Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown has shared his frustrations with Ben Johnson leaving the Motor City to become the new head coach of the Chicago Bears.
Johnson, one of the biggest names in this year’s NFL coaching carousel, served as the Lions offensive coordinator for three seasons. He was one of the leaders guiding Detroit from league mediocrity to one of its best.
The loss of Johnson leaves a tremendous gap, with St. Brown being happy for Johnson to get the chance to run a team, but equally frustrated that one of the architects of the Lions renaissance is now in a division rival’s camp.
‘Ben’s a traitor,’ St. Brown said half-jokingly. ‘Actually he just called me a few minutes ago, maybe an hour ago. So got to talk to him. We had some banter back and forth, messing around.’
‘I told him, “For two times a year Ben, we’re gonna f*** you up.” He goes, “Imma f*** you up.”‘
The Bears and Lions play each other twice a year as NFC North rivals. Those matchups have tilted Detroit’s way in recent years with Chicago not being among the NFL’s elite.
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has spoken out about Ben Johnson leaving Detroit
Johnson is the head coach of the Chicago Bears and St. Brown is frustrated at the departure
St. Brown added his conversation with Johnson also included trading jabs about how the other was going to get the upper hand in the Bears-Lions clashes moving forward.
The 25-year-old wide receiver said he knows all of Johnson’s tendencies and can pass them along to whoever becomes Detroit’s next offensive coordinator.
Johnson retorted that if the Bears want to become the best, they would have to beat the best, mentioning the NFC North standings.
St. Brown said his last in-person conversation with Johnson happened Sunday, the day after the team’s Divisional playoff loss to the Washington Commanders.
Johnson relayed that he did not know what he was going to do in his future but revealed he was speaking to three NFL teams about head-coaching roles. One of them proved to be Chicago.
‘Obviously, I love Ben, one of my favorite coaches that I’ve ever had,’ St. Brown said. ‘I would say for sure he’s smart, he’s one of the hardest-working coaches that I’ve been around. But obviously, I wanted to have him in Detroit forever, but that’s not the reality of things.’
Johnson had his introductory press conference with the Bears on Wednesday, poking fun at a fellow rival to Chicago and Detroit.
‘I know this is the toughest division in football,’ Johnson said of the NFC North. ‘I kind of enjoyed beating [Green Bay’s] Matt LaFleur twice a year.’
