The Lions Take It Personally In Ben Johnson’s Return To Detroit | The Jim Rome Show

The Lions Take It Personally In Ben Johnson’s Return To Detroit | The Jim Rome Show

But I do want to talk about the lines and bears. I’m glad I’ve saved some time for that because Detroit, don’t think that I’m not going to just gloss over or that I’m going to gloss over that epic curb stopping that you put on your dude Ben Johnson. That epic curb stopping just needed its own segment. It needs some room because that epic curb stopping was clearly personal for the Lions. I’m not saying that I think the Lions hate Ben Johnson. Far from it. I believe them when they say they appreciate everything they all accomplished together, but I do know I know the Lions want to make a statement against their old OC. Statement being, we don’t need you to dominate. Statement being, we’re still the much better team no matter who’s calling the plays. Statement being, we’re going to be just fine. It’s pretty undeniable, right? After yesterday, the Lions are still miles ahead of the Bears. And the Bears are still pretty much nowhere. Right back at 0 and two. And clearly the Lions wanted Ben Johnson and the Bears to feel that pain. That’s why they hung that fitty burger on them. That’s why they never let off the gas. Hey, but don’t take it from me. The Lions straight up admitted it was personal after that game. Here’s Brian Branch not just saying the game was personal, but saying that the Lions organization felt betrayed. you know, coming into this game that this is personal. Really, all these games personals, uh, and but this one was just we felt like we’ve been, you know, betrayed, uh, from the staff to the players. And, you know, we we love Ben. We still love Ben. Uh, he’s a great, you know, coach. He has a he’s a great mastermind. But, yeah, it was time to get out to him. It’s an awesome quote. Yes, it was personal. All these games are personal. But this time, we felt quote betrayed. We felt like we’ve been, you know, betrayed. Uh from the staff to the players, and as much as we love Ben, it was time to get after him. I don’t even know that he misspoke. He may have just made up a word to describe what that guy did to them. He betrayed them and traded them for the Bears. So they felt betrayed. Betrayed. And since they felt betrayed, they felt like they should smash him in the mouth. Betrayed. Yeah, we could tell you felt betrayed because that was a beatdown. That was a statement headcaving and it absolutely was personal and we could all see very clearly that that’s what that was. Which is why Ben Johnson was getting questions after the fact about how his old buddy Dan Cannibal was out there running it up on him. Do you believe Dan Campbell ran it up on you on that fourth and fourth goal? What’s he supposed to do is fourth and goal? What do you want him to do? Yeah, he could have kicked the field goal. They don’t kick field goals. They go forward there. So, he was he was doing what he was supposed to do. That’s what he does. Agitated much. Betrayed it. But by the way, dude, you should be agitated. Let me translate that for you. Hell yes. He ran it up on us. That’s what he does. That’s what I did when I was with him over there. That’s what we would do to anyone, especially them. So, of course, he did it to me. What’s he supposed to do? Not run it up on me. They were trying to make a point. Of course, they were going to run it up. And they are who they are. That’s what they do. And by the way, given the if this thing were flipped, he would have done the exact same thing to them. So I’ve got no issue with that at all. Thing is, it was actually sort of competitive early on. Even into the second quarter, it was still only a one-sore game. Then the floodgates fully opened up when Caleb Williams made yet another play that makes you wonder about Caleb Williams. I don’t think he has anything in the playbook for second and 32. You might be surprised. Williams in trouble. Rolling right. Not that. And then it is Kirby Joseph. Did he stay in bounds? Joseph comes up with the pick. Yeah, I think I’d rip that page out of the playbook. Alvin, go ahead and hit him with the classic Andrew Brandt because I have no idea what we’re thinking or what we’re doing here. What are we doing? You know what that was? That was exactly the kind of bull crap that Ben Johnson was supposed to train out of this dude’s system. This is exactly the kind of garbage that Caleb was supposed to leave behind in his rookie season. You can’t just blindly chuck the ball down the field, especially when it’s somehow second and 32, dude. Throw it away. And by throw it away, I don’t mean throw it as far as you can and hope nobody’s there to catch it because somebody was a guy who generally makes plays. Kirby, man, throw that into the 30th row. Throw that out of the stadium. How is that guy still making mistakes like that? And that wasn’t at the end of a beatdown in garbage time. That’s when that was still a game. It was still a game until he did that because after that pick, the next six six Lions drives went like this. Tutty tutty field goal. Tutty tutty tutty. It was like the Lions saw that play and were like, “We got this. He doesn’t got this, but we got this.” I mean, forget Caleb’s progress this season. Are we looking possibly at Caleb regression? Yeah, Rank, you’re in my head. Adam ranks in my head. Patience, patience. New system. He needs time. Yeah, I don’t think time’s on your side, dude. You, too, Bears fan. I don’t want to say the sky is falling after only two weeks, Chicago, but the sky does not look very stable from where I’m sitting, and neither does the QB. And Jayen Johnson going right back on the shelf definitely does not help anything either. This from earlier today at Adam Shfter quote Bears Pro Bowl cornerback Jayen Johnson is out indefinitely with a groin injury. Sources tell me and at Courtney Ronin. The team still is evaluating the full extent of the injury whether surgery is necessary and how long Johnson will be sidelined. Johnson exited the second quarter of the Bears loss to the Lions after sustaining the injury while breaking up a pass. He missed all training camp, the preeason, and Chicago’s opener with a groin injury before returning and reagravating it Sunday. He now is out indefinitely. Man, that is not good. That is so below not good. Below not good. I mean, look at them already with him and now he’s out. Now, the good news is Ben Johnson was never going to fix the Bears in two weeks. That’s a given. The bad news is I’m not sure there’s been any progress made at all yet. If there has been, it’s pretty hard to see after a total and complete curb stomping. What’s easy to see is the Lions are still a problem. Now, are they what they were when they had Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson? Time will tell. But I’ve seen enough already to know even though it’s only the Bears. And the Bears are not a problem. Not a problem to anybody but themselves. The Lions though are still a force. They’re still a threat. They’re still a problem. They can still dial it up even without Ben Johnson. The Lions can still look like the Lions even without Ben Johnson. Just like the Bears can still look like the Bears even with Ben Johnson. What a beatdown. and very very personal. I mean, hell, they felt like they were betrayed. You know, my my takeway on that is you can’t fault the guy and fans will be fans, players will be players, they will use any fuel they can get. We know this. You can’t blame the guy for leaving. The guy was the top of every list for the last couple of coaching cycles. We felt like I think the reason they feel betrayed, I don’t want to speak for them, but I think the reason they feel like they were betrayed is not because he left. They knew he was going to go. They lost both coordinators. They felt like they were betrayed because he stayed in division almost like he wanted that. He asked for that. He picked them as much as they picked him. And whether that’s fair or not, listen, it’s a great opportunity. If you’re Ben Johnson, just step back for a minute and never mind that they’re 0 and2 and Caleb went Caleb again and that game got away from them and they got absolutely hammered. Go back to when he accepted that position and look at what he accepted. It was a great opportunity and he passed on other opportunities. So, I don’t feel personally like he betrayed them. Betrayed, but but they played like it, didn’t they? You know, one of those like, yeah, well, Brett Favre picked the Vikings. The Vikings and Packers hate each other. He picked them because he wanted at us twice a year. I don’t know that that’s what Johnson did. He didn’t leave on bad terms. He had a great experience there, man. He gave you everything he had. And you played some great ball with him there. He didn’t think to himself, you know what? These guys did me all wrong. They did me dirty. I’m going to go somewhere where I can punch them in the face twice a year. He went to his best opportunity. It just happened to be in division. But again, guys will always get fuel wherever they can get fuel. And if they feel like they got betrayed, well, it worked. It’s a beat down they put on them.

Jim Rome recaps the Detroit Lions’ ‘curb stomping’ of the Chicago Bears in Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season.

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