Soon-to-be NFL Hall-of-Famer JJ Watt wasn’t just watching his brother TJ closely when the younger Watt’s Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Chicago Bears.
The former Defensive Player of the Year-turned-CBS analyst had a lot of positive things to say about the Chicago squad that knocked off TJ’s Steelers at Soldier Field on Sunday to move to 8-3 on the year.
In particular, he thinks the Bears hit a grand slam with their new head coach.
“Ben Johnson is the real deal,” Watt tweeted out after the game. “Minimizes risk for his players while also taking full advantage of weaknesses in defenses. But not only that, his personality and leadership is phenomenal. He has been spectacular in our meetings so far this year.
"It’s still early, but going off what we’ve seen so far, Chicago found themselves one hell of a head coach."
That’s coming from a guy who knows a thing or two about achieving NFL greatness and must have a pretty high bar for being impressed when studying offenses.
Ben Johnson has been even better than advertised as a head coach. Already one of the best at second half adjustments.
In Passing EPA per drop back, Chicago jumps from 18th to 8th between halves.
In Rushing Success Rate, Chicago jumps from 16th to 1st (!!!) between halves.
— Diante Lee (@DianteLeeFB) November 23, 2025
To be sure, the Bears are a totally different team under Johnson than they’ve been at least since 2018. Not only are they tough and opportunistic in taking advantage of other teams’ mistakes, but their offense has taken a dramatic leap under his tutelage, swiftly becoming one of the NFL’s most explosive units. And that’s with a second-year quarterback in Caleb Williams who hasn’t come close to his ceiling.
Speaking of which, Watt also went on to praise Williams for a gritty, if not perfect, day at the office, suggesting he didn’t play as badly as it may have felt at times.
“I thought he played really well today,” Watt said of Williams. “There are certainly a few throws he may be frustrated he missed, but 3 TD/0 INT on a day the run game wasn’t quite what it normally is, he stepped up and led the day. OL did a great job protecting him today too, outside of the one strip sack TD.” (Wonder who got that strip sack…)
At 8-3, the Chicago Bears have so far surpassed most of our expectations for 2025, currently sitting atop the NFC North and controlling their own destiny during their toughest stretch of the season. If we know anything about this Bears team, though, it’s that Johnson has them feeling like they can beat anyone at any time.
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