Ben Johnson ideal for Caleb Williams? How soon can Bears contend? 5 burning questions

The conference championship games will take place Sunday in Kansas City and Philadelphia, but the Bears grabbed the NFL headlines Monday by hiring Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as head coach.

It didn’t come as a surprise that Chicago finally hired a new head coach. That’s been expected since the club fired Matt Eberflus the day after Thanksgiving. What came as a bit of a shocker was who the Bears landed — the most coveted coach in this cycle.

Like all hires, only time will tell how it ages. But for the time being, it feels like a big day in the Windy City.

The Bears are one of the most iconic franchises in the NFL, and they play in one of its biggest and most football-obsessed markets. More important to the here and now, they’ll be pairing last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams, with the architect of one of the league’s best offenses these past few years. It’s understandable if Bears fans are giddy about the future.

To weigh in on what that could look like in Chicago, we asked Carmen Vitali and David Helman to assess various aspects of the Johnson hire.

1. How do you like Ben Johnson’s fit with Caleb Williams? What will be the biggest adjustment each will need to make for each other?

Vitali: From this standpoint, the hiring of Ben Johnson should be a slam dunk. Johnson has brought out the best in Jared Goff in three years as his coordinator. After posting a 45.5 QBR in his first year in Detroit in 2021, a career low for a full season, Goff’s been in the 60s three straight years, including a career-high 68.4 this season while leading the Lions to a franchise-record 15 wins. From being given up on by the Rams to being in the MVP conversation in 2024, what Johnson has done for Goff’s career cannot be overstated.

The Bears are hopeful Johnson does the same for Williams, who is much younger and less experienced than Goff was when Johnson became Detroit’s OC. Will that speed up or prolong the process? It’s a fair question. But it’s worth noting that in Johnson’s three years as a coordinator, his offenses never finished lower than fourth in yards per game or fifth in points per game.

How Johnson adjusts to Williams’ inexperience and personality will be the biggest hurdle on both sides. Williams had high praise for Johnson’s scheme this year, while Bears players across the roster talked about how they wanted a no-nonsense type of coach who demands accountability. Well, they’re about to get one. Johnson has been described to me as “intense” and “more of a pitbull than people realize” by people who worked with him in Detroit. 

How Johnson balances that intensity with also having to be accountable for the whole organization will be his biggest adjustment. He doesn’t just have to worry about the offense, like he did as a coordinator, he now has to decide what the team’s schedule is like, how they dress on road trips, what the menu is within the building, how to best communicate his vision to his staff, team personnel and even the business side of the building. He has to meet with the media and answer for not only the offense but all three phases. 

Oh, and he has to do it in the third-largest media market in the country. All of that while trying to develop a second-year quarterback. That’s no small feat, and there will undoubtedly be a learning curve. Will Williams (and Chicago as a whole) have the patience for Johnson to figure it all out?

Helman: We don’t know this for sure yet, because we’ve only ever seen Johnson design an offense for Jared Goff. But if Johnson is as good as we think he is, then I’d hope he can tailor an attack to fit Caleb Williams — even if that means making significant changes to what worked so well in Detroit.

That feels like the biggest adjustment to me: adapting the offense to fit a completely different style of quarterback. Goff is more of a point guard passer, whereas Williams’ athleticism and ability to make plays out of structure is what makes him unique. Johnson would be wise to accentuate those abilities while also reining in and correcting some of Williams’ worse tendencies — namely, hanging onto the ball too long and not attempting enough throws on time within the play design. 

To Carmen’s point, I think Williams’ biggest adjustment will be sharing his primary coach and play caller with the rest of the team, which was not something he had to do as a rookie until Thomas Brown got promoted late in the season — to mixed results. I do think Johnson will do a good job of mitigating that by hiring qualified coaches to fill out his staff.

2. What should Johnson be looking for in a defensive coordinator and who best fits that criteria?

Helman: Johnson should be looking for experience, point-blank, period. Ideally, someone who has been a head coach before, so that he doesn’t have to worry about the defensive side of the ball on top of everything else that’s on his plate. Someone with previous head coaching experience will also have advice on how to handle certain situations Johnson will inevitably encounter. It has to be someone who also doesn’t have an ego, though — someone who will advise Johnson without threatening his position or undermining him. He has to be someone Johnson trusts.

Schematically, it matters less than it ever has. Defenses are fluid no matter what their base package is. One thing to consider is how the current roster is constructed and how much flexibility you have to adjust it. Do you mostly have guys that fit the 4-3 scheme the Bears have been running? How much would it take to convert to a 3-4? And do your needs on offense get in the way of being able to accomplish a scheme overhaul on defense? These are all the things Johnson and his new coordinator need to ask themselves.

Vitali: My eyes lit up when I read that Dennis Allen is reportedly the favorite to become Chicago’s defensive coordinator, because it’s exactly the type of hire that would be a grand slam for Ben Johnson.

Allen might have failed as a head coach, but he’s been one of the league’s best defensive playcallers for roughly a decade. One of Sean Payton’s best decisions as Saints head coach was promoting Allen to DC in 2015, which immediately brought them legitimacy on that side of the ball and eventually turned them into one of the NFL’s elite units. Allen is the type of coach who can handle every responsibility on the defensive side throughout the week and on game day. And, more importantly, he’s proven he can get results in addition to having all that experience.

If it winds up not being Allen, for some reason, it needs to be someone like him. I’d call Steve Wilks or Robert Saleh, who have similar résumés. 

3. Johnson was the hottest candidate on the market, despite not serving as a head coach previously, which could give him great autonomy. Do you think his hiring makes it more or less likely that GM Ryan Poles, who is not under contract beyond this season, remains in Chicago long term?

Vitali: Poles made this deal, they should let him see it through. It shouldn’t be contingent on this year, either. There will inevitably be some bumps in the road. As good of a coordinator as Johnson is, we don’t yet know how he will fare as a head coach. There should be a long leash for him and Poles, as well. The fact that Poles went out and got the consensus best candidate in this coaching cycle is all you could have asked of him. That should earn Poles more trust by the organization and should instantly give him rapport with Johnson. Hopefully, they’ll work together to get the necessary personnel for Johnson’s vision (*cough* offensive linemen) and have a continually blossoming working relationship.

Helman: The Bears surprised a lot of people around the NFL by ponying up and offering the most desirable coaching candidate the contract he wanted. Hopefully, that’s not the only lesson they’ve learned.

All the best organizations in the NFL have a unity of purpose and cohesion on their staff. You’re not likely to get anywhere if the head coach and general manager have different ideas, different motives and different priorities. For instance, the last thing you’d want as a Bears fan in 2025 is Poles working to save his job while Johnson is working to lay a foundation for the future.

We’ve seen this type of dysfunction so many times in Chicago. Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace traded up to draft Justin Fields the year they got fired. Mitchell Trubisky and Caleb Williams were both drafted the same year their head coaches were fired. That’s the type of maneuvering you’d like to avoid. And for that reason, here’s hoping Poles has bought himself at least a few more years with everything he’s done to get to this point. I don’t believe the Bears’ roster is the reason for their struggles, and Poles deserves credit for that.

4. How do you expect Johnson’s transfer from Detroit to Chicago to impact the balance of power in the NFC North? How soon could you see the Bears winning this division?

Helman: I’d be more excited about Johnson’s chances of a quick turnaround if he had left the NFC North, because this division isn’t shaping up to get any easier. The Lions are losing some important coaches, sure, but they’ll still boast one of the NFL’s best rosters in 2025. The rosters in Minnesota and Green Bay are not only good, but they’re coached by two of the brightest young coaches in the league. 

All three of these teams have proven they have what it takes to consistently push for the postseason, whereas all we can do with Johnson is guess. Anything is possible, as the Washington Commanders reminded us this season, but I wouldn’t expect Chicago to push for a division title until at least Johnson’s third year — which is exactly how things played out in Detroit.

Vitali: Can we just take a beat? Every offseason Bears fans get their hopes up only to be let down. This organization hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt. I should know, I grew up outside Chicago following it. As good of a candidate Johnson is, he’s still a gamble. Even if it does ultimately work out, it might not happen right away. Detroit went 1-6 to start Johnson’s first season as offensive coordinator in 2022. 

All three of the other teams in the NFC North appear set up for sustained success, even if the Lions lose both their coordinators. Their roster is constructed in a way where their core is under team control for multiple seasons. This doesn’t do anything immediately to the balance of power in the NFC North. Let’s see the Bears have a winning season before we put division expectations on them, or did we learn nothing from this past offseason?

5. Johnson will end up being the best Bears coach since ___?

Vitali: See above. Let’s just wait and see.

Helman: Here’s some good news: the bar is not very high.

Lovie Smith is the only Bears head coach since the legendary Mike Ditka to leave town with a winning record. Chicago’s four hires since Smith have gone a combined 75-118. The Bears have won the division just once in the past 12 years, and they haven’t won a playoff game since 2010.

So, I’m not asking for much. If Johnson simply delivers a winning record, he’ll mark an improvement over the past decade of coaches. If he wins the division or just one playoff game, he’d be the best Bears coach since Lovie.

Carmen Vitali is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV. 

David Helman covers the NFL for FOX Sports and hosts the NFL on FOX podcast. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing “Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion” about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter at @davidhelman_.

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