The Ben Johnson head coaching tenure is underway for the Chicago Bears, as the new hire is now in the process of building out his coaching staff. Despite being the head coach for less than a week, the rumors have swirled on who will be a part of the former Lions’ offensive coordinator new coaching staff, with a mix of experienced and newly appointed coaches to make up the final group. For Johnson, it is already impressive that he desires to have a few former head coaches apart of his staff to be paired with up-and-coming minds, something that is rarely seen from something that is a head coach for the first time.
Ben Johnson mixing experience with promising potential for his coaching staff is an intriguing initiative
Following the news that Johnson had been hired by the Bears to fill their head coaching vacancy, there was immediate rumors on who he would hire as offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and special teams coordinator, as several known names were mentioned, including Dennis Allen and Darren Rizzi. Although Rizzi is unlikely to take the special teams’ position, it is significant that the Bears and Ben Johnson were in discussion. The significance is that Chicago was in serious contention for the services of the former Saints’ interim head coach with the Denver Broncos and former Super Bowl head coach Sean Payton.
Rizzi and Allen being former head coaches and having strong interest in working with Johnson is significant because they seem willing to work with a first-time head coach. Usually when head coaches are fired, they usually look to find job opportunities with experienced head coaches that they have previous ties too. With Ben Johnson’s hiring by Chicago, rumors of several experienced coaches wanting to work with the first timer shows how much they believe in the potential of the former offensive play-caller.
For Johnson, looking to hire experienced coaches that have served in previous head coaching roles, demonstrates an immense level of maturity and a desire to use past experience to help build success. When Matt Eberflus was hired in January of 2022, he hired Luke Getsy as his offensive coordinator and Alan Williams as his defensive coordinator. Getsy had never been a play-caller before, while Williams had only been a defensive coordinator for four seasons, with a majority of his coaching career spent as a positions coach.
When Eberflus put his coaching staff together, he made the mistake of bringing over several assistants and positional coaches that had worked with him during his time as defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. Additionally, he put Getsy in charge of the offensive staff, which also featured no coaches with significant high-level experience. Ben Johnson appears ready to do the opposite which is to pair experienced coaches who he hasn’t prior work connection to with other coaches that have shown success with the Bears already.
There have been discussions that special teams’ coordinator Richard Hightower, who has served in the role with the Bears for since 2022 and who has received consistent praise for his success. Johnson’s desire to retain Hightower following the Rizzi news demonstrates an added desire to keep the status quo for certain areas that of the coaching staff that might not need fixing. Too often do new head coaches completely overhaul a staff solely because they want their own personnel, but don’t take into account how valuable it could be to retain successful staff members, something that Johnson appears ready to acknowledge.
Ben Johnson’s desire for an experience play-caller as defensive coordinator is very promising
The most important hire for Johnson will be the defensive coordinator position, with Allen likely being that person to assume the role, which would be vital. Ben Johnson, despite being the head coach, will be the offensive play-caller with the defensive coordinator likely having total control of what goes on with the defense. Having Allen, who is a proven defensive coordinator and viewed as one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, would definitely provide peaceful assurance for a first-time head coach.
Although Allen may not have been the best head coach, his teams usually consistently good on defense, as the Saints defense during his coaching tenure improved statically year-over-year. It is this level of consistency and experience that matters to Johnson, who appears to understand the importance of having the right mind in place on defense, given how his main focus will be on offense. Having a coordinator with over a decade of defensive play-calling experience will be bring an immense level of flexibility and ease of pressure for Ben Johnson to focus on other areas of the team.
Of the four head coaches hired by the Bears since the Lovie Smith firing after the 2012 season, only one of those hires made sure to bring in a defensive coordinator with prior and proven experience. In 2015, John Fox brought in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio who had over 15 years’ worth of defensive play-calling experience. Despite Chicago only winning 14 games from 2015 to 2017, general manager Ryan Pace retained Fangio when Matt Nagy was hired to avoid the new offensive-minded head coach from having to worry about his defense. Chicago’s defense in 2018 was the best unit in the league leading the NFL in interceptions and sacks.
Where Pace was looking out for his new head coach, it appears that Johnson took the initiative to do it on his own, as it appears Chicago’s new head coach had a plan in place before his hiring. Ben Johnson knowing that having a defensive point man in place and having a proven name in place shows how ready the first-time head coach for the new role. The initiative to have a plan in place is something that had not been seen from past Bears’ head coaches, including Marc Trestman.
Although there have not been any confirmed hirings yet for Johnson’s coaching staff, the names being mentioned are already promising due to their proven experience. Ben Johnson was hired due to his consistent offensive play-calling success, but is immediately showing an impressive head coach trait, which is the ability identify quality coaching talent. Chicago’s new head coach won’t see the end results of his choices until the 2025 starts, but from what is being seen through his first few days in role is very promising.
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