The expectations are now through the roof in Chicago after the Bears managed to land the hottest HC candidate in Ben Johnson. However, he doesn’t want the fanbase to get their hopes too high in his debut season. The former Lions OC says the goal this year is to establish a culture and define what it means to be a Chicago Bear.
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Johnson joined Breakfast Ball on Thursday to talk about the Bears, Caleb Williams, and what to expect in his first season in The Windy City. He touched on many topics, such as improving accountability and bringing the resilience Detroit had to Chicago. But it was his comments about wins and losses that are worthy of a few headlines. When asked what a successful season would look like for him next year, Johnson responded:
“That’s a great question right there… It’s not wins or losses here this year. It’s going to be all about establishing our culture here in the locker room. I already talked about accountability and integrity. We need to define what a Chicago Bear looks like both on and off the field. And as long as we take care of that, the results will speak for themselves.”
An impressive response from Johnson. It seems like Dan Campbell taught him a thing or two about being a head coach and rebuilding a team. The first thing that Detroit did during its rebuild was establish a culture. It’ll be interesting to see if the Bears can do the same.
The issue, though, is that it’s Chicago — it’s always about the wins and losses. The Bears are one of the league’s most historic franchises, and they’ve been hungry for a return to greatness. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2010. Coming off a five-win season that included a 10-game losing streak, you best believe the fanbase will set the bar high. And, if Johnson doesn’t have this team at least in the discussion for a Wild Card spot, this could get murky pretty quickly.
Johnson used to embarrass opposing defenses
It’s no secret that the Lions dominated the league offensively this past season. And it’s what made Johnson such a hot commodity. They finished 15-2 with a top-five rushing and passing offense. There were times when Johnson would scheme up trick plays when his team was up by multiple scores. It made for entertaining high-scoring affairs, but you always worry about sportsmanship in those cases. He was asked if his goal was to embarrass opposing teams last season, and his response was very professional.
“Listen, every time we step on the field, our mission is to score. To score a touchdown. It’s as simple as that. Until the head coach tells us to get into four-minute mode. That’s as simple as it is and so, embarrassed or not, we’re all competitors going against each other. We’re going to call the best plays we can to have success. I just want to see great competition between both teams, that’s all.”
A motto that Johnson took to heart. The Lions finished scoring 564 points on the season. It’s the fourth-highest points scored by an NFL team in a season ever. This solidifies them as one of the greatest offenses we’ve ever seen alongside the ’18 Chiefs, ’07 Patriots, and ’13 Broncos.
We’ll see if Johnson’s creative playcalling will make an instant impact, or if it’ll take more time to turn things around like he hinted. Either way, NFL fans are going to be tracking Chicago to see what moves they make this offseason and how well they succeed come 2025.
