Okay, fine, I’ll admit it. That headline is a bit sensationalized and clickbaity. I need to play the page-view game from time to time to get more eyes on all the fantastic offseason work our team here at Windy City Gridiron is doing. Ken’s Den is a must every day. We had dueling Dexter Lawrence articles (go get him/stay away) earlier this week. Bryan’s passion project of breaking down running back film is up to #4. Gary just wrapped up his deep dive into Caleb Williams, while Johnathan is just kicking
his off. Plus, our 2nd City Gridiron podcast/video channels are in the midst of Taylor’s annual NFL Draft series to learn more about the prospects who could find their way to the Chicago Bears.
Plenty of Bears content here from our team and also in The Feed.
So on to that NBC article…
It’s not quite as negative as it seems, as NBC’s Patrick Daugherty ranked Ben Johnson 13th overall among the 22 head coaches he ranked. He didn’t rank the new head coach hires, but he did provide a write-up on them after the list.
Here’s what he wrote about Johnson.
In a league and media landscape addicted to hyperbole and quick-fixes, no label gets misapplied more frequently than “offensive genius.” Well, maybe “franchise savior.” Ben Johnson arrived in Chicago to expectations of both. He blew them away. Tasked with “fixing” Caleb Williams, Johnson helped reduce Williams’ sack total from 68 to 24. Ridiculous. The Bears went from 26th in offensive EPA per play to seventh. They scored 131 more points than the year prior, jumping from 28th to ninth in scoring. So, offense fixed. If that was the longed-for first step, step two was something along the lines of: Just stop getting embarrassed in the rugged NFC North. Johnson won the division, earned the conference’s No. 2 seed, then humiliated arch-rival Green Bay with an epic Wild Card comeback. One year, etc. but these Bears are no longer embarrassing.
They were lucky in 2025, living off one-score, and even sometimes one-point, victories. Regression comes for even the best players and coaches. The follow-up will be 10 times more difficult than the opening act. Johnson knows this, and as the rare offensive-minded coach who doesn’t just call plays but sets the tone for all 53 of his players, he seems perfectly suited to keep leveling up. You should never speak too soon in the NFL — Chip Kelly, et. al say hello — but it sure seems like it won’t take long for Johnson to accomplish even greater things in Chicago.
Ah, the good old ‘they were lucky’ narrative.
Sure.
After detailing how much better the offense was under Johnson’s leadership, Daugherty leads off the next sentence with a line about luck.
Someone once said that “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” and I doubt the 2026 Bears will be less prepared to execute Johnson’s offense than they were in ‘25.
Defensively, they may not get as many turnovers, but the overall effectiveness of the unit should trend upwards in year two under Dennis Allen.
Johnson was ranked just below Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell (12), Green Bay Packers Matt LaFleur (10), and his mentor with the Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell (8).
And I’m completely fine with Johnson at 13 below these three, because these three are very good head coaches, and they’ve been doing it a lot longer. The NFC North was a competitive division in 2025, and I expect that to continue.
What are your thoughts on the list? Would you have Johnson higher or lower?
