NFL divisional round overreactions
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the divisional round of the NFL playoffs as the championship game matchups are set.
Sports Seriously
In luring the hottest commodity on the NFL coaching market to the Windy City, maybe the Chicago Bears just hired the next Sean McVay.
Or perhaps they’ve secured the next Adam Gase. Time will tell. Like always.
Ben Johnson was introduced as the new Bears coach on Wednesday, fueling expectations that the man who pushed buttons for the high-powered Detroit Lions offense will inspire a similar brand of progressive football to catapult Chicago to a new era.
Suddenly, the sky is the limit for uber-talented Caleb Williams, rather than what he saw all too often in absorbing an NFL-high 68 sacks during his rookie season as the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s worst offenses.
After all, Johnson’s creative genius was on full display at Soldier Field in December, when Detroit suckered the Bears for a touchdown on a “Stumblebum” trick play. And NFL teams were falling all over themselves to hire Johnson – so hot that he pulled himself off the market last year and the year before that, too – as that coveted, young, bright offensive mind who fits the profile that so many desire.
Now Johnson, 38, can concoct a new plan for a franchise desperately trying to get out of its own way (again) after stumbling repeatedly in recent years when hiring coaches.
Is the fifth time the charm? Since Lovie Smith was fired after posting a 10-6 record in 2012, the Bears have cycled through Marc Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy and Matt Eberflus. Over 12 years, that quartet combined for one winning season and zero playoff wins.
But now the Bears have won the coaching sweepstakes. Or so it seems. Here’s to hope and hype, NFL style.
Check out the message Johnson expressed to his new players: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable. The bar has been set higher than it’s ever been set before.”
Sounds good enough. Yet Johnson, never a head coach on any level, needs to prove he can command the room and make that leap from star coordinator to winning coach. He knows. Nothing is automatic.
“A lot of coordinators have failed in this role,” Johnson said during a 32-minute news conference. “What I can tell you is that every step of my journey, whether it’s quality control, whether it was position coach, whether it was coordinator, I have found a way to change myself to be the best in that particular job.”
He added, “I’m a football coach. So, I will be able to change and adjust accordingly.”
Brian Billick can relate. A generation ago, Billick was that hot offensive coordinator when the Minnesota Vikings set a then-NFL record with 556 points in 1998. He spurned the Cleveland Browns and landed with the Baltimore Ravens in 1999, then won a Super Bowl in his second season. Before joining the Ravens and teaming with legendary general manager Ozzie Newsome, Billick had never been a head coach on any level.
“My experience was that you work your entire life to get the chance to be a head coach, you develop an expertise, you get the job, you sit behind that desk and think, ‘What the hell do I do now?’ ” Billick told USA TODAY Sports.
“I think Ben Johnson has been around enough coaches that he’ll craft the right structure and system. But it is a task.”
Billick realizes the challenge includes suddenly having to deal with matters that land on the coach’s desk – such as off-the-field situations for players and personnel decisions. Johnson is bullish on the talent he inherits and, while mindful that the O-line needs an upgrade, envisions being “lock step” with GM Ryan Poles. Of course, he will continue to call the offensive plays. After all, that’s his calling card.
“When you’re a coordinator, it is a 24/7, 365 days-a-year job,” Billick said. “That’s all you think about. I call it the ‘3 a.m. rule.’ When you wake up at 3 a.m., you’re thinking about coordinator stuff. What about this protection? Do I put this guy in the flat? That’s all you think about. You have to be that kind of consumed with it in order to be good.”
Now, Billick added, the Bears need to have the system in place to support Johnson to the point where, “If you wake up at 3 a.m. thinking about whether you’re going to put the fullback in the flat, then somebody had better be waking up thinking about those other things.”
In one sense, Johnson’s challenge is typical. At the start of last season, 23 of the 32 coaches were in roles that had made them first-time head coaches. That includes long-timers such as Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, but also a fair number still needing to establish themselves in an environment where opportunities can be fleeting.
No, Johnson’s challenge is only so unique when considering the reason his new job was open. Eberflus, who began in 2022, was 14-32 when he was fired in late November, a day after bungling the clock in crunch time of the Thanksgiving loss at Detroit.
And given the series of Chicago’s failed coaches, the change-the-culture mantra is apropos.
As Billick put it, “It’s kind of been the Black Hole for coaches. They go in there and just get gobbled up.”
At least Johnson has seen his challenge before. When Dan Campbell landed the Lions job in 2021, he kept Johnson from Matt Patricia’s previous staff. Johnson, who had worked with Campbell when they were on Joe Philbin’s staff with the Miami Dolphins, saw Campbell build the program from a 3-13-1 team to a Super Bowl contender. Of course, he had a key role after being promoted to coordinator in 2022.
Is he ready? A year ago, Johnson was hotly pursued by the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Commanders but pulled himself out of the running for the jobs after the Lions blew a 17-point lead and suffered a heartbreaking loss in the NFC championship game at San Francisco.
“As my emotions got the better or me at that point, I decided early on that I wanted to come back and take another shot at that in Detroit,” Johnson said.
He also used the additional year to better prepare for the next career step. This included deep reflections during the offseason.
“I was able to do a lot more thinking, and just throughout my head, my process, of what it would look like as the head coach,” he said. “I just felt a lot more comfortable, in terms of making that jump, regardless of how the season ended in Detroit.”
It ended with a thud in Detroit. Johnson’s offense put up 521 yards on Saturday night yet committed five turnovers – four from Jared Goff and an interception by Jameson Williams on an ill-advised wide receiver option pass in the fourth quarter of a 10-point game.
With Detroit riding momentum, it was a bad time for a trick play.
Johnson, though, wasted no time in making his next move. The Bears got their man before he even set foot in the team’s headquarters. He stays in the NFC North and has the key building block in place at quarterback.
And surely the Bears faithful can’t wait to see the next trick play.
Follow Jarrett Bell on X @JarrettBell.
