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Earlier this week, the Chicago Bears hired former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to be the franchise’s next head coach following Detroit’s divisional round loss to the Washington Commanders. The hope is that Johnson will be able to unlock some of the aspects of former number one overall pick Caleb Williams’ game that remained dormant this season.
Recently, Johnson had his first press conference in the Windy City, and his take on how he viewed the Bears organization from afar will likely have Chicago fans pumped up–and Lions fans befuddled.
“Going into this season, I felt like this place was a sleeping giant,” said Johnson, via the Bears’ official account on X, formerly Twitter. “To be honest with you, I personally was more concerned about the Chicago Bears than I was anybody else in this division.”
Fans of the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, both of whom finished far ahead of Chicago in the standings this year, might be a bit puzzled by Johnson’s assertion. He made sure to acknowledge what actually transpired later on.
“Now, there are a number of reasons why that did not unfold. 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,” said Johnson. “But I was very encouraged with what was already on the roster right here, and like I said before, this division, as hard as it is, I’m really excited about competing here.”
Indeed, Chicago was projected by many entering the season as a potential playoff threat due to the number one overall pick in Williams as well as the slew of resources the team expended to put together a serviceable cast of wide receivers.
Unfortunately, many of those receivers underperformed, Williams took a while to find his footing, and the Bears were mired by coaching malpractice throughout the campaign en route to missing the postseason by a considerable margin, while every other team in their division made it.
Still, there is optimism that Johnson’s expertise will be able to guide the Bears back on the right track, even if it’s a year later than fans had hoped for.
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