George Halas was a Hall of Fame head coach for a reason. He was one of the great innovators of his time, embracing new ideas as they came for much of his decades-long tenure. However, one thing always lost in the shuffle about the all-time great was his personality. Hidden beneath that Papa Bear veneer was the soul of a bully. He didn’t just relish beating you on the scoreboard; he wanted to beat you up, too. Hurting bodies and feelings was entirely the point. Since retiring, most Bears head coaches never took things quite to that extent. Mike Ditka did to a degree. Nobody else has come close since. Enter Ben Johnson.
At first glance, you’d think the new Bears head coach is in the same vein as guys like Sean McVay: young, bright, energetic, intelligent, and confident. Johnson is all those things, but it has become clear to people inside Halas Hall that he has a dark side. Like anybody else, Johnson wants to win. He’s obsessed with it. What separates him from other coaches is how he wants to do so. It isn’t just about the scoreboard. It is about sending a message. He wants to crush people, stamp them with his boot, and scrape them off on the curb. When writing an in-depth piece on the coach, Dan Wiederer of [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6580669/2025/09/05/bears-coach-ben-johnson-monday-night-football-vikings/?source=emp_shared_article) got that vibe.
> The fuel for that blaze — a competitive inferno, really — is Johnson’s **intentional, almost perverse desire to attack opponents**. Quickly, continually and without mercy.
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> For a coach so often lauded for showcasing the intelligence and problem-solving skills of Sherlock Holmes, Johnson also has a much more savage side to him. **Think Anton Chigurh from “No Country for Old Men.”**
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> So, yes, the naturally affable Williams had to quickly understand that Johnson needed him to sharpen his own competitive edge.
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> “Sportsmanship,” Williams told reporters that day, “is for the end of the game — when you shake hands and are respectful in those ways. But when you’re on the football field? You want the other teams to feel as if you’ve embarrassed them.”
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> For Johnson, those comments served as an early moment of pride. Message delivered. And message received. **Embarrassment is indeed a goal**.
What is that famous meme from The Dark Knight? “_It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message_.” The paraphrase for Ben Johnson would be it’s not just about winning. It’s about sending a message. Winning alone is not enough. He wants the rest of the NFL to know that they shall receive no mercy from the Bears. The days of pushing this team around are over. If you want to win, you’ll have to crawl over broken and beaten bodies to get it, starting with Johnson’s. He has instilled that mentality in players for months, even using UFC footage to get them in the right frame of mind. The response has been infectious. It finally looks like the Bears have somebody in charge with a killer instinct.
