Ben Johnson says keeping a routine -- workout? movie? -- is key for Bears to combat playoff pressure

Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune on Jan 8, 2026

Published in Football

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CHICAGO — Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson’s schedule has been so packed with preparation for Saturday’s playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, he hasn’t had a lot of time to mark the occasion with his family.

“Yeah, hard to say this week,” Johnson said Thursday when asked how his wife, Jessica, and children Emory, Kennedy and Halle have handled the playoff buzz around the Bears. “Haven’t seen them a whole lot.

“I’ll see them this afternoon. I think that’ll be palpable to a degree with them. They’ll certainly appreciate it.”

Johnson, 39, noted that his kids are young and watched their father reach the playoffs the previous two seasons as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator before making it three in a row as the first-year Bears head coach.

“I think they’re kind of expecting it now,” he said. “When you’re a young coach in this league, I’ve come to really appreciate it. … I certainly don’t take it for granted, and I know our players don’t either.”

Safety and special teams player Jonathan Owens echoed several players who expressed how much making the playoffs means to them, especially since the Bears hadn’t reached the postseason since 2020, when only three current players — tight end Cole Kmet, cornerback Jaylon Johnson and kicker Cairo Santos — were on the team.

“It means a lot anytime you get to play extended time at the end of the year,” Owens said Wednesday. “I have been in this position a lot of times where I’m packing up and today is one of those exit meetings, doing all the physicals and everything.

“I know it means a lot to the city, just from everything they have been through and the seasons we’ve had here.”

Safety and special teamer Elijah Hicks, whom the Bears drafted in the seventh round in 2022, called the team’s return to the playoffs “exciting” and “intense.”

“I’ve never been there before,” Hicks said. “I just remember seeing Devin Hester and that Super Bowl, taking that opening kickoff to the crib. I want to be able to be a part of something special like that.”

While Ben Johnson appreciates what making the playoffs means to the locker room, he wants the players to keep a handle on their emotions.

“Because this is our third time through it (with the Packers), I think we’ll be able to handle the emotions a lot better,” he said. “Last time we played them, we ended up having a number of 15-yard fouls that hurt us, that hurt the team, and I think we’ll learn from that and I think we’ll be better off for it.”

Bears players committed two roughing-the-passer and two unnecessary-roughness penalties during the 22-16 overtime win Dec. 20 at Soldier Field.

“We went over it after the game because we had one on the opening kickoff, we was so turned up,” Hicks said. “But we talked about it again this week. So we just need to be smart because we’re not trying to hurt the team. … We know we can’t be doing stuff like that.”

That was a prime-time, Saturday night home game just like this week’s rubber match in the NFC wild-card round.

“It’s natural to be excited about a game of this magnitude,” Johnson said. “And yet I told them yesterday it won’t take long once that ball is kicked off for all of us to understand it’s another football game.

“That’s when the lights are the brightest and you’ve got a little bit more pressure and high stakes like this, you focus on your fundamentals, you focus on your details and the little things, and that’s really what we’ve been talking about all week.”

Until then, Johnson has settled into a routine and expects his players to do the same.

“I get a good workout in,” he said. “Our guys have handled the short weeks really well. We’ve handled the night games really well. At this point in the season, we all understand what that routine needs to look like.

“It certainly makes a long day, and you try to do what you can to make sure you’re in the plan a little bit but also getting your mind away from it so that you’re fresh and ready to go for kickoff.”

To get away from football — in what little time is afforded — Johnson said he tries to “get a little sleep, a little rest.”

“A workout for the coaching staff normally is a good thing, just to get the blood flowing a little bit,” he said. “And maybe watch a movie or something like that if you’ve got extra time.”