Ben Johnson is the heavily favored candidate for the next Chicago Bears head coach if you ask most fans. It isn’t hard to see why. When a guy posts a top-five offense in three consecutive years for the Detroit Lions, it’s hard not to take notice. Yet the true depths of what makes Johnson such an impressive candidate boils down to what he is accomplishing with Jared Goff. People will assume that is an odd take, considering Goff was always a good quarterback. Johnson isn’t doing anything special.
That only reveals the lack of context. Yes, in 2017 and 2018, Goff was excellent, making two Pro Bowls and leading the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl. However, things crumbled in 2019 and 2020. Goff threw 42 touchdowns and 29 interceptions for an 88.1 passer rating. Head coach Sean McVay, one of the best offensive minds in the game, thought he’d peaked and traded for Matthew Stafford. Johnson proved him wrong. Since the two came together in 2022, Goff has thrown 89 touchdowns to 29 interceptions for a 101.8 passer rating.
Johnson somehow made him better than McVay, a future Hall of Famer, did.
Improving on the work of a master is almost impossible. Ben Johnson did it.
That is why people should be excited about the prospect of pairing him with Caleb Williams. The man took a quarterback everybody thought was used up and made him better than ever. Chicago’s young #1 pick has even more talent to work with. Not to mention the same drive and determination as Goff. Putting them together feels like it would be a treat to watch, especially if the Bears can shore up their offensive line. Alas, this organization doesn’t have the best track record for doing the logical thing. Maybe, just maybe it will be different this time. One can only hope the two sides make the right impression on each other. History says something will give somebody cold feet. If the stars align, Ben Johnson might be the perfect choice
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Ben J seems like some kind of gold pill for Chicago. Cool.
My hope is that Poles tried to accommodate Eberflus’ wishes in acquiring the players that he did. That would explain things as to why he paid so much for Tremaine Edmunds, for example, when we could have gotten two pretty decent offensive linemen for the same price. I find it hard to believe that Poles could have fkd things up this badly by himself. Things make much more sense if Eberflus was involved. That being said, if Poles is willing to work that much with his head coaches, that bodes well for BJ or whoever the next offensive minded HC… Read more »
The Supreme Court is going to make it illegal to simp as hard as Lambert simps for Caleb.
It’s hard to tell how Erik is leaning on HC and GM
Well it seems like Goff is really learning the league the last few years. Some guys blossom a little later. Some of that could be attributed to Johnson but maybe it’s just Goff seeing the field better as the years go on.