Bears name Ben Johnson head coach

According to Michael Fabiano of  Sports Illustrated on Tuesday, the Chicago Bears have named Ben Johnson of Charleston, South Carolina as their new head coach. It is interesting that Johnson is staying in the NFC North and joins a Bears organization that is looking to improve their offense after only scoring 310 points last season. That was the second fewest points in the National Football Conference. Only the New York Giants scored fewer points with 273.

Johnson was one of the National Football League’s most sought after coaches in the offseason. It is because of what he was able to achieve this past season as the Detroit Lions’s offensive coordinator. During the 2024 NFL regular season, the Lions led the NFL in total points (564), and were second in the NFL with 409.5 total yards per game. Only the Baltimore Ravens averaged more yards per game at 424.9.

It is interesting that Johnson chose the Bears and Caleb Williams over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence. Both Williams and Lawrence are former first overall draft picks, and are quarterbacks on teams that had a head coaching vacancy.

Johnson had been the Lions’s offensive coordinator the last three years and this is the first time he has been a NFL head coach. He was previously with the Miami Dolphins from 2012 to 2018. He held the roles of offensive assistant, assistant quarterbacks coach, tight end coach, assistant wide receivers coach and wide receivers coach. Then in 2019, Johnson joined the Lions. Prior to being the offensive coordinator, he was the Lions offensive quality control coach, tight ends coach, and passing game coordinator.