Ben Johnson faces a familiar face across the NFC North this season, turning a personal friendship into a fierce divisional rivalry on the gridiron.
It's funny how in the NFL you can coach alongside or against some of your good friends.
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson will get to experience both in 2026. For the Bears, Johnson is already familiar with the newly hired assistants Eric Studesville, Will Lawing and Isaiah Ford.
Studesville and Johnson were assistant coaches together at the Miami Dolphins. Johnson and Lawing were college teammates together at North Carolina, and the Bears HC coached Ford at Miami.
Studesville replaces Eric Bieniemy as running backs coach, and the Bears will also have a new offensive coordinator, with Press Taylor being promoted from passing game coordinator.
Declan Doyle left to become the next OC at the Baltimore Ravens.
There is a "dear friend" that Johnson will have to coach against in 2026, too. It will actually be in the same division.
The Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator John Morton and hired a close friend of Johnson, Drew Petzing, from the Arizona Cardinals. Petzing was the OC for the Cardinals last season.
The strength of Petzing's offense in Arizona was through the air. The Cardinals ranked seventh in the NFL in passing yards per game and passing touchdowns.
Johnson was asked if he had given Petzing any advice at the NFL Combine, and the head coach joked that he didn't need any. Johnson shared how excited he was for Petzing and believed the Lions were in good hands.
"Drew doesn't need my advice," Johnson said. "Drew does a great job. He's adear friend of mine, and I know he's going to knock it out of the park there in Detroit. Very happy for him and that opportunity. There's a ton of really good players there. There's some coaches in that building that I care deeply for, and so I think they're in good hands."
Now we'll get to see a battle of offensive masterminds next season, with Johnson's offense going up against Petzing's twice a year for the foreseeable future. This makes things very interesting in the future matchups with the Bears and Lions.
Even though Chicago had a better season, it still couldn't get the better of Detroit in 2025, losing both times. The last meeting was an absolute heartbreaker for the Bears, as the Lions won on a game-winning field goal, 19-16.
It sounds like we're going to have some very exciting showdowns between Johnson and Petzing in the near future. We'll see if Johnson can best his long-time friend on the gridiron.