After watching the painful unraveling of Matt Eberflus’ tenure with the Chicago Bears over the last three years, it’s hard to go anywhere but up with Ben Johnson now running the show. Apparently, ESPN thinks so, too.
The Worldwide Leader’s preseason rankings of NFL coaching staffs
puts the Bears at 22 out of 32 teams, which is a step up from their 25th-place position last year under Eberflus.Being at the top of the bottom 10 might not seem like much to write home about for the Bears. But when you
take a closer look at the reasoning for putting them there, it actually reads more like a compliment than anything.
“I would usually hesitate to stick a first-time head coach this high,” writes Ben Solak, “but I can’t look you in the face and say, ‘I’d rather have the Cardinals or Panthers or Falcons staff over this group.’ Johnson has deservedly been the apple of the league’s eye for a few coaching searches now. Yes, plenty of great offensive minds have tried and failed at the CEO position. But Johnson learned under one of the best in Dan Campbell, and he has taken this process from coordinator to head coach slowly and carefully. Those are positive, albeit early signs.
... Perhaps I’m too far out on a limb here — the four other first-year coaches are within the bottom-five teams on this list. But if I have to plant a flag, this Bears staff feels like the right group for it.”
Solak also mentions the importance of snagging Dennis Allen, a former head coach himself, to run the Bears defense. Though Johnson will undoubtedly seek to be a CEO to an extent, being able to rely on Allen to be the “head coach” of the defense while Johnson can focus on getting Caleb Williams and the offense up to speed lightens the load significantly for the first-year head coach.
And again, it says a lot about Johnson’s reputation that he generates far more confidence than the other rookie head coaches on the list—even fellow Detroit alum Aaron Glenn (New York Jets, 28th). He was, after all, the most highly sought-after first-year coach of this last cycle following a transformative tenure with Jared Goff and the Lions under Dan Campbell.
Unless we’re in for a complete stunner, expect the Bears to have the best team of all rookie coach-led squads. But no doubt, given Johnson’s brilliance and the roster Ryan Poles has assembled for him, the goals are much higher than that for 2025.
Then, we might be talking about the Bears having a top-10 staff in the league rather than the reverse.
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