Small Practice Moment Proves Ben Johnson Will Be A Huge Success

Detecting whether a new head coach will succeed or fail is incredibly difficult. In truth, every hire is tantamount to a roll of the dice. Some teams are better at it than others, but that could just mean they're luckier. The Chicago Bears have seen this reality play out multiple times. After George Halas retired, they stumbled through a series of disappointments and outright failures before landing on Mike Ditka. Then, after he departed in 1992, they again went through a drought before Lovie Smith arrived in 2004. The cycle started again after his unceremonious firing eight years later. The Bears have gone through four head coaches since he left. None lasted longer than four seasons. Now Ben Johnson is hoping to change that.

The Bears had no way to know if he was the real deal. All they knew was he had outstanding success as an offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions. That made him qualified to take over the development of Caleb Williams. What they didn't know for sure was whether he could be the leader that the locker room needed. Tight end Cole Kmet discovered an answer to that during OTAs. It came after one of his most embarrassing moments in practice. Johnson lit into him for lining up wrong, stopping practice. That moment wasn't what showed the truth.

It's what came after.

“They’re relentless on the details,” said Kmet, who is now on his fourth Bears head coach, counting interim Thomas Brown. “I think that’s something that may be a little unique from what I’ve had in the past. Not saying other coaches weren’t detailed, but it’s like an obsession with the details — and you can feel that from [Johnson].

“He just can’t let it go.”

Johnson sits at a steady simmer during practice, ready to boil at the slightest agitation.

Players are learning not to take it personally. Johnson stopped the play because Kmet was in the wrong spot and unable to run his route at the proper angle. Johnson told him later, with a smile, that all he was trying to do was “get you the damn football.’”

Ben Johnson understands a pivotal part of coaching: psychology.

Any head coach can be a firebreather. They can yell at guys in practice for doing stuff wrong. So many of them fail to grasp the reality that this coaching style has a shelf life. If that is your only method, players will eventually tune it out. You must balance it with a more soft-handed approach. Yell at the player in the moment, but take them aside later to calmly explain the logic behind the correction. It was never personal. It is about setting a standard and making sure everybody sticks to it. Jimmy Johnson built his Hall of Fame career using those methods. It appears Ben Johnson has a similar approach.

His ability to remind Kmet of why he got corrected was so vital to the process. It isn't about being malicious and getting a kick out of bullying players. He is doing his best to help guys succeed. That won't happen unless things are executed the right way. Good coaches do these things.