The return of former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to Detroit for a matchup between the Lions and his Chicago Bears team is expected to be met with some ire.
After playing such a key role in the Lions’ turnaround, his quick departure following Detroit’s playoff loss for an NFC North foe stung plenty of fans.
That’s a factor that Johnson says he considered when making his decision, but becoming the Bears’ head coach was exactly the role he desired.
“Everything last year ran through my head and that was one of the unfortunate parts of making that decision was you were say saying goodbye to a lot of friends in a great place,” Johnson said during a press conference Wednesday. “My family, myself, we have a lot of strong relationships there in that community. Hopefully that continues to stay that way, as well.
“We felt like this was the best opportunity for myself and and my family and we were really excited about coming to Chicago. At times you you have to make tough decisions and that’s really how that one went down.”
Johnson certainly had a lot of strong relationships with the Lions players and his fellow coaches. He spent six seasons with the organization, having a hand in developing many of the team’s star offensive players like WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, RB Jahmyr Gibbs and OL Penei Sewell after they were drafted to the team.
One of his closest bonds was with coach Dan Campbell, the two going back well over a decade as members of the Miami Dolphins coaching staff before reuniting in Detroit.
Although the two have been busy with prepping their teams for the 2025 season, Johnson said they texted back and forth a few weeks ago and remain in touch, even if they are about to take the field against each other twice every season.
“That friendship’s always going to be there. I view him like family and I think he would tell you the same thing. That’ll never change,” Johnson said. “We have fond memories of back when I was just a young, snot-nosed computer punk, as he likes to call it, in Miami.
“I feel like we’ve both grown up in this profession of coaching, he had been in it for a long time as a player. We’ve both come a long way. You look back at that Miami staff back in 2012 and 2013 and there were a lot of really good coaches on that staff and that’s part of the journey is seeing where everyone goes.”
Despite all the fondness for the city and his former coworkers, once Johnson arrives at the stadium, it’s on.
Just ask St. Brown, who has been preaching a less-than-warm welcome for Johnson back to Detroit.
“As soon as Ben walks in there, we’re booing him,” St. Brown said recently on his podcast. “I don’t give a (expletive). We all booing him.”
Johnson claims not to be worried about the reaction toward him or reminiscing too much about his days with the Lions on Sunday.
He’s focused on getting the Bears their first win of the season and his first as a head coach, going up against a talented team in a hostile environment.
“I think my mind is going to be about just winning the football game. And that’s really what it’s going to come down to is us going out there and looking to to find our first victory of the season,” Johnson said. “It’ll be a tough environment. That place has really turned into one of the strongest home field advantage places, I think, in the National Football League. We’ll have our work cut out for us. We’ll have to be able to communicate within that hostile environment. And I think we’ll find out a lot about ourselves.”
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