News and notes from former Lions OC Ben Johnson in his Chicago Bears introductory press conference.
On Wednesday afternoon, former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was introduced to the media for the first time as the Chicago Bears ’ new head coach. He spoke for about 30 minutes on why he chose the job, what his plans are for the Bears, and everything he wants to accomplish in Chicago.
But before he even got started, he had to talk about his time with the Lions.
Thanking Sheila Hamp, Dan Campbell
Quite literally, the first people Johnson mentioned as people who had helped him to get to where he is today were Lions owner Sheila Hamp and Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
“Sheila Ford Hamp and her family have been incredible for the past six years of my life,” Johnson said. “Making Detroit and the Lions organization a great place for me and my family and raising our kids.
“Dan Campbell is more than just a colleague to me. He is a friend, he is a mentor, he is a man that trusted me when he didn’t need to, and I will forever be in his debt and respect the heck out of him. He is an amazing person. One time, someone told me he is a unicorn, and (there) could not be more true words than that.”
He would go on to also name team president Rod Wood and COO Mike Disner in his thanks, with blanket mentions of the front office, and the offensive coaching staff.
“Hardest thing” to leave: the players
As anyone will tell you, a football team is one of the tightest bonds of camaraderie. And while that is mostly said among the players, it’s also felt among coaches, too. Johnson noted that leaving Lions players was one of the most difficult parts of this process.
“One of the hardest things to do is to leave a group of men that you love,” Johnson said. “I will forever be impacted by (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, (Jared) Goff, (Frank) Ragnow. I can keep going on and on and on. One of the reasons you get into coaching is to make the people around you better, but the truth is those group of guys, they made me a better coach and a better person. They inspired me every single day, and I love driving into work to work with those men every single day.”
Johnson wanted to stay in the NFC North
Johnson listed several reasons why he wanted the Bears job. He believes the city of Chicago is special (he’s been traveling with his family to take in a Cubs ’ series every summer), he has confidence that the Bears’ roster is already “stocked” and “loaded,” but his most interesting reasoning was to stay in the NFC North.
“I wanted to stay in this division,” Johnson said. “I know this is the toughest division in football right now. There’s three teams that made the playoffs this year. I’ve got tremendous amount of respect for the coaches and players in this league. I’ve competed against them for the past three years. Dan Campbell, Kevin O’Connell, you talk about two guys who are up for Coach of the Year awards as the season ends here.”
Then, cranking up his pandering to 11, he took a shot at the Green Bay Packers with a smile on his face.
“And to be quite frank with you, I kinda enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.”
Johnson said he made an ‘emotional’ decision last year
Last year, Johnson returned to the Lions to take care of some unfinished business after the team’s painful loss in the NFC Championship game. Interestingly, looking back on that decision, Johnson didn’t outright call that a mistake, but he did say the emotions got the better of him.
“As my emotions got the better of me at that point, I decided quite early on that I wanted to come back and take another shot at (the Super Bowl ) in Detroit,” Johnson said.
Johnson admitted he’s still going through some of the same emotional turmoil after losing in the Divisional Round.
“I’m still reeling through some of those feeling myself right now,” Johnson said. “It’s a hard thing to do when you’re around a group of guys as committed as we were to not only winning a division title, but getting the number one seed in the playoffs, but following through by winning a Super Bowl, and coming up short the way that we did.”
But this time around, he said it became clear the Bears were the right job for him almost immediately, and he believes he’s more mentally prepared for the role.
Johnson hopes to embody Campbell’s empowerment skills
Johnson was asked what he would take from his four years with Dan Campbell. First, he mentioned Campbell’s authenticity. He then mentioned Campbell’s skills to empower everyone around him.
“I’ve seen him totally delegate responsibilities, have complete trust in the people that he hires and allow them to do their jobs,” Johnson said. “That’s something that I plan on taking with me and will do the same.”
In 2024, Johnson was worried more about Bears than any other NFC North team
Johnson expressed his belief in the Bears roster with an interesting story. He said while preparing for the 2024 season, he believed the Bears may give them the biggest problems, partially due to a defense that the Lions offense had struggled against in the past.
“Going into this season, I felt like this place was a sleeping giant,” Johnson said. “To be honest with you, I, personally, was more concerned about the Chicago Bears than I was anybody else in this division. There were a number of reasons why that did not unfold, which—that’s why I’m here. I’ll get to the bottom of that, and we’ll see if we can get that corrected and cleaned up.”