Windy City Gridiron
The new Chicago Bears head coach also drew praise from general manager Ryan Poles before Tuesday’s Combine presser.
It certainly feels like Ben Johnson has brought a new energy to the Chicago Bears in his brief time as head coach of the team.
But don’t just take general manager Ryan Poles’ word for it, though he spoke glowingly of Johnson in his media availability at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday morning.
Johnson himself took the stage in Indy later in the day and continued to carve out his own vision for the Bears' future, which (at least on paper) should have fans ready to run through a brick wall.
If nothing else, he’s got the whole NFL community watching the Bears with great interest, if the crowd around his presser is any indication.
Here are some of the highlights from the new Bears coach’s podium session.
1. He loves new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
Johnson wasted no time endorsing his 28-year-old offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, dismissing any concerns about his age.
“He and I are a match made in heaven. He thinks very much like me,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s been awesome getting him into the building the last few weeks. Extremely detailed, extremely organized. The age does not matter.”
Doyle, who previously served as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints, got quite the promotion when he was tabbed to serve under Johnson, who seems poised to continue calling plays for the Bears offense. But the role provides Doyle with the best seat in the house: learning from the best offensive coordinator and play-caller in the NFL not named Kyle Shanahan and focusing his attention on game-planning and translating the message to the offense.
At minimum, Doyle could help promote Johnson’s fresh, forward-thinking approach to play-calling in Chicago. Eventually, he might be the first in Johnson’s play-calling tree to land a head job of his own.
Maybe he’ll even be another “Ben Johnson.”
2. He’s proud of his diverse coaching staff.
When new head coaches take over, they typically pick “their” guys out of the Rolodex first to fill out their coaching staff.
But in addition to the familiar assistants like Antoine Randle-El, Johnson also brought in former Saints head coach Dennis Allen to run his defense, Doyle to help him run the offense, and a more varied crew of coaches than expected on the whole.
According to Johnson, that was an intentional choice.
“What’s so beautiful about the coaching staff we put together is I didn’t hire a bunch of my friends,” he explained. “I went outside of my circle on purpose because I wanted to collect a different mix of experience, energy, ideas, and we’re all going to make it come together for the Chicago Bears moving forward.”
If Johnson’s staff signals anything to us, it’s that he's open to a wide range of input and wants to break the traditionally insular reputation the Bears have to outside information, which is a major plus.
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