Bears’ Johnson excited to coach ‘sleeping giant’

Courtney CroninJan 22, 2025, 05:47 PM ET

Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.LAKE FOREST, Ill. — In the aftermath of the Detroit Lions’ loss in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs, it didn’t take long for Ben Johnson to realize where he wanted to continue his career.

From Johnson’s view as Detroit’s offensive coordinator from 2022 to ’24, the Chicago Bears were a “sleeping giant.” As he game-planned for his NFC North opponents in each of the past three seasons, no team in the division, Johnson said, gave him concern more than Chicago.

And of course, the offensive setup within the organization he’ll be tasked with guiding past a disastrous 5-12 finish was particularly intriguing because of Caleb Williams.

“Having a quarterback helps,” Johnson said with a smile.

Johnson, 38, was introduced Wednesday at Halas Hall as the 19th head coach in the Bears’ 105-year history. After architecting an offense that led the Lions to the NFC’s No. 1 seed and helped quarterback Jared Goff record three consecutive 4,000-yard seasons and a 64 Total QBR in 51 regular-season starts (Goff’s best under any of his six offensive playcallers), Johnson is now tasked with doing the same for Williams.

Just don’t expect Chicago’s offense to be a carbon copy of what he ran in Detroit.

“There’s no doubt Caleb played a large component into my decision,” Johnson said. “He is a phenomenal talent that had — as many quarterbacks do — an up-and-down rookie year. Where I see my role is as a supporter of him. This offense will be calibrated with him in mind. We’re going to build this thing. This is not simply a dropping of a previous playbook down on the table and starting there. Nope, we’re ripping this thing down to the studs, and we’re going to build it out with him first and foremost, and then with the pieces around him next.”

That mentality excites Williams, who was driving Monday afternoon when he received a call from the team’s brass about their plans to hire Johnson. Williams said he let out a scream in excitement over the amount of “clarity” the decision provided for his offseason.

“I’m really excited about obviously the Bears and this org and being able to make this happen and keep Ben Johnson as our coach for a long time,” Williams said.

After getting pranked into believing Johnson was hired before the former Lions offensive coordinator interviewed with the Bears virtually on Jan. 11, Williams said his new head coach texted him a picture of his face to verify his identity before calling him on FaceTime.

What Johnson has already stressed to the 23-year-old quarterback is that the system he will design in Chicago will play to his strengths.

“He told me that it’ll be my offense,” Williams said. “He’s going to build around me, but also, he’s going to test me. He’s going to challenge me in the offseason and things like that to what’s worked and what works in the NFL and things he may want me to get better at, but at the end of the day, if that doesn’t fit me, if it doesn’t work with me, it won’t be there — and our personnel overall.”

Williams added: “Not every player is Jared Goff, but you’re yourself. That goes into that. Being able to have a coach that understands that and wants to build around me and then the other personnel that we have on this team, the wide receivers, special wide receivers that we have. Special running backs. All these different aspects of a team and an offense I think works in our favor and works in his favor. It’s great that he knows that and understands that because that brings another level of excitement, because now it’s ours.”

Williams, who was training in Florida, was in attendance for Johnson’s introductory news conference along with Bears wide receivers DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and tight end Cole Kmet. As Johnson took time to thank members of the Bears brass that he interviewed with, from general manager Ryan Poles to president and CEO Kevin Warren to chairman George McCaskey, he had a message for his young quarterback.

“Everyone wants to talk about the quarterback and Caleb, I’m excited to work with you, but it’s gonna take more than just you. And there are a lot of pieces already in place.”

One area Johnson will aim to upgrade quickly is Chicago’s offensive line. Williams’ struggles with holding on to the ball too long, along with poor pass protection, led to the quarterback being sacked a league-high 68 times in 2024.

While Johnson said Chicago’s offense is “not going to look like it did in Detroit,” one of the Lions’ biggest strengths is the play of their offensive line. Preliminary talks about how to bolster that unit for Williams’ second season are already underway.

“I think offensive line is certainly an area that we need to get better play from going forward, something that Ryan and I have already talked about,” Johnson said. “We will develop a plan of attack for how to get that done, but I’m looking forward to getting an excellent offensive line coach in the building to help develop the young talent that we already have on the roster, and we will certainly talk about acquiring talent to bolster that unit as well. But I was certainly blessed the last few years with the men that I worked with. And that was something I would love to replicate here as well.”