Perfect Fit? Ben Johnson's Challenge Bigger Than He Knows

The “absolutely loaded” Bears roster that helped lure Ben Johnson to the Bears’ coaching job also could have been a red flag. Did he wonder why the Bears went 5-12 with such a good roster? He kind of did.

“Going into this season, I felt this place was a sleeping giant,” Johnson said. “To be honest with you, I personally was more concerned about the Chicago Bears than I was about anyone else in the division.

“Now, there [are] a number of reasons why that did not unfold, which is why I’m here. I’ll get to the bottom of that. And we will see if we can’t get corrected and cleaned up.”

Getting to the bottom of that could be the biggest challenge of Johnson’s tenure as Bears coach. Because one of the biggest reasons “why that did not unfold” in 2024 is that Matt Eberflus was a worse coach at the end than he was at the beginning. Just like Matt Nagy was a worse coach at the end than he was at the beginning. And Marc Trestman was a worse coach at the end than he was at the beginning. Even proven veteran John Fox’s best season with the Bears was his first — he was 6-10 in 2015, 3-13 in 2016 and 5-11 in 2017 before he was fired.

A candidate with as many options as Johnson had in this coaching cycle figured to have more questions for the Bears than they had for him — to find out why so many coaches have had little to no success at Halas Hall.

But it was almost the opposite. Johnson was sold on the Bears before he had even met them, telling general manager Ryan Poles, president Kevin Warren and owner George McCaskey, “I want this job” at the beginning — and end — of his virtual interview.

The hottest candidate in the cycle with other options all but pleading for a job offer from the Bears might have been the biggest upset of the 2025 coaching cycle. That’s a nod to quarterback Caleb Williams and the Bears opening the vault and paying Johnson a reported $13 million a year, according to Pro Football Talk — which would be the most ever for a first-time head coach.

But let’s hope Johnson’s intuition about the “people” at Halas Hall is better than their intuition about coaches has been in recent years. Because he, like others before him, believes in the Bears’ leadership group.

“I talked about alignment last year when I came back to Detroit, and that was really important to me, to see that the structure set-up was conducive to winning,” Johnson said. “All those questions were answered throughout the interview process. George, Kevin, Ryan — I believe in them, and I really believe that we will be able to turn this place around.”

Johnson has a good head start. As an “offensive guru” who turned the Lions from the No. 25 scoring offense in the NFL to No. 1 with Jared Goff at quarterback, he’s arguably in a better spot to succeed than any Bears coach since Ditka. He has better credentials than Nagy. He’s more coveted than Trestman. And Dave Wannstedt, Lovie Smith and John Fox were defensive coaches who couldn’t develop the coach/quarterback marriage that, as Johnson said, is the biggest factor in success in today’s NFL.

He’s been called the “perfect fit” for the Bears, which is a fair analysis. But it’s also fair to wonder — given the Bears’ recent history of failure — if there is such a thing as a perfect fit with the Bears. That’s why Ben Johnson is such a great hire for the Bears. As the hottest, most intriguing candidate in the cycle, with a quarterback like Williams to work with, he’s the best available test of the notion of Halas Hall dysfunction making every coach a lesser version of himself.

That’s been the trend. Trestman turned Rich Gannon into a league MVP but did more with Josh McCown than he did with Jay Cutler. Fox went to the Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme and won a playoff game with Tim Tebow, but couldn’t even get close to .500 with the Bears. Matt Nagy spent 10 years with Andy Reid, but his Bears teams went from ninth in scoring in 2018 to 29th, 22nd and 27th in his final three seasons.

They all came in confident they could turn things around. And for what it’s worth, Johnson comes in more confident than any of them — confident enough to tweak Matt LaFleur by name at his introductory press conference (“I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year”), knowing it will be thrown in his face when the Bears play the Packers next season. And confident enough to stay in the NFC North when he likely could have had easier paths to playoffs elsewhere.

“I can’t speak to the previous coaches that were here,” Johnson said. “All I can tell you is this: Every step along the way, I found a way to excel at each job. So I’m deeply committed to finding a way to make this work.”

Johnson’s confidence is a good sign, but not a fool-proof one at Halas Hall, where Trestman, Nagy and Eberflus have entered as part of the solution and left as part of the problem. Ben Johnson’s challenge is bigger than he knows: to rise above the muck and change Halas Hall before it changes him.