Windy City Gridiron
If true, the Bears could be in some trouble.
Hold onto your butts, Chicago Bears fans. Things might be about to get weird.
Though the Jacksonville Jaguars may have excused themselves from the Ben Johnson sweepstakes, Chicago might have some stiff competition for the right to hire the Detroit offensive coordinator as its next head coach with the New England Patriots apparently emerging as strong competitors.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who has strong ties to the Patriots, has joined others in reporting Johnson has significant interest in both the Bears and Patriots jobs. In fact, Breer tweeted Tuesday that Johnson might only interview for those two positions.
On one hand, that’s good for the Bears’ pursuit of Johnson — less possible interference from other teams.
On the other ... the Patriots are unfortunately the only open coaching job as attractive — perhaps even a tick more so — than as Chicago’s.
Both teams have exciting young quarterbacks in Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, the respective No. 1 and No. 3 picks in last year’s NFL Draft. While both had impressive rookie years, Maye arguably did more with less despite racking up a bunch of turnovers. (As with Williams, Maye’s coaching and supporting cast let him down far more than he let them down.)
Also, both teams are among the top five in effective cap space for 2025 and hold top-10 picks in the upcoming draft.
But here’s where things get interesting.
The Patriots, meanwhile, are more of a blank canvas: they have Maye, All-Pro-caliber cornerback Christian Gonzalez, special teams Pro Bowler Brenden Schooler, and not much else of note. But they do have an absurd $114 million in effective cap space (the most of any team) by far, which they might now have a chance to wield with an exciting new coaching hire, and the No. 4 pick, which could turn into a slightly bigger trove if they can trade down. (They blew the No. 1 pick by winning on Sunday, so their trading power is heavily weakened.)
Advantage: Bears, though Pats have the tools to get better quickly.
2. The NFC North has been a gauntlet, and the Bears proved themselves nowhere near ready to compete for it. All three teams besides Chicago made the postseason, and two have QBs and good teams locked in for the immediate future. Things could flip in Detroit when Johnson leaves, of course, and Williams might develop into the division’s best QB with the right coaching. But it’s still a significant “if” given where they are.
The AFC East is more open. The Bills are clearly the best team in that division, but the Patriots have split the season series with them each of the last two seasons. Meanwhile,...
