Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrates with teammates after rushing for a touchdown to clinch the Packers’ 24-14 victory over the Bears on Oct. 17 at Soldier Field. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AP Photos
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson admitted Rodgers’ “I own you” taunt cut deep. “But [bleep], we’ve got to play football. We’ve got to win. We’ve got to do something about it. So all the talking doesn’t mean nothing.”
Aaron Rodgers was right. But an insult is an insult. So of course Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson took Rodgers’ “I own you” taunt personally.
“Is it an insult?” Johnson said, turning the question back to a reporter. “As a man, if somebody’s tell you he owns you — if I told you I own you, would that be an insult?”
Sure.
“Yeah, [bleep], that’s an insult to us, too,” Johnson said. “We’re all men, too. We all bleed the same way. So things like that aren’t fun to hear. But [bleep], we’ve got to play football. We’ve got to win. We’ve got to do something about it. So all the talking doesn’t mean nothing.”
Ever-confident and in control, Johnson knows knows he can’t win a war of words with Aaron Rodgers. He embraces the challenge of responding on the field — in Lambeau Field against one of the best quarterbacks of all time.
“I’ve worked my whole life for this, so this is not anything I’m not prepared for,” Johnson said. “It’s not anything I can’t handle. I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job at it … just being able to focus in every week and reset and just keep my mind fresh.
“And just having tough tasks week-in and week-out — whether it’s a quarterback or wide receiver, it just makes you better and gives you more confidence.”
The Bears won’t be trying to get even Sunday night against Rodgers and the Packers because they know they can’t do that in one night. They’re just trying to win a football game. They heard the insult, but it’s not dominating their preparation for the rematch.
“No, not at all,” safety Tashaun Gipson said. “If you have social media, I think you’ve seen it. [But] I don’t think it was bulletin board material. It’s nothing that … we have harped about.
“I think everybody is aware of what was said and obviously, playing them now, I think that the statement would come again in the spotlight. But for us in the locker room, we can’t control that. We can’t control what happened when we played them [in October].
“All we can do is t control what we do Sunday night. And that’s our focus right now. I don’t think it was necessary to harp on what was said. We have other things to worry about — and winning a football game is the main priority.”
The Bears know what they’re up against. “He’s a threat with his arm. He’s a threat with his feet. And obviously with his mind,” defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “You’ve gotta play the mental game with him. All 11 of us do.”
How do you win a mental game with Rodgers? He seems to have all the answers.
“I don’t know if it’s a win. It’s playing it,” Desai said. “You keep playing the chess game with him. From all 11 — 12 including myself. You’ve got to keep doing it and you’ve got to strain mentally through that over the course of a game.”
The trick is to throw something at Rodgers he hasn’t seen. You almost have to try to use his strength against him — that he knows exactly what you’re going to do.
“You can try — that’s part of the chess match,” Desai said. ‘You try to play to our strengths, to his weaknesses and try to bait some things the best you can. Obviously he’s seen all those things in his career. You keep playing it and keep putting some stress on him — just force him to think longer than he normally would like to.”
