Every head coach has a goal upon arrival at their new position. Lovie Smith said he wanted to be Green Bay, and Matt Eberflus desired to change the culture. It is always interesting to hear how these men are wired because it offers insight into how they’ll approach the locker room. Ben Johnson was no different. He learned a lot in those years he spent with the Detroit Lions, taking them from a perennial bottom-dwelling franchise to a legitimate contender. No doubt he got some great advice from Dan Campbell.
Johnson was asked what his primary goal for the Bears this upcoming season was. It wasn’t to fix the culture like Eberflus tried to or to elevate quarterback Caleb Williams. No, his mission is much simpler: win. This Bears team will be tasked with winning immediately this season. The rebuild is over. No more excuses. If you’re on this team just to collect a paycheck, don’t expect to be around much longer.
Ben Johnson is a competitor.
Patience isn’t in his DNA. He aims to win now and feels this roster is good enough to accomplish that. He’s not entirely misguided. Seven of the Bears’ 12 losses were against eventual playoff teams, and five of those losses were by six points or less. They were in every game, but it always seemed like something would go wrong. It was the Hail Mary in Washington, the blocked field goal against Green Bay, and the blown timeout against Detroit. Coaching was a primary catalyst for those disasters. Ben Johnson believes he can correct those issues. Together with another strong infusion of talent this off-season, the Bears are well-positioned to challenge the hierarchy in the NFC. This is exactly what many in the locker room want to hear. Enough with the platitudes. Put somebody in charge who is single-minded about winning. Chicago may have their guy.
@barry_mccockiner per usual Lambert is making a Mockery of Sports reporting. Maybe that’s the point? Maybe Lambert is actually doing a phenomenal job at satirical sports writing. That’s the rub we’re all missing. This is meant to be The Onion of Chicago sports media and we’re all coming here looking for actual stories like a bunch of idiots. I know I sure feel dumber for reading it.
@Bears57 This article is particularly hilarious to me because it implies that Poles spent three years looking for something other than an HC who wants to win football games. If this “hey now, let’s give winning a try!” posture is true, then excuse me, but what the fuck has Poles been looking for this whole time? An arrogant but marketable QB1 who showed up to camp unprepared to compete at the NFL level? Ok, fine, that box was checked last April. And then production from QB1 went down year over year, and the “upgrade” that was really a downgrade cost… Read more »
@David My relatives and you are likely correct, but we do not know for sure if the Bears have enough or the right talent yet, even if the coaching and play-calling will be very good. It might take a couple years even if Caleb does well.
We have no idea how good Caleb is/can be. The low interception total is very encouraging with what he had to deal with last year. But, he can’t be gun shy. He has to be encouraged to let it rip in training camp and it’s OK to throw a few picks to learn what he can get away with in the new system. I really want to see a high energy offense and a swarming defense (again). Just Win Baby!
He literally just rattled off a bunch of coaching clichés. To be fair I’m not sure how else you’re supposed to answer what amounts to a filler question. However, you’d think, after hyping Waldron and Getsy as saviors of the offense and by extension the team and by how well that turned out, Lambert would be a little slower to get the coaching hype train up to terminal velocity. Almost everyone thinks Johnson will be a good to great coach but god damn, let him run a single practice first.