The Chicago Bears have searched far a wide to find their next head coach.
The Bears conducted over a dozen interviews with coaches who have specialties on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
The Bear’s top two candidates for the job were the former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy and the Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson.
The Bears finally landed with their man by agreeing to hire former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to be their next head coach. Johnson will figure to help bring out the best in future star quarterback in the league Caleb Williams.
The Chicago Bears and Williams got exactly what they needed
The Bears needed an offensive-minded head coach to come in and try to light a spark under what was statistically one of the worst-rated offensives in the league according to FOX Sports. Johnson was one of the main reasons why the Lions’s offense was so successful this season with being one of the best in the league. Helping to lead the Lions to the NFC Divisional game before losing to the Washington Commanders, Johnson will now bring his offensive prowess over to Williams and the Bears.
On his recent appearance on the St. Brown podcast, Williams revealed what he wants to see in his next head coach. Per the St. Brown Podcast and Courtney Cronin of ESPN:
“Selfishly, I want an offensive-minded guy so I can build with him and be with that coach for the next 19, 17, 15 years, so I can also learn and grow and things like that from him and what he’s seen and what he’s gone through with other QBs or been around…But if we get an overall, like, grand scheme coach, who is good with time management, good with the clock, good with helping control the game. It’s a big factor. In our game when we played the first time in your place, a big factor was being able to help control the clock.”
When Caleb Williams was on @StBrownPodcast, he detailed what he would want in his next head coach:
"Selfishly, I want an offensive-minded guy so I can build with him and be with that coach for the next 19, 17, 15 years, so I can also learn and grow and things like that from him…
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) January 20, 2025
Johnson can unlock Williams’s full potential
Williams had an outstanding rookie season in which he dealt with a ton of ups and a ton of downs including the firing of his head coach. Starting in all 17 of the Bears games Williams threw for 20 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions, with a completion percentage of 62.5%, with also leading the league in sacks with 68 due to a poor offensive line. Williams also managed to throw for 3,541 yards which is a Chicago Bears rookie quarterback record.
Now having Johnson at his side who he can grow with and learn from as he said he wanted will only benefit Williams in his development. Now having a full season under his belt with knowing what to expect, Williams will come back as hungry as ever to hopefully lead the Bears to a playoff berth.
With Johnson at the helm and figuring he will be the Bear’s primary play caller, I can only imagine what kind of schemes and packages he will draw up for offensive weapons like receivers D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen, as well as running back D’Andre Swift who will all have prominent roles in the offense next season.
The Bears got their man
With now having a head coach in place the Bears can now start to focus their efforts on upgrading the roster further.
With having the 10th pick in this year’s draft and the Bears needing to upgrade in the trenches, it will be interesting to see who Ben Johnson takes with the pick.
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