Ex-Bears Coach And Friend Of Ben Johnson Can't Believe He Took The Job

Ben Johnson was the belle of the ball for the last two years on the NFL head coaching circuit. He'd transformed the Detroit Lions into an offensive juggernaut and Super Bowl contender. Young wizards like him are in the highest demand by other organizations. The Chicago Bears were one of several teams pining for his services. However, almost everybody believed there was no way Johnson would take it. The Bears have a long history of issues inside Halas Hall. There never seems to be any proper leadership or sense of direction. Did Johnson really want to step into that quagmire?

Well, he did. Swayed by the presence of Caleb Williams and his love for the city, the coach decided to be the latest to attempt to pull the Bears out of the mud. Tyler Dunne of Go Long contacted a former Bears coach who is friends with Johnson to ascertain his chances. The answer was beyond telling.

One hundred percent of the people Go Long chatted with for this series sing the praises of Johnson. One ex-Bears coach who’s known Johnson for years says that if any one coach can resuscitate this slumping organization, it’s Johnson. “A gem,” he calls him. X’s and O’s are one thing, but he sees value in Johnson witnessing firsthand how a team flounders (with Adam Gase in Miami) and flourishes (with Campbell in Detroit). “That rubs off on you,” he says, “and only adds to his arsenal.” One former Bears exec believes the bold Johnson will read through any and all bureaucratic nonsense weighing these Bears down.

You need a certain type of personality to handle a building filled with people who are more worried about losing their jobs than about winning. Johnson has no time or patience for any of that. Either help him or get the hell out of the way.

Ben Johnson wouldn't be the first to do this.

People forget the Bears have a long history of this sort of thing. They interrupt periods of great success with long lulls of middling or bad. They were an afterthought for most of the 1960s and all of the 1970s. It wasn't until Mike Ditka arrived with his uncompromising personality and drive that the team snapped out of its slump. Things regressed again in the 1990s and persisted through the early 2000s before Lovie Smith arrived. It feels like the Bears function best when they have a no-nonsense guy at head coach. Ditka and Smith were both like that, if wildly different in temperament.

That sums up Ben Johnson pretty well. He is so obsessed with details that he is completely immovable. If a player doesn't do the right thing, he'll make them do it again and again until that changes. If they still can't, he finds somebody who will. Rest assured, just like Ditka and Smith, Johnson has no interest or time for politics. He is ready to lead. All the Bears have to do is let him.