Bears hire Ben Johnson

[Sassy Squatch]

Bear down: Chicago is finalizing a deal to hire Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as its next head coach, sources tell ESPN. Bears are getting their man. pic.twitter.com/UwlLk3wNJZ

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 20, 2025

[RealSNR]

I think the Bears could really have used someone like McCarthy. They need competence. You can fire him down the line if they’re not taking the next step. Johnson might be competent, but it might take time for him to get it. And what they can’t have above all else is incompetence.

It’s a fine hire. You got an offensive mind who is supposedly the top coordinator candidate of this hiring cycle.

[Deberg_1990]

The new head coach of the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson: pic.twitter.com/hCQgPf7s9q

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 21, 2025

He speaks well

[FloridaMan88]

Jacksonville reportedly lost out on Ben Johnson because of their loyalty to Trent Baalke… what a dumpster fire franchise.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Jacksonville reportedly lost out on Ben Johnson because of their loyalty to Trent Baalke… what a dumpster fire franchise.

DUVAAAAAAAAAL

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Jacksonville reportedly lost out on Ben Johnson because of their loyalty to Trent Baalke… what a dumpster fire franchise.

I was mortified when Clark wouldn’t fire Pioli right away, but he was just making sure Andy didn’t want to keep him.

And it could be soooooo much worse. My God. Jaguars might not see the playoffs for another 10 years all because they can’t get the coach right because the GM is a fart.

Baalke also won the SF power struggle and forced out Harbitch. How is that guy so incompetent and yet able to convince owners that he’s the mastermind?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

I was mortified when Clark wouldn’t fire Pioli right away, but he was just making sure Andy didn’t want to keep him.

And it could be soooooo much worse. My God. Jaguars might not see the playoffs for another 10 years all because they can’t get the coach right because the GM is a fart.

Baalke also won the SF power struggle and forced out Harbitch. How is that guy so incompetent and yet able to convince owners that he’s the mastermind?

The only explanation is being a FO guy gives you an advantage because you're around the owner more

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

The only explanation is being a FO guy gives you an advantage because you're around the owner more

The simplest explanation is a leak. And not necessarily even an accurate one.

It could be by Baalke trying to measure his dick. It could be by a former/current coach trying to demonstrate that Baalke is all powerful (and therefore the guy to point fingers at rather than him/his client). It could be the owner trying to spin being spurned.

On its face, it doesn't make a ton of sense. So it's probably not 100% accurate.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Jacksonville reportedly lost out on Ben Johnson because of their loyalty to Trent Baalke… what a dumpster fire franchise.

I don't know, it felt like it was Chicago's to lose. Ben Johnson has long been rumored to have always been very interested in Chicago. As bad as Jacksonville is, like the raiders, I don't think Ben Johnson was theirs to take as long as Chicago was willing to pay handsomely. And it sounds like Chicago did that which is very uncharacteristic of their ownership.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The simplest explanation is a leak. And not necessarily even an accurate one.

It could be by Baalke trying to measure his dick. It could be by a former/current coach trying to demonstrate that Baalke is all powerful (and therefore the guy to point fingers at rather than him/his client). It could be the owner trying to spin being spurned.

On its face, it doesn't make a ton of sense. So it's probably not 100% accurate.

I just realized that he said they lost out on him because of that.

I don't think that's what the report said. It just said that Khan had to ask for the interview through his agent (implying Johnson wasn't interested because of Baalke), and that Khan proceeded to do the interview without ever addressing the elephant in the room.

I don't think Khan or Baalke would've leaked that, because it makes both of them look bad. More like somebody else in the building that wants to let everybody know how bad it is in Jacksonville.

[Shields68]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

I think the Bears could really have used someone like McCarthy. They need competence. You can fire him down the line if they’re not taking the next step. Johnson might be competent, but it might take time for him to get it. And what they can’t have above all else is incompetence.

It’s a fine hire. You got an offensive mind who is supposedly the top coordinator candidate of this hiring cycle.

I think it is a fine hire. The big issue is fixing the OL. Which is on the front office and not Johnson. But I think Johnson success and failure is going to hinge on the OL.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Jacksonville reportedly lost out on Ben Johnson because of their loyalty to Trent Baalke… what a dumpster fire franchise.

So he was down with the face tattoo requirement but Baalke was too much. Interesting…

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I just realized that he said they lost out on him because of that.

I don't think that's what the report said. It just said that Khan had to ask for the interview through his agent (implying Johnson wasn't interested because of Baalke), and that Khan proceeded to do the interview without ever addressing the elephant in the room.

I don't think Khan or Baalke would've leaked that, because it makes both of them look bad. More like somebody else in the building that wants to let everybody know how bad it is in Jacksonville.

Yeah - that's where I'm drawing a line.

Might they have never truly been in the running because of Baalke? I can buy that. But the idea that they 'lost out on him' because of Baalke? That they had him if they'd have just been willing to move on from Baalke but they refused to do so?

Nah -- that's a bridge too far. I suspect they knew they weren't ever really in contention here and that's why they didn't go moving mountains to make it happen. But had Johnson showed up with a pen and said "Alright, I'm signing but only IF you get rid of Baalke..." I absolutely believe Jacksonville would've moved on.

They didn't lose on Johnson because of Baalke. In all probability, they were likely not in the runnnig.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Shields68

I think it is a fine hire. The big issue is fixing the OL. Which is on the front office and not Johnson. But I think Johnson success and failure is going to hinge on the OL.

The OL is by no means good but it's also a little hard to know with how horrendous the offense coaching was. It kind of goes hand in hand but a running back could help a ton too and those aren't hard to get. Swift looked cooked and was probably overrated because of Philly's OL.

And then for the love of god demand that caleb get rid of the ball faster. And if he is at all coachable maybe remind him he doesn't need to throw a 100 mph fastball to a guy standing 5 feet away from him

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The OL is by no means good but it's also a little hard to know with how horrendous the offense coaching was. It kind of goes hand in hand but a running back could help a ton too and those aren't hard to get. Swift looked cooked and was probably overrated because of Philly's OL.

And then for the love of god demand that caleb get rid of the ball faster. And if he is at all coachable maybe remind him he doesn't need to throw a 100 mph fastball to a guy standing 5 feet away from him

I think I read somewhere a few months ago that Caleb was making the OL look worse than it actually was because he consistently was holding the ball too long. But in the same article they did say that their OL was not in fact very good. Caleb hanging onto the ball as long as he did just made everything worse up front.

[Shields68]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The OL is by no means good but it's also a little hard to know with how horrendous the offense coaching was. It kind of goes hand in hand but a running back could help a ton too and those aren't hard to get. Swift looked cooked and was probably overrated because of Philly's OL.

And then for the love of god demand that caleb get rid of the ball faster. And if he is at all coachable maybe remind him he doesn't need to throw a 100 mph fastball to a guy standing 5 feet away from him

Johnson is going from one the top OL's to one of the bottom OL's. A good Ol will make the QB look better, give the coach a lot more options in the playbook etc. If the Bears QB asked do we have time to run Wasp? I think the answer is no, while the Lions run all sorts of slow developing plays and get away with it.