The X's and O's matchup for Monday Night Football between Bears coach Ben Johnson and Seattle coach Mike Macdonald is one largely untested, as they've only met up twice in the past.

Neither occurred with both as a head coach, so it's largely a journey into the strategic unknown. The past has some elements to contribute to this discussion of who wins between pre-eminent football minds from opposite sides of the line of scrimmage.

Both past encounters occurred when Johnson was offensive coordinator in Detroit and once was before Macdonald came to Seattle as head coach in 2024. Both had very different results, so it's difficult to judge much.

What can be ascertained is the Lions defense really suffered an embarrassing day once and the other time Seattle just couldn't keep up with Johnson's attack.

In 2024, Macdonald was in his first year as head coach after he served as Baltimore's defensive coordinator. His Seahawks faced the Lions coming off of an NFC championship game appearance in 2023, and a 2-1 start to the 2024 season. Detroit went on to a 15-2 season before losing in the first round of the playoffs to Washington, but Johnson's offense was roaring all day against Macdonald's defense.

The Lions won that Week 4 game 42-29 in Detroit, as quarterback Jared Goff had a perfect day passing. He was 18-for-18, passing for 292 yards, and the other Lions pass was completed by Amon-Ra St. Brown for 7 yards. This NFL record flawless passing effort by Goff was the last time Johnson went up against Macdonald.

It was quite different the first time they played when Macdonald was Baltimore's defensive coordinator and Johnson Detroit's offensive coordinator.

The Lions started 5-1 that season and on Oct. 2 when to Baltimore with Johnson's offense dominating opponents. Macdonald's Ravens defense shut down the Lions in a 38-6 Baltimore home-field win.

Johnson's offense came out firing blanks. They trailed 35-0 against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens before finally getting their only score in the fourth quarter on Jahmyr Gibbs' 21-yard touchdown run. It was 28-0 by halftime. Johnson's offense and the Lions defense were completely humbled.

The conclusion from all of this

What this says for the Bears game with Seattle isn't much. It's different personnel, different teams, coaches in different roles in some cases.

However, it does say is both coaches have shown their ability to scheme up a big day against the other in the past.

No other defense so thoroughly snuffed out Johnson's Lions offense in the 2023 season. The six points was a season low and the next closest thing was when Matt Eberflus, Justin Fields and Co. beat the Lions 28-13 at Soldier Field on Dec. 10, four weeks after they had given away a game to Detroit at Ford Field when leading by 12 with three minutes remaining.

The 42 points Johnson's 2024 Detroit attack scored on Macdonald's first Seattle defense was a season high scored by a Seahawks opponent. Seattle's own offense piled up a season-high 516 yards against Detroit but couldn't get in the end zone enough to keep pace with Johnson's offense in that one.

The picture this paints for Monday night's game is two fighters who can land haymakers on each other. Which comes out of the ring doing it best in the third matchup is anyone's imagination, but both are coming in off outstanding showings. Seattle looked more like a defending champion in dominating Kansas City on Sunday night, while the Bears on Thursday beat Seattle's opponent in the Super Bowl, the same team the Seahawks barely survived 13-10 in this season's opener.

One unknown element might be the dynamic force Caleb Williams brings to the game as a QB capable of doing damage as a runner or passer, although Seattle QB Sam Darnold isn't exactly a stature. The other is that for the first time, both are the head coach of their teams.

This could be Johnson's biggest test this season with Williams as his quarterback, as the blowout loss at Green Bay earlier came without being able to lean on his starting QB.