Former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson made his head coaching debut Monday night with the Chicago Bears in a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field.
Quarterback Caleb Williams led an impressive opening drive for a touchdown, but the Chicago offense failed to reach the end zone again until the closing minutes of the game, allowing the Vikings to complete a late comeback with three fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Williams finished 21-of-35 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown, adding 58 rushing yards and another score on the ground, while former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy led the Vikings, passing for 143 yards and scoring all three of their touchdowns.
“Disappointing way to start the season there for us,” Johnson said in his postgame press conference. “To have a 17-6 lead and then see it go the way it did in the fourth quarter, we said going into Week 1 that the team that made the least number of mistakes would win the game and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that.
“We made too many of those late in the game, myself included, there were a number of things I could’ve done better, a number of things a number of guys could’ve done better.”
Johnson was with the Lions in multiple roles from 2019-2024, beginning as an offensive quality control coach before taking over tight ends and being named offensive coordinator in 2022.
He was one of the few holdovers from Matt Patricia’s staff after Dan Campbell took over in 2021. The two previously worked on the same staff with the Miami Dolphins, where Johnson spent eight years.
Johnson played a key role in the Lions developing the NFL’s best offense last season, averaging 33.2 points per game and becoming the first team in NFL history to produce four different players with 1,000 yards from scrimmage in a season.
Following the success of the 2024 season, Johnson interviewed for multiple head coaching vacancies and was hired on Jan. 21 by the Bears, three days after the Lions were eliminated from the playoffs.
For Johnson’s second game as a head coach and first road trip, he’s returning to his old stomping ground to face the Lions at Ford Field on Sunday.
Neither the Lions nor Johnson’s Bears had a great season-opener, but the return of a longtime member of Detroit’s staff will certainly draw plenty of attention to the matchup.
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