Bears Hire New Coach from Division Rival

 

Bears Hire a Coach and Try to Put 2024 Behind Them

The Chicago Bears just hired Ben Johnson as their head coach for the 2025 season. He was the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions for the last 3 years. Their season ended this last weekend. Both of their coordinators found head coaching spots around the league.

I started paying attention to the NFL just this year again. Since Covid and George Floyd, professional sports had become another wedge for left wing groups to divide the country over. It was a good time to tune out. I won’t recount my personal animosity towards the league here. I’ve written about it before enough times. But I did start miss it. My dad had the Lions and Bears game on when I went over there for Thanksgiving this year and it reignited my fandom just enough.

As is typical of the Bears however, they blew a big chance to win in the last couple of minutes. Poor clock management doomed their 2 minute drill at the end. Chalk up another loss. Their rookie quarterback, Caleb Williams, put together a decent second half but fell apart at the end. The coach (Matt Eberflus) sounded circumspect about the whole thing during the post game wrap up. The Chicago media was apoplectic over the loss and blamed the coach. I’m not one for blaming the coach, but he didn’t inspire confidence either. But does it really matter? There are a lot of inspiring, take-no-prisoners types of coaches that don’t win too. Rod Marinelli was like this. Great defensive coordinator, poor head coach.

I think fans get too caught up on optics. We get irritated with the way the loosing coach answers questions. The sports radio guys analyze interviews hoping to dig up some unknown piece of information. They assume the organization is always hiding something. A lot of times they are, but it’s never an issue when the team wins. It's loosing that invites carping. After the Thanksgiving Day loss, the Bears canned Coach Eberflus after an unceremonious Q&A with the press. The decision to send him out and get grilled was either a parting shot from the organization or miscommunication from management to staff.

You don’t send a guy out there to field questions if you’ve decided to fire him.

That was my reentry into the season. I’d been loosely following the pick of Caleb Williams in the offseason. He was clearly the best available in 2024 and the Bears, having yet another first pick, grabbed him up. I’m not a great evaluator of college talent, but the Bears haven’t been able to get quarterback right in years. Just the opposite is true. For whatever reason the team can’t coach the position. I’m not even sure whose fault it is. But it’s noticeable and embarrassing. My attitude on draft night was “I guess we’ll wait and see”. 

Like most fans, I just want a team that looks promising. Optimism among the Chicago media and fans was stratospheric. A ‘savior’ had arrived.

I never fall into that trap. I talked to a guy who came into my store the other day. He had played college football and rooted for the Bears as well. We talked at length about the upcoming season and the future quarterback. He had the same reservation about the team as I did. Not because Caleb Williams didn’t show promise. But if it rains on your annual family picnic every year, you start to look for secondary places to meet. If every quarterback the Bears pick gets traded in their 3^rd year, you start to cautiously evaluate their chances. 

I heard a few TV people pick the team to go to the playoffs in the first year. I never trusted that opinion. After the midseason firing of the coach, the team seemed to spiral. They’d already fired the offensive coordinator (Shane Waldron) weeks prior to that. After the head coach was shown the door, they elevated the newly named offensive coordinator to the top slot. This was a team without a rudder. It’s clear they expected to win more at this point in the season. When they didn’t, the organization scapegoated whoever they could, to appease the gods for the time. I watched them on a few occasions recently. They played a game at home on a Thursday right after Christmas. They lost. I had the sense that despite all the sacks and missed opportunities, this team was emotionally done for the year. They weren’t talentless, just effortless. The air had gone out of the balloon.

I guess we’ll see if Ben Johnson can pull this group out of the trash heap and demand better than they’ve given. Like usual I’m hopeful but not expectant. I’ve been to this picnic too many times. The chance of rain is always strong.