The NFC North is the most competitive division in the NFL right now. Three of its teams not only made the playoffs last year, but each finished with 13 or more wins. That is unheard of. Only the Chicago Bears were left out of the fun, finishing a distant 5-12. One would understand if the Packers, Lions, and Vikings weren’t overly worried about them going into next season. This organization has a habit of fumbling its opportunities to improve whenever they come up. Was this year any different?
The answer is yes if you ask the people close to those teams. ESPN polled its NFC North writers with an interesting question. Which front office won the offseason? Three of the four insiders named the Bears. Courtney Cronin doesn’t count since she covers the team. However, Rob Demovsky of the Packers and Eric Woodyard of the Lions both mentioned Chicago. The most interesting part is that they each listed the same reason for their statement. It wasn’t any free agent or draft move.
It was hiring Ben Johnson.
Demovsky: Bears. It has to be the Bears, but then again, it feels like they’ve won offseasons before and it hasn’t meant much.
But not only did the Bears land the hottest coaching candidate on the market, they did so while weakening a division rival by stripping the Lions of their hot-shot offensive coordinator.
Woodyard: Bears. Chicago has added one of the league’s most creative minds in Johnson. He knows his stuff, and players will respect that right away. Johnson should be able to get the best out of Williams, as he did to help fuel the resurgence of Goff’s career.
The Chicago Bears could be a different animal with Johnson.
This organization has always known how to construct good defenses. It’s in their DNA at this point. The challenge was figuring out how to construct an offense that matched that capability level. That hasn’t been the case for most of the past four decades. A big reason for that is the coaching. Every head coach and offensive coordinator they’ve brought in hasn’t been equal to the task. Granted, the talent they’ve had to work with hasn’t always been great, but there is a reason most of the “experts” they hire don’t earn the same positions after leaving. Johnson is the first genuine offensive savant the Chicago Bears have hired in decades.
The last was probably the late Sid Gillman in 1977. They finished third in total yards that season, and Walter Payton won the league MVP. It probably isn’t a coincidence that they made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Johnson is on that same level of intelligence and creativity. Except he’s the head coach, meaning he isn’t going anywhere.
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