Nobody was more upset at the decision by Ben Johnson to join the Chicago Bears than Las Vegas Raiders fans. For the better part of two weeks, they were led to believe by many local and national insiders that the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator was infatuated with new part-owner Tom Brady. The Hall of Fame quarterback's pitch to Johnson was a game-changer and certain to bring him to Vegas. Then, 24 hours after playoff loss to Washington, the 38-year-old coach signed a five-year deal with the Bears.
Unsurprisingly, Raiders fans felt they'd been duped. They railed against Johnson for getting their hopes up, believing he led them on. It didn't help that his agent, Rick Smith, admitted he'd used Las Vegas primarily for leverage in contract negotiations. Sure enough, the coping began shortly after. It reached a new level when Hondo Carpenter, who writes about the Raiders for Sports Illustrated, insisted that a league executive told him the organization had dodged a bullet.
Johnson has Josh McDaniels written all over him.
“I got a message from an AFC executive last night, after the news broke that [Johnson] was going to the Bears, who said he believed the Raiders had ‘dodged a bullet.' Not because of character, not because of his ability to coach, but because Ben is very introverted. He is very much an offensive genius. That’s factual. But remember when Josh McDaniels came [to the Raiders], people used the word ‘savant.'”
“I can attest to you that Josh McDaniels, the man, is a good man,” Hondo continued. “Raiders players liked him away from the building and nobody wished him ill will. But Josh was not a leader of men that the head coach has to be. He’s more introverted, more quiet, more to himself. A lot like Ben Johnson… and this person who knows Josh very well and knows Ben Johnson very well… felt the Raiders dodged a bullet and called him Josh McDaniels 2.0.”
Comparing Ben Johnson to Josh McDaniels feels lazy.
Everybody knows the story by now. McDaniels is widely regarded as one of the biggest offensive masterminds of the past two decades. He helped the New England Patriots win three Super Bowls between 2014 and 2018 while cementing Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback ever. However, his two stints as a head coach were disastrous. In both cases, it got so bad in Denver and Las Vegas that he was fired before his second seasons were even over. Since then, every sharp offensive who gets head coaching buzz is compared to him.
Meanwhile, you have a former head coach, Rex Ryan, who is calling Ben Johnson the next Bill Walsh. He says this because his own son, Seth, had worked under the Bears head coach in Detroit for four years. Walsh, too, was considered an intellectual and introvert. That didn't stop him from winning three Super Bowls as a head coach. The truth is nobody has any clue what type of coach Johnson will be. He and McDaniels might have similar backgrounds, but they are not the same people. Las Vegas may believe they lucked out by getting Pete Carroll instead. Time will tell.
