Ben Johnson is worth every penny
Make it four straight. The Chicago Bears keep on winning and the No. 1 reason is the new man in charge. Also inside: Giant heartbreaker, Browns nucleus, Vrabel's revenge and Micah Parsons' takeover.
Innovation gets your resume to the top of the pile. As a playcaller, Ben Johnson warped the aesthetics of the Detroit Lions’ offense. Everything started to artistically look different. From 2021 to ‘24, he had an Andy Warhol-like effect on the X’s and O’s. A perennially boring team was suddenly appointment viewing through all of his dazzling trickeration and fourth-down schematics.
Johnson slammed the gas pedal in ways most offensive coordinators do not dare.
It’s an offensive game. Those who devise stumblin’ fake fumbles — right down to cries of “Fumble! Fumble! Fumble!” — and score 30+ points a game will garner the most interviews. In back-to-back cycles, Johnson was the top prize.
He chose the Chicago Bears and $13,000,000 per year.
The very next split-second, the conversation shifted to the union of Head Coach and Quarterback. Could Johnson resurrect 2024 first overall pick Caleb Williams? No relationship in sports is more valuable. Time will tell if Williams is Johnson’s guy at the position. That vetting process is ongoing. Chicago’s four-game winning streak, however, is full proof that this coach was always more than a mad scientist.
In Detroit, he saw firsthand how a head coach builds something special from ashes.
In Chicago, the task is gargantuan. He’s navigating through particularly toxic wastelands. But Ben Johnson fully understands all of the little things that go into bringing respectability to a building. That was his greatest strength all along.
With a virtual shovel in one hand and a bullhorn in the other, he’s attacking dysfunction head-on and already getting results.