After transforming Chicago into an offensive powerhouse, the head coach is sacrificing his summer to rebuild a depleted roster and sustain the team's newfound playoff momentum.
The Chicago Bears made a great decision hiring Ben Johnson as their next head coach at the beginning of last year.
He brought his years of experience as an assistant in the Detroit Lions organization to the Windy City.
He started as an offensive quality control coach in 2019, then worked his way up to tight ends coach in 2020. Johnson stayed in that role for two seasons before taking on the responsibilities of the passing game coordinator in 2021.
Johnson finally became the offensive coordinator in 2022.
When he came to the Bears, he brought in Declan Doyle as OC, but Johnson still called the plays.
The Bears' offense reached new heights, finishing 12th in passing yards (234.8), third in rushing yards (144.5) and ninth in points per game (25.9). Unfortunately, the Bears weren't able to retain Doyle this offseason, and he joined Jesse Minter at the Baltimore Ravens.
Chicago had a monster of a season from Johnson in year one.
They reached the Divisional Round after beating the Green Bay Packers with another fourth-quarter comeback the week before.
Now, the focus is on building sustained success in year two, and Johnson is easily the best man for the job.
He revealed just how committed he is to his job at a press conference after OTAs. Instead of taking a vacation with his family, he said he believes the summer is one of the best times to get ahead for the upcoming season.
"I've always found the summer to be one of the better times in terms of getting ahead for the season," Johnson said. "We haven't done a whole lot of exotics here this offseason. It's been, as I've talked about, fundamentals, technique. We're running fairly standard formations at this point as we're trying to build the blocks from the ground up."
It definitely won't be as easy for Johnson heading into 2026. The Bears had a handful of starters leave the team this offseason.
Kevin, Byard Nahshon Wright and Jaquan Brisker left in free agency. Tremaine Edmunds was released to free up $15 million in cap space. Drew Dalman announced his retirement just before free agency started.
Then D.J. Moore was traded to the Buffalo Bills for a second-round pick, giving the team another $16.5 million to spend.
There are new faces, too.
The Bears' most significant free-agent acquisitions were Coby Bryant and Devin Bush. They also traded for center Garrett Bradbury with the New England Patriots.
Then, the franchise drafted Dillon Thieneman, Logan Jones, Sam Roush, Zavion Thomas, Malik Muhammad, Keyshaun Elliott and Jordan Van Den Berg.
Johnson has the perfect mentality as his team enters the upcoming season. You need someone who is obsessed with the game of football, and Johnson is just that.
He eats, breathes, and sleeps the game of football, which is exactly what Chicago needs out of its head coach. This is especially true considering how difficult the road is going to be for the Bears.
Chicago will now have a first-place schedule with matchups against teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars. Outside of the divisional games, the Bears are taking on the AFC East and NFC South divisions on top of that.
General Manager Ryan Poles knew what he was doing when he hired Johnson last year.
