Classic Chicago Bears. Hire the assistant coach who just lost a playoff game where his team was a 9 1/2-point home favorite.
Can’t they ever get anything right?
Kidding. Kidding. Put down the pitchforks and the torches. Put on the giant furry Bears head hat.
The Bears got this right. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. The Bears got this right.
We don’t know whether Ben Johnson is going to lead the Bears to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl, but at this pivotal moment for the consistently embattled charter franchise, he feels like the right guy for a very big job.
The next head coach of the @ChicagoBears: Ben Johnson 🐻🫡 pic.twitter.com/gapnFhBfzP
— Priority Sports (@PrioritySports) January 20, 2025
When was the last time the Bears hired someone this well-regarded? President/CEO Kevin Warren will say Jan. 12, 2023, but you’d really have to go a lot further back.
Maybe Dave Wannstedt, who was the defensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-bound Dallas Cowboys when he accepted the job? Wanny didn’t quite fill Mike Ditka’s shoes, but the hire made a lot of sense at the time.
It’s a different era now, of course, and finding an offensive-minded coach who could develop former No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and lead the Bears was the task for GM Ryan Poles and Warren. We had a lot of questions about the process and the people running it, but they deserve credit for making the easy choice.
GO DEEPER
Bears hiring Lions OC Ben Johnson as head coach: Sources
The weeks of interviewing candidates was, as expected, just busy work as Johnson was the clear No. 1 choice, especially after Mike Vrabel took the New England Patriots. That the Lions lost to Washington on Saturday night was a fortuitous turn of events for the Bears.
Things fell into place for them, but it was imperative for them not to screw up their opportunity.
The Commanders team that beat Johnson’s Lions was led by a coach (Dan Quinn) the Bears passed up to hire Matt Eberflus, an offensive coordinator (Kliff Kingsbury) the Bears waved off to land Shane Waldron and a rookie quarterback (Jayden Daniels) the Bears didn’t even interview at Halas Hall because they were set on Williams.
It was a perfect example of how the Bears see a fork in the road and just wander into the weeds.
Only Williams remains and there’s no reason to believe he can’t lead the Bears to a conference championship game like Daniels. While he might be polarizing around the NFL, I have faith in Williams, who had an up-and-down season but still demolished the franchise’s shabby rookie records, and so t does Johnson, apparently, because he’s now tying his future to the young quarterback.
Ben Johnson wanted to work with Caleb Williams. pic.twitter.com/JMTuTzC2fD
— Caleb Williams Fan Club (@CalebFC18) January 20, 2025
Williams needs a coach like Johnson to make sure he develops. The Bears couldn’t get it right with Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields, but this could be different. Williams has the mix of talent, confidence and maturity to go as far as he wants in the NFL. But he can’t do it alone. What we saw from him in his rookie year was enough to give you both faith and pause.
The Bears have been so lousy for so long, the drafting of Williams was cause enough for a rebirth of optimism in Chicago. That things went so dramatically wrong this season was cause enough for a return of our well-worn cynicism. Firing Eberflus in-season just led to more embarrassing losses.
Listening to Poles, Warren and chairman George McCaskey talk after the season ended made you wonder how they keep the power on at Halas Hall, let alone run a football team. But they figured it out.
For all my pessimism, I thought Johnson and the Bears made the most sense, considering the other open jobs, as long as Johnson liked Williams.
Going back to December, Johnson helped the Lions beat the Bears at Soldier Field with a clever trick play called “Stumble Bum.” It turned out that he found a weakness in the Bears defense from a game the previous year. An NFL executive later texted me, “It’s as though Ben Johnson is watching all of the Bears games from the last two years!! He wants the job!!!”
The trick plays aren’t the reason to hire someone — see Nagy, Matt — but everything else I’ve heard about Johnson leads me to believe he’s the right guy for this moment.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs told me that Johnson ripped into the team at halftime because they failed in some red zone opportunities. Johnson has the “genius” rep, but he’s not a wallflower.
More on the Bears and Ben Johnson
Intensity will be helpful. Marc Trestman was actually a good play caller, but he couldn’t intimidate an entire NFL team. Johnson’s success with the Lions will certainly endear him to the defensive players on the Bears — talent respects talent — and it’s up to him to show he’s more than a good OC.
“I think he could do whatever he wants to do,” Gibbs said. “He’s just that smart and he has that connection with people. He’s good with people. He’s a good person to be around, too. So I’m pretty sure whatever team (he goes to), if he ever chooses to be a head coach somewhere, players would love him.”
If Johnson wins in Chicago, everyone will love him. The Bears have had two winning seasons and three playoff appearances since making the Super Bowl 18 years ago. In their last three seasons, they won as many games (15) as the Lions did in this one. Johnson won’t be packing his bags in the middle of Year 3 like Eberflus, but can he really win as a head coach?
That’s the hard part. Johnson gave the Lions the X’s and O’s, but he also had the Jimmies and Joes. The Bears still need a lot of work on their roster, starting with a better offensive line. The locker room needs an attitude adjustment as well, and perhaps this move will shape things up.
Good players need great coaching and there’s no league where it’s more important than the NFL. The Bears were literally begging for better coaching during the season and while their effort and focus left a lot to be desired — you don’t lose 10 in a row strictly because of the coaches — you can’t blame them for being upset. NFL careers are short and the windows to win can close before you feel the breeze coming in.
Poles failed them. Landing Johnson is a nice way to make up for it. This hire could save a lot of jobs at Halas Hall.
With Johnson and Williams as the faces of the franchise, it’s OK for Bears fans to believe again.
Ben Johnson just made sense and the Bears didn’t screw it up.
There is hope with this change. No, we don’t know what the future holds for the Bears, but it looks a lot more promising than it did yesterday.
(Photo: Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
