Ben Johnson just got appointed as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, and the next step for him should be assembling a staff that resembles what he wants from his team.
Usually, when a coordinator leaves his former team to be a head coach somewhere else, he takes some people from his previous team to join his staff. There were thoughts that Johnson may do that with the Detroit Lions, but it looks like he’ll be going to other places to build his staff, according to Bears reporter Brad Biggs.
“Does not sound like Bears will be a destination for Lions OL coach Hank Fraley. Perhaps Ben Johnson does get an assistant from Detroit to join him but Fraley is not expected. Johnson isn’t going to raid Dan Campbell’s staff,” Biggs wrote on X.
“Would expect Ben Johnson to have a well thought out plan to find assistants to work with the linemen – and he acknowledged there is work to do in the trenches,” Biggs continued.
It’s not a bad idea to grab people from the Lions after the success that they were able to have this season, but Johnson has another plan.
The Bears seemed to have hired their guy along, and he should be a major addition to a young team that has a lot of promise. One of the reasons why Johnson chose the Bears as his next destination was quarterback Caleb Williams.
“Modern football in the NFL is quarterback-driven, that is no secret,” Johnson said.
“You can look at analytics, right now, quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning or losing than turnover ratio. There’s no doubt that Caleb played a long component into my decision. He is a phenomenal talent – that had as many quarterbacks do – an up-and-down rookie year.”
“Where I see my role is a supporter of him. This offense will be calibrated with him in mind. This is not the dropping of a previous playbook down on the table and starting there. We’re ripping this thing down, and we’re going to build it up with him first and foremost and then with the pieces around him next. I really look forward to challenging him and pushing him as I’ve said before to continue to grow and develop.”
It will be interesting to see how Johnson fills out the rest of the staff and what moves he will make to improve the roster as the offseason progresses.
