The curse is finally broken. Brian Flores finally got it done against Ben Johnson across the field.
Before the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears faced each other on Monday night, much was talked about with Flores and Johnson facing off four different times when Johnson was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
Johnson won all four of his matchups against Flores the last two years and averaged 31 points per game in the process, with at least 30 points being scored in every game.
Flores came back with vengeance in the fifth matchup as the Vikings took down the Bears 27-24. While all the attention is on the Vikings' young quarterback J.J. McCarthy and his play late, it was the defense that came up big when it mattered the most.
In the first five drives of the second half, the Bears scored zero points and had 66 yards of total offense in those drives. Chicago did try to make a furious comeback, but it was too late as the Vikings took the victory.
MInnesota Vikings defensive coordiantor Brian Flores outdid Ben Johnson in so many ways
Flores struggled against Johnson in the last four matchups. It was all about Johnson's creative play calling and working the Vikings' blitz packages against them. That was not the case in Chicago this time around, which is a massive win for Flores.
In the last four games, Johnson's offenses had at least 380 yards of total offense against Flores. The Vikings shut down the Bears' offense to 317 yards and 24 points. Both are the lowest that Flores' defensive units have allowed against Johnson.
The beauty was that Flores didn't change much of anything with his game plan. He stuck to his guns and was able to dominate in the trenches. The defensive line was able to bully their way to three quarterback hits and two sacks in the win.
Chicago thought they had a strength in their interior offensive line, but Javon Hargrave exposed them in a big way with his two sacks, two tackles for loss, one quarterback hit, and five tackles. Jonathan Greenard had his way off the edge as well, as he led the Vikings in quarterback hits with two.
It might be a relief to some to see Flores get the best of Johnson, but this is going to become the new norm. Flores has the playbook on how to slow down and stop Johnson's offense now in Chicago and will use it against them again when they face later in the season.