Bears head coach Ben Johnson responds to a question during a news conference after a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson responds to a question during a news conference after a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
Bears coach Ben Johnson gives the impression that he’s locked in his office all day designing plays, but he’s got at least a little sense of what’s being talked about in the press and on social media.
He was aware, for example, that leading up to his team’s game against the Eagles on Monday there were graphics circulating that pointed out it would be the first time he called plays for a quarterback who wasn’t the No. 1 overall pick.
With Caleb Williams out, the Bears thumped the Eagles 27-7 with 38-year-old third-stringer Case Keenum playing lights out, and Johnson took a victory lap on it afterward.
When asked about the challenge of switching his offense from Williams, who has elite mobility, to a classic pocket passer like Keenum, he brought it up unprompted.
“Well, I’ve got a little history of that, of calling plays for someone not so mobile,” he said with a smile, referring to his time with Lions quarterback Jared Goff. “Now, I don’t have a history with someone that’s not a No. 1 pick, though. That was apparently a big deal.”
Goff was the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, and Williams went first overall in 2024. Keenum was one of the most prolific quarterbacks in college football history, but went undrafted out of Houston in 2012.
When he stepped in for Williams on Monday, Keenum completed 24 of 34 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns for a 110.8 passer rating. He added a goal line touchdown on a sneak, too, that buried the Eagles with seven minutes left.