‘Trash talk and bragging rights’: St. Brown brothers to face off for third time

DETROIT — If you ask John Brown, he’ll tell you that his oldest son, Equanimeous St. Brown, would never let his baby brother, Amon-Ra St. Brown, beat him at anything growing up — especially sports.

Despite the three-year age gap, the proud father also noticed that Amon-Ra never backed down from the challenge.

That remains true today as the St. Brown brothers prepare to face off for the third time in their careers as opponents with Amon-Ra’s Detroit Lions traveling to the Windy City to take on Equanimeous’ Chicago Bears on Sunday.

“Completely, exactly like any typical brothers. If they’re playing basketball, Equanimeous never wants Amon-Ra to win,” Brown said. “Even today, he will tell you, he’s never beat me in one-on-one ever. They’re competitive like crazy. I’ll tell you that right now.”

The St. Brown brothers are 1-1 in head-to-head matchups after splitting games last season when Equanimeous was a member of the Green Bay Packers.

Their father will be in the stands at Soldier Field alongside their mother, Miriam Brown, and his middle son, Osiris St. Brown, in a split uniform to represent both the Lions and Bears. Miriam has been floating back and forth between Chicago and Detroit to support her sons throughout the season.

“I would never say I want Chicago to win or Detroit to win because I like them equally the same so that’s a tough thing right there,” John said. “I just tell my boys, train hard, eat right, sleep right and if I was them, I would take an extra dose of Cane Protein because it’s going to be rough out there.

“I don’t care who wins,” Miriam added. “I hope they both play good and that’s it. I hope nobody gets injured, that’s my biggest concern and other than that it doesn’t matter.”

Leading up to the contest and throughout the season, Amon-Ra and Equanimeous communicated regularly through their video game chat. They rarely mention football as they’re battling in Call of Duty: Warzone and FIFA 22.

This week was a little different, though, as the Lions-Bears game has been circled on the calendar for months. Amon-Ra said “trash talk and bragging rights” are on the line.

“Little trash talk earlier yesterday. I talk to him almost every day, we play on the game a lot, but I’m excited to play him,” Amon-Ra said. “Obviously, he’s on the Bears now and not the Packers, but whenever I play my brother it’s always super fun and not just football, but for my family. They all get to be there and watch us. I’m just super excited to play him.”

In Detroit, Amon-Ra has gotten off to a record-breaking start in just his second season, recently passing Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson for the most receptions by a Lions player through his first two seasons with 129 receptions in 24 games played.

“Obviously, he said he was going to beat us,” Amon-Ra added. “He gave me a little score prediction. I told him, ‘We’re going to beat them’ so we’ll see at the end of the game.”

Equanimeous is enjoying a larger role in his first season in Chicago after playing in Green Bay from 2018 to 2021. He currently has the fourth-most receiving yards on the Bears (164) off 11 targets.

“We usually play around the same time, but I usually check how he did on the stat line and he’s played a few teams that we’ve played before we play them so instead of watching other teams play them, I’ll watch the Lions play them so I’ll get to see my brother on offense,” Equanimeous said.

During Week 1, they scored touchdowns 2 minutes and 14 seconds apart, despite competing in different settings.

Although John wouldn’t share a prediction on the outcome of the Lions-Bears game, his dream is to see both sons reach the end zone during the contest.

If that were to happen, Equanimeous wouldn’t be disappointed — even if it’s against his baby brother.

“I’m going to be happy for him for sure,” Equanimeous said. “But when it comes to the team-wise, as long as we win, it’s all good.”