When Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson faces off against Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s NFC divisional-round playoff game at Soldier Field, at least one legendary offensive mind will be digesting the chess match of X’s and O’s from home. “Oh, yeah, sure, I’ll watch it,” Tom Mo ore told the Tribune. The 87-year-old retired this month after 62 years in coaching, having last served as a senior offensive consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season. Along the way, Moore won four Super Bowl rings with three teams, including the 2006 Indianapolis Colts. Related Articles 5 things to watch for in the Chicago Bears-Los Angeles Rams playoff game — plus our predictions As the Bears gain momentum, Chicago house music staple ‘Percolator’ rises with them Flashback: When the Chicago Bears played the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game 40 years ago Column: With a flair for the dramatic, the Chicago Bears have busted these 10 myths. Can they keep it going? Chicago Bears’ playoff run means big postseason business for Soldier Field food service Every Bears fan remembers those Colts: Moore was the offensive coordinator when Peyton Manning and company defeated Rex Grossman and the Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI on Feb 4, 2007. “Way back when, when I was a little kid growing up In Iowa, you only got one game, and of course, the Bears were my team, because that’s the only game you got on Sunday,” Moore said. “I go way back to Sid Luckman. So I know the Bears and I know the Cubs.” And he knows an offensive guru when he sees one, and he sees a couple of elite play-callers in McVay, who’s in his ninth season, and Johnson, a first-year head coach. Both coaches have become known for their deceptive use of motion, angles and unconventional routes and personnel groupings, as well their mastery of situational play-calling. “One of the things that really stands out to me is they have answers,” Moore said. “In other words, when they create situations with their personnel alignment, their motions, then they have an answer. They know exactly what to do to take advantage of what that situation creates, and they’re both masters at it.” Moore elaborated: “Answers” mean that when a defense shifts into a different coverage based on a coach’s formation, that coach has a counter-move up his sleeve. “When they (on offense) do something, and then they see how a particular team is trying to defend what they’re doing, then they know exactly what the answer is and where to go with the next part of the equation to solve that problem,” he said. “And I think that’s the thing that really sets them apart.” Not their first tango Rams coach Sean McVay talks with an official during a game against the Titans on Sept. 14, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (John Amis/AP) The Sunday evening duel at Soldier Field won’t be the first time Johnson will have matched wits with McVay in the playoffs, though Johnson was the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator in previous meetings. During the 2023 postseason, the Lions beat the Rams 24-23 in the wild-card round on Jan. 14, 2024, at Ford Field. Despite the loss, the Rams outgained the Lions 425-334. They met again in the 2024 season opener on Sept. 8 at Ford Field, with the Lions prevailing again, 26-20. The offenses were more evenly matched, with a slight edge to the Rams, 387 yards to 363. Now, the Bears and Rams haven’t met in the playoffs since the legendary ’85 Bears trounced the Rams 24-0 in the conference championship game Jan. 12, 1986, en route to winning the franchise’s only Super Bowl championship. Flashback: When the Chicago Bears played the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game 40 years ago To get to Sunday’s playoff reunion, both teams had to pull off some offensive theatrics in the wild-card round. The Bears erased a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit by outscoring the Green Bay Packers 25-6 in the final frame to beat their archrival 31-27. The Rams narrowly averted an upset against the Carolina Panthers, with quarterback Matthew Stafford’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson with 43 seconds left giving them a 34-31 victory. The Bears put up the most total yards (445) — and most passing yards (352) — in the wild-card round, while the Rams produced the third most (411). However, the Rams were the juggernaut in the regular season. They finished as the league’s top offense (394.6 yards per game) and averaged the most points (30.5). The Bears ranked sixth in offense (369.5) and ninth in points (25.9). Here’s how McVay’s Rams offense and Johnson’s offenses (including Johnson’s stint as Lions offense coordinator) ranked in the last four regular seasons. 2025: Rams total offense (1), points (1); Bear total offense (6), points (9) 2024: Rams total offense (15), points (20); Lions total offense (2), points (1) 2023: Rams total offense (7), points (8); Lions total offense (3), points (5) 2022: Rams total offense (32), points (27); Lions total offense (4), points (5) Once upon a time … Bears coach Ben Johnson stands along the sideline during a game against the Lions on Jan. 4, 2026, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Johnson calls his offensive philosophy a “mutt,” borrowing from a variety of influences, both directly and indirectly. “There’s stuff all over the place,” Johnson said last month while name-checking Bill Lazor, Chip Kelly and Mike Martz, a former Rams head coach and Bears offensive coordinator. Earlier this week, Johnson said he studied McVay’s system when he refashioned the Lions offense after a former Rams quarterback was traded to the Lions. “My history has been, obviously, with Jared Goff,” Johnson said. “Jared started with Sean. And so there’s a lot of comfort that Jared had from his time with Sean that we looked to accentuate there in Detroit. “So that was one of the pillars of our playbook, were some of those concepts from L.A. Also augmenting it with some of the stuff I’ve been around, (Lions) coach (Dan) Campbell has been around, and the rest of the offensive staff. “It’s a marriage of a bunch of stuff like that. I’ve watched a ton of L.A. tape over the years — obviously when Jared was there — and that’s continued since Matthew (Stafford) has been there as well.” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, left, works alongside coach Dan Campbell during a game against the Bears on Nov. 28, 2024, in Detroit. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) In 2021, when Johnson was tight ends coach in Detroit, Campbell gave him more command of the passing game as offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn fell out of favor. After Johnson’s promotion the following offseason, the Detroit News wrote the summer before training camp: “That means more of the play-action passing game, something the Rams did better than any other team during Goff’s time there. … We should see more movement around Goff as well, something Rams head coach Sean McVay emphasized earlier in Goff’s career with his creative use of presnap motion and assorted other ‘eye candy’ in the Rams offense.” Sound familiar? Bears coaches used play-action and presnap motion when making over the offense for second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. Unlike with Goff, however, Johnson and his staff implemented a lot of facets that were unfamiliar to Williams. For example, Williams was a shotgun quarterback his rookie season (as well as at USC), but Johnson practically forced him to be an under-center, play-center with some self-admitted hard coaching. “Early on he really tried to force Caleb to get out of his comfort zone,” passing game coordinator Press Taylor said. “And I couldn’t tell you how — I would imagine Caleb had less than 100 snaps under center before he got to the NFL. “So I think that was something like, we’re going to expose him to all this and get him as good as we possibly can. If that’s something he never latched on to, we would have pivoted and gone somewhere else with it. But, that’s a credit to Caleb’s work and what he’s done and how he’s gotten himself to really be very comfortable with what we’re asking him to do in this situation.” More similarities than differences Rams tight end Colby Parkinson, center left, celebrates his touchdown catch with wide receiver Puka Nacua during an NFL wild-card playoff game against the Panthers on Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (Erik Verduzco/AP) Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson sees Johnson and McVay as two sides of the same coin. And not guessing where the coin will land heads or tails, but whether heads is tails. “They just give you the same look to run a different play,” Stevenson told the Tribune. “And then they give you the same look, run the same play, but it’s a different route. “It’s just the fact that they can give you the same thing over and over and have options off it.” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said McVay “does a great job with formations, motions, shifts, those types of things; personnel, trying to create some mismatches. “In the run game, (it’s) the things that they do schematically to create angles, or get to the right spots and manipulate the defense,” Allen said. McVay noted nearly identical qualities in Johnson, whom he has studied since Johnson’s Lions days. “The guys that do the best job are the ones that you can see there’s a true understanding of what defenses are doing and … try to manipulate a lot of the rules and the coaching points and really try to attack your front mechanics, your coverage contours, understand some of the percentages of what you’re doing situationally, and then being able to maximize his player skill sets,” McVay said. Like Johnson, McVay has a background as a tight ends coach. He served in that position on Mike Shanahan’s Washington Redskins (now Commanders) from 2011-13. Johnson filled the same role for the Lions in 2020 and ’21. Today, both coaches are noted for their creative use of the tight end. Moore remembers Johnson’s “utilization of tight ends was outstanding” in Detroit. Column: With a flair for the dramatic, the Chicago Bears have busted these 10 myths. Can they keep it going? Safety Kevin Byard III said the versatility of the Rams tight ends gives defenders more prep work. “Ben’s kind of been doing this all year (too), but I think it’s a reason why you like to have two tight ends out there, sometimes three, because it changes our personnel as a defense,” Byard said. “You go three tight ends, you want to go big base personnel, put more linebackers to stop the run. “And then when you have guys that can get down the field, as far as tight ends that can run routes and get open in the middle of the field, it creates mismatches.” Johnson said it’s part of the Rams releasing players into routes from unique positions. “They’ll insert a tight end or wide receiver through the B-gap and run them on vertical routes down the field,” he said. “So those things create challenges.” It’s commendable when an offense can spread targets to a variety of receivers, but in Johnson’s anything-goes offense, he had tackle-eligible Theo Benedet run a post route in the third quarter of the playoff game against the Packers. “I was a little disappointed in my (16) miles per hour,” Benedet joked. “I thought I’d get at least 17.” Meanwhile, in the running game, 11 Bears have taken at least one rush attempt, including three receivers, backup quarterback Tyson Bagent and rookie tight end Colston Loveland. “Love the window dressing,” Loveland said of the motions, shifts and disguises Johnson uses. “A lot of times it helps us with leverage, helps us work in double teams and everything. And for defenses, there’s a lot of moving parts — linebackers, your eyes, (there’s) just a whole lot going on. It kind of messes with your keys a little bit.” Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle sees the general philosophies behind the Rams’ and Bears’ respective offenses. “But at the same point in time, we like to think we can morph and we can be unique week-to-week just depending on what the defense is going to give us,” he said. Moore also believes that Johnson and McVay each have a base offensive philosophy that he adheres to. The trick is how much can you tailor it to your personnel versus making your personnel adjust to the system. “Because it’s still a game of people,” Moore said. “Sometimes people get tied up in systems. And you’ve got to have a system. I’m not minimizing that. But it’s taking the system and tweaking it and adjusting it to your particular individuals that you have on your team at that time. “And I think that’s what both of them have done and done a great job of.” One position outweighs all others Rams coach Sean McVay, left, talks with quarterback Matthew Stafford during a game against the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 29, 2025, in Atlanta. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Regardless of the bells and whistles, an offensive scheme is meaningless if a quarterback can’t run it effectively. “It’s a top offense in the league,” Williams said of the Rams. “(McVay) has a top quarterback in the league. And when you got those two things, you can run a pretty well-oiled machine over there.” In what many consider to be a strong case for NFL Most Valuable Player, Stafford led the regular season with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdowns and finished 13th in completion percentage at 65%. His QB rating (109.2) is second to the New England Patriots’ Drake Maye (113.5). While Williams finished sixth in touchdown passes with 27, his rating ranked 18th at 90.1, and his completion percentage of 58.1% ranked 24th. But he set a Bears record for passing yards in a season with 3,942. And he has engineered seven fourth-quarter comeback victories. “He’s still in the learning stage,” said Moore, noting Stafford is in his 17th season. “And he’s jumped a mile high this season, from everything I’ve seen. “He’s done a great job, and the coach has done a great job with him.” ...read more read less