Since being hired on Monday afternoon by the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson has been the most popular man on the streets of Chicago. After being formally introduced as the 19th head coach in franchise history, Johnson hasn’t been reluctant to discuss why he decided to take the Bears job.
“The people here, I’m talking about George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, Ryan Poles, I really felt a great vibe on the interview and the longer it went, the better I felt about the situation,” Johnson told the Rich Eisen show. “I saw a vision, I saw a direction, it gave me a lot of confidence that I was coming into a great situation as a first-time head coach.”
Ben Johnson has a plan for Caleb Williams
As he starts the process of getting the Bears back to a respectable team and lays the foundation for a consistent winner, one of the major questions he’ll need to answer is how he plans to develop quarterback Caleb Williams.
“We’re going to build this thing around him,” said Johnson. “The offense, conceptually, schematically, we’re going to spend a lot of time together and build it from the end in mind.”
In a business that’s relationship-driven, Johnson’s relationship with Williams will be one that is a determining factor for how the Johnson era plays out. As the Bears repeat the cycle of hiring a new head coach the season after drafting a quarterback, the hope is that this time, everything is different. Maybe the Bears will finally break a cycle that’s plagued the franchise for more than a century.
What Williams showed last season is that he’s more than capable of performing when there is dysfunction around him. But his rookie season wasn’t that of a typical Bears quarterback. He struggled but also had more bright moments than his predecessors.
The Chicago Bears have an offseason to grow
And that’s part of the reason that Johnson is so excited to help the No. 1 overall pick take another step forward.
“It’s going to take some time to get to know each other, establish that trust, and we’ll look to build from it, from there,” said Johnson. “I’ve been really encouraged with our conversations so far and the spring can’t be here fast enough.”
Johnson and Williams are excited to work with each other as evidenced by their press conferences this week. And if both sides want to make this work, an unparalleled level of trust will need to be established as they work to get the Bears back to relevancy.
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