Bears hire Ben Johnson

Narratives and Tom Brady be damned, the Bears went after and got the hottest candidate on the market. Now comes the hard part.

Bears hire Ben Johnson
Ryan Poles is giving a BJ to all of us Bears fans

Well, that was quick. Less than 48 hours after the Lions season-ending loss freed up his services their offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, the most highly sought after coaching candidate this cycle accepted an offer to become a head coach.

We were told that the Bears were interviewing too many coaching candidates and clearly had no clear focus. We were told that they're too cheap to win a bidding war for a hot shot coaching candidate. We were told that they'd play it safe and inspire no one by choosing The Beav, Mike McCarthy to be their head coach. We were told that Johnson was going to the Raiders because Tom Brady is apparently a cooler guy to have as a part-owner than 84-year-old Andy McKenna who made his fortune making Happy Meal boxes for McDonalds. I mean, seven Super Bowls are impressive, but McKenna's old Schwarz Supply Source Inc. invented the package that kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool for the McDLT.

Johnson didn't even fly to Chicago to interview in person at Halas Hall. The Bears just started making offers and he said, "More" until they finally had a deal. I just hope Johnson didn't sign a lifetime contract, because we found out a few weeks ago that Kevin Warren considers "a year is a lifetime."

So much for being at a disadvantage by having Brady hanging out with Johnson over the weekend at the Lions-Commanders game.

It turns out that having a talented young quarterback, four draft picks in the first 70 of the draft, loads of cap room and being paid a shitload of money is more attractive than a handsome, famous part owner and Aidan O'Connell. Huh. Who knew?

You have to think that the Bears being willing and able to do what it takes to convince Johnson to come is a bi-product of two things.

  1. For all of his many faults, Kevin Warren always thinks big, and through his force of personality he forces the McCaskeys to think big, too. I don't think it's a stretch to think that pre-Warren the Bears talk themselves into McCarthy. But the same hucksterism that has dragged the family through a stadium saga that they didn't anticipate is the kind of thing that can drag them out of their comfort zone in a coaching search. He was supposed to come in and help them build their dome in Arlington Heights. But he's got George and Vags putting on rubbers and wading through mud at the Michael Reese Hospital site. Warren's ideas aren't usually great, but they're always big. The Bears had to pay a lot of money to get Johnson. Early reports are he's being paid $12-15 million a year. They're paying The Flus $6 million to not coach the team next year. Both of those are moneys well spent.
  2. Johnson looked at the Bears roster and thinks that with some key additions (like an offensive line) and better coaching that they could be good right away.

Caleb Williams came to the Bears with a lot of baggage that turned out to be bullshit. He's not a diva, he didn't make a bunch of demands (maybe he should have). And Johnson comes with some of the same stuff. There's a lot of concern about him bailing on that interview with the Commanders last year, even a crazy rumor that he told the Commanders it wasn't even worth coming to interview him if they were going to draft Jayden Daniels at number two because Johnson felt he could win with Sam Howell.

We don't know if Johnson will be a good head coach. It's always a leap with anybody who's never done it before. But unlike the last two times the Bears went with a coordinator whose team had flopped in their last game, Johnson is universally considered a top candidate, something nobody thought about Matt Nagy or The Flus.

The Bears wanted to pair a top offensive mind and somebody who had proven he could develop a quarterback with Caleb and nobody can say they aren't doing that with this hire. The Lions' offense is the envy of the league, and their loss on Saturday night had more to do with just about every able bodied defender being injured by the end of it than anything else. Well, that and Jameson Williams throwing that pass.

Rumors persist that Johnson is going after an accomplished defensive coordinator and former Raiders and Saints head coach Dennis Allen seems to be at the top of his list. That's good, because for his failings as a head man, Allen has been a very good defensive coordinator in the past.

There's a lot of work to do, but you have to be encouraged by how this is starting out.