How Chicago Bears were 'ready to pounce'

The interview was scheduled for Jan. 11. The Detroit Lions were deep into their postseason bye week and still awaiting their divisional-round opponent. But offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was multitasking. Job hunting. Opportunity seeking.

As the hottest name in this winter’s NFL hiring cycle, Johnson felt readier than he had in previous years to make the next big leap in his coaching career. And with no shortage of suitors, he had his eye on one opening in particular.

Thus, inside a conference room at the Lions facility in Allen Park, Mich., Johnson settled in for a Saturday morning Zoom interview with the Chicago Bears.

The 38-year-old coach had a vision to share, eager to detail his team-building philosophies, his feedback on the current state of the Bears and his development plan for quarterback Caleb Williams. But before he dived into any of that, Johnson let his passion do the talking.

His ambition was his introduction. He wanted one thing known first and foremost.

I want this job.

Not just a job. This particular gig, the one the Bears were offering, the one leading a franchise Johnson had identified as “a sleeping giant.”

So he started his pitch there. Direct and to the point.

I want this job.

General manager Ryan Poles, the point guard of the Bears’ aggressive coaching search, noted how Johnson’s desire “basically came through the screen.”

“That,” Poles added, “really separated him from everybody else.”

Chairman George McCaskey, too, was struck by Johnson’s forward nature.

“The first words out of his mouth,” McCaskey reiterated, “were, ‘I want this job.’ And the last thing he said before we turned off the camera was, ‘Did I tell you that I want this job?'”

That job is now all his.

Eleven days after making his desire known, Johnson was formally introduced as the Bears head coach Wednesday morning in Lake Forest. And the feel-good vibes reverberated across Halas Hall.

‘A clear vision’

As expected, there was a tsunami of praise from Johnson’s new bosses. McCaskey rolled through a bullet-point list of his new coach’s notable traits: directness, dedication, innovation, energy, decisiveness.

There was more to Johnson’s candidacy, after all, than simply wanting the job more than any of the other 16 known candidates the Bears interviewed.

“We liked everything about him,” McCaskey said.

President/CEO Kevin Warren took particular note of the grind Johnson persevered through to advance his coaching career — from his earliest days as a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2009; to a seven-season stint in four roles with the Miami Dolphins; to a quality control job in Detroit; to eventually becoming the hottest offensive coordinator in the sport.

“He has grit,” Warren said. “He’s smart, he’s hard-working, he’s innovative, he’s curious, he’s demanding.”

And then there was Poles, the fourth-year GM who will have the closest working relationship with Johnson and who sees in his new coach an offensive mastermind who doubles as a confident, demanding leader.

Poles sees few issues with Johnson making a successful transition into a much bigger role on a much bigger stage with much bigger responsibilities. He commended Johnson for having “a clear vision for how to put a winning football team together.”

“Really he hit on a lot of the accountability and discipline (points) and how we’re going to work to get where we need to go,” Poles said. “With some of the things that I know we fell short on this year, I’m confident that he’s going to address those things pretty quickly.”

Trust factor

Back to that pivotal Jan. 11 job interview for a moment. Johnson went into that session with a purpose, with qualities he wanted to accentuate.

“Listen,” he said, “it’s no secret I was being portrayed as an offensive guru. But (throughout my career) whether I was a quality control coach, the tight ends coach, receivers coach, offensive coordinator, I’m whatever the job requires me to be.

“That’s where I really wanted to let those people know on every call that I had that there was more substance than maybe I’ve articulated in any media session or what you might see on the sideline. There is a lot more there. And I’m really excited about this next challenge because it’s going to be a little bit different for me. Honestly, it’s going to get me outside of my comfort zone.”

Johnson also had questions he wanted the Bears to answer and curiosities he wanted satisfied as far as how things work at Halas Hall — and why they frequently haven’t.

The No. 1 thing he sought was “alignment.”

“That was really important to me,” he said. “(I wanted) to see that the structure setup was conducive to winning. All those questions were answered throughout the interview process. With George, Kevin, Ryan, I believe in them and I really believe we will be able to turn this place around.”

As far as his connection with Poles, Johnson explained exactly what he was seeking in terms of a shared vision with his new boss. His wishes had nothing to do with authority over the roster or undisputed final say on big decisions.

“I like to think I’m a low-ego guy, low-maintenance guy,” Johnson said. “That whole control factor? I don’t need that. I just need somebody who I can trust.

“In the past, where I’ve seen it not work and where there’s been dysfunction, there has been an element of disconnect between the GM, the head coach, other executives. Quite frankly, I did not feel that here.”

He especially did not feel that with Poles.

The top target

With as wide of a net as the Bears cast in their search, they identified Johnson early on as one of their top targets, if not the must-have candidate in this hiring cycle.

The Bears head coaching position came open on Thanksgiving weekend, a day after Johnson’s Lions piled up 279 yards before halftime in a 23-20 victory at Ford Field. Twenty-four days after that, the Lions totaled 475 yards and 34 points in a runaway victory at Soldier Field.

Included in that latter meeting was the trick play known as “Stumble Bum” — a 21-yard touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Sam LaPorta after both Goff and running back Jahmyr Gibbs pretended to trip and fall in the backfield, freezing the Bears defense for just long enough.

It was vintage Johnson, a perfectly timed dash of strategic magic that punctuated one of the Lions’ 15 regular-season wins, as well as the 59th touchdown of the 72 they scored during the regular season and playoffs.

At the time, Poles wasn’t exactly celebrating Johnson’s wizardry.

“In the moment,” he said, “it wasn’t a cool play at all.”

But it registered as added evidence of why Johnson has been such a productive play caller over the last three seasons. He finds edges. He uses creativity. He understands when and how to strike.

So don’t just view the lengthy montage of Lions trick plays as some kind of schoolyard circus act.

“Yeah, they’re cool plays,” Poles said. “But there’s feel and there’s study to them where he anticipates what’s going to happen at a really, really high level.”

That’s why, as important as Johnson’s messaging was during his Zoom interview, the Bears’ attraction to him originated via other video.

“It starts with watching the games,” Poles said. “His feel for calling plays was second to none.”

‘Ready to pounce’

Even as their search progressed and expanded, the Bears knew they had to keep tabs on the Lions’ playoff advancement — or lack thereof. It was the biggest factor affecting when Johnson might become available to be hired.

And when the Lions got stunned at home 45-31 by the Washington Commanders on Saturday night, the Bears recognized immediately it was go time.

“It’s a competitive environment,” McCaskey said. “So while you want to take your time, you want to be thorough, you want to cover every base, you also need to be ready to move when necessary.”

McCaskey was impressed with the way Poles remained poised but sprang into action.

“He told you when we started (the search) that we would proceed with a sense of urgency, but we wouldn’t be rushed,” McCaskey said. “But he also talked with us about being ready to pounce when necessary. And that’s exactly what happened.”

There was no way, at such a high-stakes moment for the franchise, that Bears leaders would allow the Las Vegas Raiders to cut in line and steal Johnson away. So pounce the Bears did, with an aggressive offer to lock in Johnson to the job he wanted.

“Sunday and Monday were very busy,” Warren said. “But I think what you’ve seen is that we’ve used these last couple weeks as an opportunity to prepare and plan. So when this opportunity did arise, we were ready to go.”

Johnson was all ears. Contract details were ironed out.

“It just simply did not take me a long time to decide that this is where I wanted to be, where I wanted my family to be,” Johnson said. “And these are the people that I wanted to be around.”

Johnson’s first visit to Halas Hall came Tuesday — after he had accepted the job and 10 days after that inital Zoom interview.

“Walking in this building gave me goosebumps,” he said. “I don’t think many people understand how set up for success this place already is.”

With Johnson’s arrival this week, there’s a sense that the setup has improved.

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