Bears fans react to Ben Johnson's hiring as head coach

The Chicago Bears' recent hire of Ben Johnson as their new head coach has sparked a wide range of reactions from fans. 

Reaction Pours In

What they're saying:

While many are excited about his track record, others are hesitant, as this is his first head coaching job in the NFL.

Johnson's success as the Lions’ offensive coordinator has many Bears fans hopeful for a fresh start.

"I love it," said Wilma Jackson. "We need someone like Ben."

However, some fans, like Dayton Kelly, are more cautious. 

"If you were a great offensive coordinator, which we've seen last year, that doesn't mean you'll be a good coach," said Kelly.

Die-hard fans believe the Bears need two key qualities in a head coach: a clear vision for the team and the ability to develop quarterback Caleb Williams.

Life-long Bears Fan Dino Miller from Waukegan says Johnson is a players coach and team dynamics will be strengthened.

"You see what they did with him in Detroit, how they were all behind him. If he gives his all, I think we're gonna go deep," said Miller.

Chicago Bears broadcaster Mark Grote offered mixed feelings on the hire.

Grote acknowledged Johnson’s potential as a "game changer" but also highlighted the unknowns. 

"There’s a lot we don’t know," he said.

The 38-year-old has been called an "offensive genius", molding the Detroit Lions into one of the NFL's top offensive teams for three consecutive seasons.

Who is Ben Johnson?

What we know:

Johnson had the best offense in the NFL the last three seasons.

The Lions may have lost in the NFC Divisional round, but Detroit scored 31 points against the Washington Commanders.

That follows suit with his resume.

In three seasons with Ben Johnson as the Lions' offensive coordinator, Detroit ranked the top-five in scoring each of those three years. The Lions finished fifth in 2022 and 2023 and first in 2024 at 33.2 PPG. The Lions last led the NFL in scoring in the 1954 season. The Lions’ 28.2 offensive PPG from 2022-24 were the most in the NFL.

It isn't just points, either. In the three seasons with Johnson calling plays, the Lions had 230 plays that went for 20 yards or more. Only San Francisco had more such plays.

Johnson also breaks a trend of offensive coach hires.

When it comes to the best offensive coaches in the game, Johnson isn't like the others.

Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan have their coaching trees which produced the likes of Zac Taylor, Mike McDaniel, Kevin O'Connell and Matt LaFluer as head coaches.

Johnson isn't a part of that coaching tree.

Johnson started off as an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins in February 2012 under Joe Philbin. He worked his way up to be the team's tight ends coach in 2015 and was retained when Philbin was fired.

He became Detriot's offensive coordinator in 2022 after the Lions fired Anthony Lynn in the 2021 season.

Additionally, his resume has two unheralded but impressive parts.

Johnson was on two separate Miami Dolphins staffs and two separate Detroit Lions staffs.

Joe Philbin was fired in Miami and Adam Gase took his place. Matt Patricia was fired in Detroit, and Dan Campbell was hired to replace him. What those two staffs had in common was how they retained Johnson.

When a head coach is fired, more likely than not the rest of the assistants and coordinators follow suit. In this case, Campbell and Gase saw fit to keep Johnson on their staffs.

In Detroit, this resulted in Johnson's eventual elevation as the team's offensive coordinator. That parlayed him into a head coaching role with the Bears. 

The Bears weren't the only ones after Johnson, especially for the aforementioned reasons.

His offenses were winning games. That caught the eye of four teams: the Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars. Johnson took interviews with all four teams.  

Johnson was reportedly picky with the interviews he did take. He interviewed with the Patriots, who has a budding rookie quarterback in Drake Maye, but New England eventually hired Mike Vrabel.

That left the Jaguars, Bears and Raiders as the teams who interviewed with Johnson. 

The one thing the Bears have that neither the Raiders nor Jaguars have is Caleb Williams.

More specifically, Caleb Williams on his rookie contract.

This gives the Bears flexibility when piecing together their roster, as they have money that isn't going to be allocated to Williams. Eventually, that might be the case. It isn't now.

The Raiders don't have their long-term solution at quarterback. Jacksonville does have their quarterback, however Trevor Lawrence is in the middle of a five-year, $275 million contract.

With cap space and their future at quarterback, Johnson chose to coach the Bears.

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