Ben Johnson has a ‘burning desire’ to be a head coach. Could the Detroit Lions OC be a fit for the Chicago Bears?
December 21, 2024
I’m not sure how anyone can read this article and still say with a straight face that he shouldn’t be the number one target for the Bears this offseason.
26 comments
> “Anthony had a very complex system that just didn’t mesh with what Jared was good at,” said Bears long snapper Scott Daly, who was with the Lions at the time. “And Ben came in midseason with Dan to take over the play calling and he’s very much, ‘I’m going to adapt to who we have, their strengths.’ Things just changed to where he was able to figure out Jared, how are we going to maximize this and get the ball out and spread it around. Even during that season when we didn’t have a ton of guys and weapons, we were able to make a big difference. Now that they’ve added a lot of talent and weapons, he’s definitely made a difference for them.”
> Said Bears running back D’Andre Swift, who was in Detroit from 2020-22: “Him and JG (Goff) had a great relationship. He made it simple for the guys and put them in position to go ahead and play free and showcase their talents. Everybody in the league can see the way they play over there. He is a great offensive mind.”
There’s never been a more obvious choice for the Bears.
Id love it but if I’m Ben I’m staying far the fuck away from the stupidest fucking owners in football
Shit really won’t change until the McCaskeys bum asses sell the team
My question is will the lions allow him? Is he still under contract? If so the lions may not let him interview with a division rival?
YOU MEN BEN NAGY? NO THX
he will get eaten alive by the mccaskeys. vrabel or gruden.
No, we need an experienced coach. I’m tired of these OC hires. Get a competent person who can mold and develop Caleb and help this organization get out of its own way.
Warren. Please. Dont let buster fuck this up
At the end of the day, no-one knows.
My top 3 in alphabetical order are Brady, Johnson and Vrabel.
Brady – OC, really thriving with Josh Allen and not much else. Johnson – OC really thriving with best O line, experienced QB 1 good receiver and 2 good running backs. Vrabel – Former HC, good success on a team which lacked talent. Went stale eventually and got fired.
Brady and Johnson are unknown at HC level so that’s the risk there. Can they handle locker room AND Chicago media/fanbase in their first job? Benefit – Offensively proven, would be a consistent offensive voice for Caleb. Vrabel – Risk that he peaked at Tennessee and is now washed. Benefit – has the respect/kudos of being a multiple SB winning player, could handle locker room and media/fanbase. Would need to keep finding OCs for Caleb.
No-one knows how it will pan out. I’m comfortable with any of them
What experience and successes does he actually have as a head coach? If you are a good OC does that mean you’ll be a good head coach? Automagically?
It’s a different type of leadership and we don’t know if he has it. We don’t have any evidence outside of a good regular season record. There’s different personnel here.
I’d love to see vrabel as hc and Johnson as OC. And if vrabel doesn’t work with Johnson as OC, give Johnson his spot.
If the Bears want any chance at hiring Ben Johnson, they need to fire Poles when the season ends.
No way, Ben Johnson is signing up to lead a Ryan Poles rebuild that’s been failing miserably for 3 years now.
This feels like Nagy all over again.
I doubt we offer him a competitive contract
We are on a collision course with Dennis Allen
Bears r gonna find a way to fuck it up. I’ve told My buddies, until they start winning and prove it otherwise I’m nearing done with George behind the wheel
He should be the number 1 choice if they are serious about maximizing CW potential.
I was kind of ambivalent to Johnson and probably partially because there was a post about him every day. But this was a solid article and I liked how the players described him.
Here’s the issue for me. If he’s HC he’s not going to be directly doing those things with Caleb like he is now. He’s going to have to hire an OC who may or may not do what he’s done successfully in Detroit and may or may not get along with Caleb. Also, how’s his discipline. This team has become so undisciplined with multiple players acting like babies even during games. How will he handle that. We need someone that won’t put up with that type of crap. We saw what a guy who’s too much of a players coach, how bad that can go.
I like the idea of hiring him though. There are no sure things even with a proven coach.
Given all that, the bears will F this up and because of Kevin we’ll probably hire some loser coach from the B10.
after reading that…he’s the guy. go get him.
This is the most OBVIOUS and easy decision the bears have ever had hiring a coach. I’m fully expecting them to hire Brian Flores or Bobby Slowick though.
What makes me nervous about Ben Johnson.. The dude has the best OL in the league rn in Detroit. They are able to run the ball and use 5 to 7 step drops even from under center.. that’s not going to happen in Chicago for the 2025 season, barring a miracle.
An offensive line can make some okay and average OCs look like geniuses, and when they go to being a head coach, they have no answers for their playa not working cause they worked great the previous years with great OLs. Now they have a rag tag BS line or a bunch of undeveloped pups out there.
So how many years until we fire him?
He’d be great! But we’ll hire the defensive coordinator from the Browns or something.
I can’t wait to hear the story 3 years from now, after Ben Johnson becomes the next big time HC, about how he really, really wanted to coach Caleb Williams but when he came to interview the Bears would only pay for greyhound bus ticket, then treated him like a big asshole and low-balled the shit out of him. meanwhile CW is off the team, the Bear haven’t won more than 5 games in a season and they’re drafting another 1st round QB but keeping their lame duck loser HC for another year, whoever that it’s. That’s going to be a funny story. I can’t wait.
If he comes to Chicago he’ll somehow shit the bed I bet.
Why would anything good ever happen here?
This should be a job most aspiring HC should be fighting over. Is it wrong to think if Johnson goes anywhere else other than to the Bears, that it signals a deep issue of control from ownership/front office? (One that we all know exists anyway…)
If i was him i wouldn’t come here unless he has assurances from ownership that he can do what he needs to turn around this organization. That might include getting rid of Warren/Poles if thats he wants to do.
Why would he choose the Bears? Guarantee he takes ANY other offer.
26 comments
> “Anthony had a very complex system that just didn’t mesh with what Jared was good at,” said Bears long snapper Scott Daly, who was with the Lions at the time. “And Ben came in midseason with Dan to take over the play calling and he’s very much, ‘I’m going to adapt to who we have, their strengths.’ Things just changed to where he was able to figure out Jared, how are we going to maximize this and get the ball out and spread it around. Even during that season when we didn’t have a ton of guys and weapons, we were able to make a big difference. Now that they’ve added a lot of talent and weapons, he’s definitely made a difference for them.”
> Said Bears running back D’Andre Swift, who was in Detroit from 2020-22: “Him and JG (Goff) had a great relationship. He made it simple for the guys and put them in position to go ahead and play free and showcase their talents. Everybody in the league can see the way they play over there. He is a great offensive mind.”
There’s never been a more obvious choice for the Bears.
Id love it but if I’m Ben I’m staying far the fuck away from the stupidest fucking owners in football
Shit really won’t change until the McCaskeys bum asses sell the team
My question is will the lions allow him? Is he still under contract? If so the lions may not let him interview with a division rival?
YOU MEN BEN NAGY? NO THX
he will get eaten alive by the mccaskeys. vrabel or gruden.
No, we need an experienced coach. I’m tired of these OC hires. Get a competent person who can mold and develop Caleb and help this organization get out of its own way.
Warren. Please. Dont let buster fuck this up
At the end of the day, no-one knows.
My top 3 in alphabetical order are Brady, Johnson and Vrabel.
Brady – OC, really thriving with Josh Allen and not much else.
Johnson – OC really thriving with best O line, experienced QB 1 good receiver and 2 good running backs.
Vrabel – Former HC, good success on a team which lacked talent. Went stale eventually and got fired.
Brady and Johnson are unknown at HC level so that’s the risk there. Can they handle locker room AND Chicago media/fanbase in their first job? Benefit – Offensively proven, would be a consistent offensive voice for Caleb.
Vrabel – Risk that he peaked at Tennessee and is now washed. Benefit – has the respect/kudos of being a multiple SB winning player, could handle locker room and media/fanbase. Would need to keep finding OCs for Caleb.
No-one knows how it will pan out. I’m comfortable with any of them
What experience and successes does he actually have as a head coach? If you are a good OC does that mean you’ll be a good head coach? Automagically?
It’s a different type of leadership and we don’t know if he has it. We don’t have any evidence outside of a good regular season record. There’s different personnel here.
I’d love to see vrabel as hc and Johnson as OC. And if vrabel doesn’t work with Johnson as OC, give Johnson his spot.
If the Bears want any chance at hiring Ben Johnson, they need to fire Poles when the season ends.
No way, Ben Johnson is signing up to lead a Ryan Poles rebuild that’s been failing miserably for 3 years now.
This feels like Nagy all over again.
I doubt we offer him a competitive contract
We are on a collision course with Dennis Allen
Bears r gonna find a way to fuck it up. I’ve told
My buddies, until they start winning and prove it otherwise I’m nearing done with George behind the wheel
He should be the number 1 choice if they are serious about maximizing CW potential.
I was kind of ambivalent to Johnson and probably partially because there was a post about him every day. But this was a solid article and I liked how the players described him.
Here’s the issue for me. If he’s HC he’s not going to be directly doing those things with Caleb like he is now. He’s going to have to hire an OC who may or may not do what he’s done successfully in Detroit and may or may not get along with Caleb. Also, how’s his discipline. This team has become so undisciplined with multiple players acting like babies even during games. How will he handle that. We need someone that won’t put up with that type of crap. We saw what a guy who’s too much of a players coach, how bad that can go.
I like the idea of hiring him though. There are no sure things even with a proven coach.
Given all that, the bears will F this up and because of Kevin we’ll probably hire some loser coach from the B10.
after reading that…he’s the guy. go get him.
This is the most OBVIOUS and easy decision the bears have ever had hiring a coach. I’m fully expecting them to hire Brian Flores or Bobby Slowick though.
What makes me nervous about Ben Johnson.. The dude has the best OL in the league rn in Detroit. They are able to run the ball and use 5 to 7 step drops even from under center.. that’s not going to happen in Chicago for the 2025 season, barring a miracle.
An offensive line can make some okay and average OCs look like geniuses, and when they go to being a head coach, they have no answers for their playa not working cause they worked great the previous years with great OLs. Now they have a rag tag BS line or a bunch of undeveloped pups out there.
So how many years until we fire him?
He’d be great! But we’ll hire the defensive coordinator from the Browns or something.
I can’t wait to hear the story 3 years from now, after Ben Johnson becomes the next big time HC, about how he really, really wanted to coach Caleb Williams but when he came to interview the Bears would only pay for greyhound bus ticket, then treated him like a big asshole and low-balled the shit out of him. meanwhile CW is off the team, the Bear haven’t won more than 5 games in a season and they’re drafting another 1st round QB but keeping their lame duck loser HC for another year, whoever that it’s. That’s going to be a funny story. I can’t wait.
If he comes to Chicago he’ll somehow shit the bed I bet.
Why would anything good ever happen here?
This should be a job most aspiring HC should be fighting over. Is it wrong to think if Johnson goes anywhere else other than to the Bears, that it signals a deep issue of control from ownership/front office? (One that we all know exists anyway…)
If i was him i wouldn’t come here unless he has assurances from ownership that he can do what he needs to turn around this organization. That might include getting rid of Warren/Poles if thats he wants to do.
Why would he choose the Bears? Guarantee he takes ANY other offer.