Ben Johnson Needed Just 5 Games To Break 30-Year Bears Drought

Anybody will tell you if you're not familiar with Chicago Bears history. Offense in this town is about as rare as One-Eyed Willy's treasure. In an era where franchises seem to have a top 10 offense at least once every few years, the Bears break the mold. They've accomplished the feat exactly one team since the turn of the millennium. That was in 2013. Outside of that, it's been a parade of mediocre or awful. Plenty of coaches were hired to change that. Mike Martz, Marc Trestman, and Matt Nagy were among the most successful, and they weren't all that good. The Bears hoped Ben Johnson might finally turn their fortunes around.

Five games into his tenure, it is already obvious that hiring him was the right decision. Let's ignore the cultural impact he's having in the locker room for the moment. Just focus on his influence on the offense. The Bears have now scored 24, 21, 31, 25, and 25 points in their first five games. That may sound pretty standard for teams these days. Not this one. It marked the first time in 30 years that the Bears have scored at least 21 points in their first five games.

Ben Johnson is living up to his reputation.

He's renowned as one of the best offensive minds in the game, and it's proving accurate. While the Bears haven't set scoreboards on fire, they're scoring at a much faster clip than we've seen in years. The 1995 team was probably the most efficient offense this organization has fielded in the Super Bowl era. They passed and ran with equal success. Erik Kramer claimed the single-season yards and touchdown records that year. Caleb Williams is currently on pace to break both of them.

The scariest part is that those who know Ben Johnson can see he's holding back so much of his playbook. Allen Robinson said we haven't even seen a quarter of it yet. He is sticking to the plays he feels the players can execute well. As they grow more comfortable, he will begin adding more and more layers. If the Bears are hard to stop now, try to imagine what it'll be like in December.