FLOWARS Episode II: It’s a Trap! How Brian Flores Set a Week 1 Trap to Dismantle Ben Johnson in Chicago
In the NFL, standard coaches react to what’s in front of them, game-planning week-to-week and hoping their personnel can simply out-execute the opponent. In Minnesota, it’s a little different. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores plays chess, not checkers. And in Week 2 of the 2026 season, he put on a grandmaster clinic that could be studied in film rooms for years to come.
Heading into the highly anticipated matchup at Soldier Field, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson was the hottest offensive mind in football. Johnson’s offense had just dropped a staggering 59 points in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers. Preparing to face what looked like the new face of the league at quarterback in Caleb Williams, along with Johnson’s historically dominant scheme, Flores knew standard preparation wouldn’t cut it.
He needed a trap. He needed to do something only a straight f—ing lunatic would do.
The Week 1 Illusion
The foundation for Flores’ masterpiece was actually laid seven days earlier during the Vikings’ Week 1 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Observers noticed something bizarre about the Vikings defense: Flores ran functionally the exact same look, with the same static alignments and rigid concepts, all game long. He didn’t adjust. He didn’t disguise. He barely changed a thing.
To the untrained eye, it looked like someone spamming the same formation over and over again in Madden. But what if it was all part of the plan?
Flores put a rigid, unchanging data set on film. He gave the Bears coaching staff almost no clues about his true inventory of coverage rotations, simulated pressures and personnel packages. He essentially forced Johnson to game-plan for a ghost, leaving Chicago with very little relevant film to study before the Vikings arrived at Soldier Field.
Another 70%+ Blitz Rate — But From Everywhere
When the ball was kicked off at a rainy Soldier Field in Week 2, the trap snapped shut. Flores didn’t just tweak his defense. He changed damn near everything.
Well, everything except the blitz rate — because, you know, he’s still an effing madman.
The static formations from Week 1 vanished, replaced by an absolute funhouse mirror of defensive looks. Safeties rotated seamlessly into the box. Linebackers dropped into deep zones. Defensive linemen dropped into coverage while defensive backs came screaming off the edge. Yet amid the structural overhaul, Flores maintained his calling card: absolute, unrelenting aggression.
The Vikings blitzed Caleb Williams on an astronomical 77% of his dropbacks. Johnson’s offense — at the time the highest-scoring offense in NFL history — had looked completely unstoppable a week earlier. Against Flores? It was paralyzed.
Williams was constantly flustered, forced into quick checkdowns, hit repeatedly and eventually knocked out of the game with an injury as Minnesota won a brutal 9-3 rock fight. Or, considering the conditions, maybe we should call it a mud fight.
Chess, Not Checkers
For years, Ben Johnson had been Flores’ kryptonite, holding a 5-1 head-to-head record against him. Flores knew that to beat an offensive savant, he had to win the psychological war before the teams ever stepped onto the gridiron.
By sacrificing a week of defensive tape and showing remarkable restraint in Week 1, Flores gave Chicago very little to prepare for. Meanwhile, the media spent the week talking about Johnson’s explosive offense while Flores quietly built a customized cage to trap it in.
Then he sprung it.
The Mental War
When the dust — or mud — settled in Chicago, the Vikings walked away with a statement divisional win and the top spot in the NFC North. Ben Johnson called matching wits with Flores a “mental war.” In Week 2, Brian Flores dictated the terms of engagement.
The Bears were tamed for four straight quarters, never holding a lead even with Caleb Williams on the field. And as a Vikings fan, I’m starting to wonder…
Could this actually be the year?
They called the Bears the darlings of the NFC North dance, but maybe big ugly is the prom queen now.
See y’all in Week 18. For now, it’s on to Baker Mayfield and the Bucs.
Let’s SKOL.
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That is a fantastic observation regarding the same pre-snap looks in week 1. Clearly felt he could play static against a “weaker” Green Bay team week 1 at home. He was definitely playing chess if not 3-D chess when poor Johnson was playing checkers. Really makes me wonder what other wrinkles he has for the rest of the year. Honestly I have hope the offense can be the mechanism for a win once Kyler gets his needed reps in and gets more comfortable in the O’Connell offense.