The Chicago Bears knew they could not approach the upcoming search for a head coach as they had the last one. It always felt like things weren't quite organized in 2022, largely due to the decision by George McCaskey and his search committee to run the GM and head coach searches at the same time. Such choices can often lead to chaos, misevaluations, and cutting corners. That is how they ended up with Matt Eberflus. This time around, GM Ryan Poles and his search team were determined to be more methodical and thorough.
That meant finding a way to organize the massive list of candidates they intended to interview. According to Courtney Cronin of ESPN, the committee devised a simple way to keep things in perspective. They took a page right out of their school days by assigning a grade to every interview they held. This helped to pinpoint which coaches made the best impressions and would likely get a second interview when necessary. As it turns out, things never got that far.
The search committee, which consisted of Poles, Warren, McCaskey, director of football administration Matt Feinstein, senior player personnel director Jeff King, chief administrative officer Ted Crews and chief human resources officer Liz Geist, graded each interview.
Johnson received the top grade, according to a team source, who said: "He was the leader in the clubhouse."
The Chicago Bears found their guy.
It is rather fitting that Ben Johnson, a legitimate nerd who graduated from North Carolina with degrees in mathematics and computer science, aced a test. There had been concerns going into this cycle about him. Whispers suggested that Johnson had trouble during previous interviews, not quite looking comfortable. It appears that choosing to take an extra year to stay in Detroit and keep maturing was a smart decision. He came across as calm, confident and well-prepared this time around.
While nobody is upset with the final result, one burning question remains unanswered: What grades did the other 16 coaches receive from the Chicago Bears? Mike McCarthy, Pete Carroll, Ron Rivera, Eddie George, and several others got the opportunity to make an impression. Few details have emerged on how they went. If things don't work out with Johnson for whatever reason, it would've been fascinating to see who else came close. Alas, that probably will never be known.
