The Bears don’t need new coach Ben Johnson to shed tears like the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, be a boy genius like the Rams’ Sean McVay, remain calm like the Packers’ Matt LaFleur, radiate optimism like the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell or bite kneecaps like his boss with the Lions, Dan Campbell.
What they need is for Johnson to take his place among those names — his own way, whatever that is — and eventually to stand eye-to-eye and belong in their company.
The biggest step yet in that direction comes Monday night against the Vikings at Soldier Field, a season opener like none before it for a 39-year-old rookie.
We want to believe Johnson is the very leader the Bears needed, that his methods will take root and bloom handsomely, that the miasma of mediocrity that long has enveloped this franchise will dissipate at last. But how can we know?
Johnson’s predecessor, Matt Eberflus, won his Bears debut, a 19-10 upset of the 49ers that, in hindsight, probably merits a federal investigation. In the first half of that game, the Bears were outgained 247-68 as Justin Fields threw for 19 yards and had a passer rating of 2.8. In the third quarter, trailing 10-0, the Bears ran the ball on a third-and-4 and didn’t come close, leading to lusty boos from the home crowd. But then? Fields threw for second-half touchdowns. Dante Pettis, Equanimeous St. Brown and Khalil Herbert all scored, a who’s-who of “who?” It ended with teammates charging after Fields into a rain-soaked end zone, which they deliriously turned into a slip-and-slide. It was beautiful.
“I’m not surprised,” Eberflus declared in victory.
But so went the high point — here and gone, just like that — for the in-over-his-head coach of an absurdly bad team bound for a 10-game losing streak.
Remember Matt Nagy’s first game as Bears coach, in 2018 at Lambeau Field? The Bears led 17-0 at halftime. Nagy and young QB Mitch Trubisky were making perfectly listenable music together. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had been carted off the field, victim of a vicious sack by newly acquired pass rusher Khalil Mack. Back in Chicago, statues of a rookie coach were being erected. Too soon? What could go wrong? Rodgers retook the field and threw for three fourth-quarter TDs to beat the Bears 24-23.
After that preposterous tease, a Sun-Times story laid the blame on an “overly cautious” coaching staff. Nagy in a nutshell, as it would turn out in the long run.
For successful NFL coaches, debuts are meant to be forgotten. Take Mike Ditka’s in 1982, lost to the Lions 17-10 in Detroit. Walter Payton rushed for a scant 26 yards, a number he’d failed to exceed only once over the previous six seasons’ worth of games. Bears QB Bob Avellini was bloodied and knocked out of the game as the offense mustered a pathetic total of 154 yards.
“What do you want me to tell you, that Detroit is a better football team?” Ditka snapped after the game. “I’m not going to tell you that. They aren’t.”
It sounds so much better in the retelling, but only because of what Ditka went on to accomplish.
Johnson is here because of Caleb Williams. It’s the relationship that means everything. As they go, the Bears will follow. That’s the effect of the modern QB on teams around the league, certainly on all those that count themselves among the Super Bowl contenders.
What it means is winning. If you can’t beat a first-time QB such as the Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy, you’re just killing time.
“All that matters to us is winning the game,” Johnson said over the weekend.
Or as he promised at his introductory press conference, “The bar has been set higher than it’s ever been set before. … Our mission [is] to win, and to win now.”
Johnson will have his struggles, and they will be on display like never before. How will his debut go? One assumes it won’t be perfect. It could be far from it.
“The good news is this: I am a football coach,” he said. “I will be able to change and adjust accordingly.”
Ditka did it. The other two mentioned above, not so much. For Johnson, it starts now.