the players and coaches do not “hate” their rivals nearly enough. In fact, he claims, and the evidence backs him up, that the Packers’ rivals hate them more than the team hates their rivals.
And that’s a problem.
“I think it’s not a LaFleur thing,” Daniels said. “There’s a hatred that in Green Bay we don’t have. Anthony Barr dropped on Aaron Rodgers, [Minnesota Vikings fans] were celebrating like, ‘The king is dead’. These guys hate us.
“And when I would say, we lost to the Lions and I remember saying, ‘I don’t care if I gotta punch someone in the face,’ and they say, ‘Yo tell this guy to shut up.’ But every time I turn around one of our guys is getting knocked out the game and we’re not delivering the same “love” back to the opponents.
“And when we have the guys that can do it, it’s like, ‘Yo, chill out – relax man, you’re doing too much.’ I’ve watched guys in college be killers. Played against some of them. They were not that same guy after playing in Green Bay for a couple of years.”
Clearly, something needs to change in Green Bay’s locker room, where guys are discouraged from being too aggressive. Of course, there needs to be restraint at times, but there is no meanness in this team, no bite.
Opposing teams do not fear playing the Packers anymore, and that needs to change.
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