When the rumors were swirling that Ben Johnson might consider the Jacksonville Jaguars job, one of the persistent arguments mentioned was his desire to get out of the NFC North. It is one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, having just sent three teams to the playoffs. If he wants to maximize his chances to win, he'd seek a weaker division, right? It turns out that the people who made that argument have no concept of the person Johnson is. He set the record straight on 1920 Football Drive.
Make no mistake. He had no intention of ducking the NFC North. Quite the opposite. It was his goal to stay in the division, which was one of the big selling points of the Chicago Bears. Johnson is a competitor. In his mind, anything in life worth fulfilling is often done the hard way. He wants that challenge. So, this idea that he was eager to duck out of the division was always patently false.
Ben Johnson is no stranger to doing things the hard way.
He was encouraged to take up coaching in college and got his start as a graduate assistant for Boston College. From there, he joined the Miami Dolphins and worked multiple odd jobs for the organization, putting in tons of extra time. That hard work was rewarded with promotions until he was forced to leave in 2019. He had to start for the bottom again in Detroit and took up the challenge. Three years later, he was made their offensive coordinator. It is easy to understand why he believes facing the toughest challenges made him a better coach. That might explain why he wanted the Bears job. Few represent a bigger challenge, given how difficult it has been for previous coaches to get the organization turned around. Perhaps this is the type of person Chicago needed.
