After breaking a longstanding Chicago Bears tradition and firing Matt Eberflus midseason, General Manager Ryan Poles knew his next head coach hire needed to be a home run. Which is why he devised a simple question to help gauge which candidate would be the best fit.
After falling to the Washington Commanders on a last-second Hail Mary, the Bears proceeded to lose nine more games in a row. Poles asked each candidate, ‘how do you break a trend?’ He wanted to understand how each head coach would battle back from adversity and lead the team back towards success.
When it was Ben Johnson’s turn to answer, Poles got exactly what he was looking for. With a shared vision on battling through attrition, Johnson became the perfect candidate for the Bears, via Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
“You attack the problem and you emphasize that,” Poles recalled of what Johnson responded. “Make sure you address it, up front, on the surface, in a team meeting, one-on-one whatever that is, you don’t hide from it. You don’t bury it, you attack it. I loved that answer and I think he’s spot on with that.”
The Chicago Bears lost 9 straight after the Washington Hail Mary. Ryan Poles asked prospective coaches "how do you break a trend" during the Bears interview process. Here's what Ben Johnson had to say. pic.twitter.com/gSvUjnpypB
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) February 26, 2025
Chicago Bears 2024 free fall
It was a valid line of questioning from Ryan Poles. The Commanders Hail Mary was devastating and left a black mark on the organization. But it also seemed to open the floodgates and spent the Bears spiraling downward.
Chicago never broke 30 points scored for the rest of the season, even in their Week 17 win over the Green Bay Packers. They instead suffered losses such as 38-13 to the San Francisco 49ers, 30-12 to the Minnesota Vikings and 34-17 to the Detroit Lions.
A lot of that failure could be attributed to the coaching staff changes. Starting over with a new regime in the middle of the season doesn’t equate to immediate success. However, getting the Bears back on steady ground will be one of Johnson’s first order of business.
While fans are getting eager, Johnson knows Rome wasn’t built in a day. Still, he must find a way to ensure the free fall doesn’t carry into 2025.
How Chicago Bears can avoid repeated disaster
Their Hail Mary loss to the Commanders needs to be an outlier. If Ben Johnson wants the Bears to be considered a serious team, they must avoid making costly mistakes. But even if Chicago pulled off the victory, there would still be work to be done to get the team in a place for long-term success.
The Bears’ lack of scoring output was mainly due to the team’s inability to keep Caleb Williams upright in the pocket. Taking a league-high 68 sacks, it was difficult for him to show off what made him the No. 1 overall pick. With Johnson in tow, he’s expected to bring over his explosive offense. Still, the Bears must ensure the trenches are taken care of before getting that offense off the ground.
While the 49ers, Lions and Vikings were all strong offensive teams in 2024, the Bears cannot allow continuous blowouts in 2025. That isn’t really breaking news, but it’s exactly why Dennis Allen was brought in. The Bears finished 2024 ranked 27th in total defense, allowing 354.3 yards per game.
With the offense inable to move the ball, the defense was on the field for long stretches. That ultimately led to a collapse and a necesary re-evaluation of the team’s defensive unit. Like the offense, it won’t be an easy fix, but Allen was a wealth of knowledge he’s bringing to Chicago to help remedy the situation.
Ben Johnson will have plenty of expectations levied against him come Week 1. But that’s exactly what he signed up for. Ryan Poles was confident in him when he was just a candidate. Now that he landed the job, Poles is ready to see Johnson help take the Bears to new heights.
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