Chase Rice is gearing up for a big performance. The country singer will perform during halftime of the Chicago Bears’ game against the Los Angeles Rams.
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While country music fans everywhere will be pleased by that news, the situation has an even deeper meaning to Rice, who’s a longtime friend of the Bears’ head coach, Ben Johnson.
The guys met as kids in North Carolina. They became football teammates in middle school, chose to be roommates in college, and played football together at the University of North Carolina. Through it all, they’ve remained friends.
“To see him come up through the ranks… it wasn’t surprising at all. It’s just, you never expect a guy to get a head coaching job. Those guys are always people you don’t know,” Rice told the Bears. “But it’s really, really cool. I’m really proud of him to be where he’s at. It’s very well deserved.”
Rice described Johnson as “the smartest guy in the room at all times” and “a great human being. The pro coach, meanwhile, expressed excitement about his “good friend’s” latest gig.
“We grew up together, middle school, high school, college. We’ve stayed friendly throughout,” Johnsons said. “He came to a game earlier this season and has been a tremendous supporter. So, pretty excited to hear he’ll be coming to town this week.”
The Rams-Bears game will air Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. on NBC. The team that comes out victorious will play the Seattle Seahawks in the Conference Championship next week.
Chase Rice’s Touring Hiatus
Sunday’s game may mark one of the last times fans get to see Rice on stage for a while. The singer recently revealed that he’s embarking on a touring hiatus of an unspecified amount of time.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rice shared what led him to make that decision.
“It was earlier this year, probably around September. I was elk hunting, and I just really didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay out in Montana,” he recalled. “Throughout the fall, I kept doing shows, but I was like, ‘This is not right. I’m not excited to get onstage anymore.’”
“Everything felt wrong,” Rice continued. “So, I had a conversation with management and my agent, and it was just like, ‘Wow, we’re really going to do this. I’m going to step away until I feel like I want to do it again.’”
While Chase Rice said he’ll “probably never tour like I did again,” he assured fans he’s not stepping away from music all together.
“I’m planning on writing my ass off,” he said. “There won’t be an album this year, I know that. But I’m really looking forward to slowing down, seeing what we can create.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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