Bears' Ben Johnson sends warning to Rams amid concerns about Matthew Stafford

During this week's edition of the "Let's Go!" SiriusXM show and podcast, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford insisted that he was "excited" about the thought of playing a cold-weather divisional-round playoff game at the Chicago Bears this coming Sunday. 

First-year Bears head coach Ben Johnson subsequently offered either a direct or indirect response to Stafford.

Will cold weather give Bears an advantage over Rams?

"I like the cold," Johnson said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I do like the cold. ...I do know this will be the coldest game that [the Rams have] played this year. That’s something I recognized when we found out who the opponent was. But I think Matthew Stafford has played well in cold games in his past. I don’t know how much of an advantage that gives you over their passing game, necessarily. There’s a lot of elements that go into a game like this." 

Since the opening weekend of November, the Rams have played at the San Francisco 49ers, at the Carolina Panthers (twice), at the Arizona Cardinals, at the Seattle Seahawks and at the Atlanta Falcons. None of those games featured the type of weather the Rams will experience at Chicago's Soldier Field. 

Specifically, AccuWeather was predicting as of Wednesday afternoon that the RealFeel temperature in and around Chicago will be in the single digits when the Rams-Bears clash kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET. 

How Ben Johnson previously prepared for cold-weather games

Stafford played home games at the domed Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, from 2009 through the 2020 season. More recently, Johnson served as offensive coordinator of the Lions before he accepted the Chicago job last winter. 

"When I was in Detroit, you’re outside to start with, and it’s usually pretty cold to start with this time of year anyway, so you could practice outside and try to acclimate yourself as much as you can. I think that’s a good question for [the Rams], how they feel about that," Johnson added during his comments. 

Stafford is dealing with a sprained index finger on his throwing hand, coming off the Rams' wild-card playoff win at the Panthers. One would think gripping cold footballs could prove to be challenging for Stafford this weekend, regardless of what he does beforehand to prepare for the game.