Green Bay Packers center Sean Rhyan has heard the talk coming from Chicago.
He has no plans to spend much time thinking about it.
Asked Wednesday whether Bears coach Ben Johnson’s comments about the Packers matter once the teams take the field, Rhyan dismissed the noise.
He said coach Matt LaFleur had given the team a similarly unswerving message: “Don’t even think about it.”
“Just [expletive] smoke, just [expletive] talk, man,” Rhyan said in a video shared by Fox 11’s Vince Lovergine. “Talk all you want. They’re not the ones on the field. That’s probably why they’re talking.”
Rhyan added that the Packers wouldn’t waste their energy focusing on the comments.
Rhyan Answers Ben Johnson’s Talk With a Challenge on the Field
Johnson has made his feelings about Green Bay public.
After the Chicago Bears rallied to beat the Packers 31-27 in January’s wild-card game, the Bears released video of his heated locker room speech. The celebration gave an fierce rivalry an extra talking point heading into the teams’ first meeting of 2026.
LaFleur has taken a quieter approach this week.
Asked Monday why he doesn’t engage in public rivalry talk like Johnson, he said the game belongs to the players. Rhyan’s reply Wednesday was blunter, though it landed in much the same place that whatever the coaches say, the players will decide the outcome.
There’s recent history for Green Bay to answer.
Chicago won both the teams’ final regular-season meeting in 2025 and their playoff rematch. In the postseason game, the Packers held a 21-3 halftime lead before the Bears completed their comeback.
That finish makes Sunday more than an early-season division game for Rhyan and his teammates. Green Bay has a chance to respond at home, where the Packers’ game preview says it has won 15 of its last 18 meetings with Chicago.
Rhyan Has a Larger Role in This Packers-Bears Meeting
Rhyan zips into this matchup in a different position from the one he held for much of last season. An injury to the Packers’ starting center pushed him into the job in November 2025. He stayed there down the stretch, then signed a contract extension in March.
Rhyan told Packers.com that his confidence at center grew between his first snap at the position and the end of the Bears playoff game. He now has a full offseason of preparation behind him and a regular role directing the offensive line in front of Jordan Love.
The line’s work will matter on Sunday regardless of how much attention the coaches’ remarks receive. Green Bay’s Wednesday injury report listed guard Aaron Banks, center-guard Jager Burton and center-guard Jacob Monk as nonparticipants. Their status for Sunday had yet to be determined.
Rhyan has seen how swiftly this rivalry can turn, including from his spot in the middle of Green Bay’s offense. His viewpoint of Johnson’s talk leaves zero doubt about where he wants the next exchange to happen.
Packers Starter Has Strong Words on Diss From Bears’ Ben Johnson