The Chicago Bears were a mess last year. It wasn’t exactly the situation Rome Odunze wanted to walk into after almost winning a national championship with Washington. This is the sort of jarring reality most high draft picks deal with in the NFL. Building a winner at the professional level is difficult, requiring not just talented players but ones who are willing to make necessary sacrifices to lift an organization out of the mud. However, it can’t just be on the players. The coaches need to do their part. Last year, that wasn’t the case.
Matt Eberflus and his staff were woefully inadequate to the task. Not only did they horribly manage game situations, but their inability to craft a proper development plan for Caleb Williams led to guys getting fired midseason. That is why Ben Johnson became their target as the new head coach. People weren’t sure what to expect. He was a great offensive coordinator, but running an entire team is something completely different. From what Odunze has seen thus far, the 38-year-old knows precisely what he’s doing.
The receiver said as much to WGN News.
Rome Odunze recognizes what Johnson is trying to accomplish.
Yes, the head coach is intense and can come across as a hard ass at times. The reality is that high-level football is hard—really hard. You must be extraordinarily detailed. The Bears struggled with that for most of the past three seasons, which is why they kept losing close games. Rome Odunze saw his fair share of it last year. Johnson is working hard to correct those issues. It can’t be done by just telling players what changes he’s making. He must get his point across forcefully at times. The message must be clear that there are consequences to making careless mistakes. Players want to win, but they have a habit of cutting corners whenever possible if left to their own devices. It falls on the head coach to make sure that doesn’t happen. If things progress as they have already, Odunze is correct.
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Johnson will have this team winning.