After Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson\u2019s handshake seen \u2019round the world during the Wild Card round, NFL fans were eager to see his next postgame meeting at midfield. But as it turns out, viewers didn\u2019t get quite what they wanted.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s handshake with Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur after the Bears\u2019 comeback win in the Wild Card became a massive storyline last week. The interaction showed there was no love lost between the two rivals, and Johnson defended his behavior after the game saying, \u201cThis is a rivalry. And, the city of Chicago and Green Bay, it needs to be a rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick handshake between Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n
(\ud83d\udcfa Prime) pic.twitter.com\/qYSKlSG5bK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s no such rivalry between the Bears and Los Angeles Rams, who played Sunday night in the final Divisional Round game of the weekend. But fans still wanted to see how Johnson handled his handshake with Rams head coach Sean McVay, perhaps even more so after the Bears lost a heartbreaking overtime game. Unfortunately for those fans, NBC did not get a clean shot of the interaction.<\/p>\n producers not showing the Ben Johnson Sean McVay handshake should result in pink slips<\/p>\n \u2014 Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n How don\u2019t you show the handshake?<\/p>\n \u2014 Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n I wanted to see McVay-Johnson handshake<\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Huge botch by NBC not showing the Ben Johnson \u2013 Sean McVay post game handshake.<\/p>\n \u2014 Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n To be fair, securing a shot of the two coaches in that moment isn\u2019t as simple as it may seem. Postgame handshakes are chaotic in football, especially after an overtime game for the right to play in the NFC Championship. The sheer amount of scrambling from players, coaches, and media can make it difficult to capture a clear image of both coaches as they meet for a very brief moment in the middle of huge crowds.<\/p>\n Secondly, it\u2019s not as if Johnson\u2019s handshake with McVay was widely anticipated. Most understood that Johnson\u2019s behavior last week was due to the rivalry between Chicago and Green Bay. There\u2019s no similar animosity between his team and the Rams.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, these criticisms are much ado about nothing. Would it have been nice to see the handshake? Sure. But any reasonable person knew, in all likelihood, it was going to be a standard postgame handshake. No one at NBC needs to receive a \u201cpink slip\u201d for failing to show it. And if you want to see it so bad, the official NFL social media accounts have you covered.<\/p>\n nothing but respect from Ben Johnson \ud83e\udd1d pic.twitter.com\/3tYVfdIczg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NFL (@NFL) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \t