As significant moments go for head coaches, this one leaves much to be desired.
The preseason opener for Ben Johnson with the Bears today at noon is like any preseason debut for an NFL head coach. It is more of a soft opening against Miami, with the real debut still to come Sept. 8 against the Vikings.
Few remember that Mike Ditka actually lost his preseason debut 28-27 to Air Coryell and the Chargers in 1982, just as Dave Wannstedt, Marc Trestman and Matt Nagy lost their preseason debuts, or that John Fox and Matt Eberflus emerged preseason debut winners, like Lovie Smith and Dick Jauron.
It's what they do in the preseason building a team toward the opener that really matters beause it determines the regular season.
When all local #Bears reporters are “wowed” by a physical practice… it tells you something about the culture over the last 15+ years
Trestman started a downhill slope of softies that only managed to get worse with Fox and Nagy and then blew all the way up with Flus
— Jake (@Jake_B30) August 5, 2025
Johnson has much to learn, even if he has shown in Detroit he had few equals at matching an offensive system with offensive personnel.
However, he also has already displayed knowledge of one of the first rules of coaching, and that is to stick to your guns.
You sit your starters in the preseason opener if you believe in that, even if it ticks off the fan base. He does what he sees as important and if people don't like it, well, they didn't get the $13 million a year or whatever sky-high amount it was the McCaskeys paid him to be coach.
Bears fans are going to have to wait to see Caleb Williams in any sort of game action.
HC Matt Eberflus announces that starters will not play in this week’s Hall of Fame game. pic.twitter.com/7tqAeRZ1EW
— Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) July 30, 2024
Among things he still has to learn are basics, like which assistants will be in the booth and on the sidelines. Dennis Allen will be on the sidelines for the defense, but this week Johnson still wasn't sure if offensive coordinator Declan Doyle would be upstairs or on the sidelines.
"Usually, I don't like a lot of chatter on the lines. They already got that memo based on Family Fest the other day,” Johnson joked.
That's OK, the head phone on the Bears side usually seem to go down or a while every game anyway, it seems, just like the helmet mic. Caleb Williams was already complaining about that. It usually doesn't happen until a crucial point at midseason, so maybe they have their usual technological gaffe out of the way.
Bears QB Caleb Williams is using a Light Helmets Apache Pro with an SK2 facemask, PRIZM Clear Oakley visor and a SportStar Victory chinstrap; he previously used a Riddell SpeedFlex Precision with an SF-2BD-SW facemask and a Riddell hardcup chinstrap. pic.twitter.com/zzOtofSrAe
— Helmet Stalker (@HelmetStalker) August 8, 2025
"I don't know if he had experienced that or not, but the message is we don't panic," Johnson said.
He reportedly told Williams to keep a few favorite plays in mind for just such an occasion.
The most interesting man in the entire NFL this season isn't Mahomes, Lamar, or Josh.
It's Ben Johnson.
My piece for @GetUpESPN this AM...@ChicagoBears @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/Mjse7kfIrq
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) August 5, 2025
"We just find solutions," Johnson said. “I think going forward he's going to have solutions that he will get to right away and we'll be just fine. We don't want to burn timeouts in that situation.”
The last coach didn't want to burn timeouts either, but that was a different time, place and situation. He made many other misjudgments, hence Johnson.
Even Johnson says he must learn more about such game management things, although it's very difficult to believe he doesn't start at a point far higher than the last head coach finished.
Matt Eberflus not calling a timeout here is still the craziest coaching mistake in NFL history. https://t.co/gvF4hcpxdy pic.twitter.com/B1CF4NjMZU
— jack (@jack_bfr) May 2, 2025
"We've done a lot behind the scenes so far in our walkthrough settings, in terms of very specific situations that both educate the players and allow the coaching staff to get on the same page with what's going on and what some of the words mean," Johnson said. "Because once you get into crunch time and, the guns are going off, then we just want to make sure that one word tells everybody exactly what's going on.
"It's been a learning process because it's our first year doing it all together. I think the guys have handled it really well so far, but we're going to put ourselves in those situations as much as we can, whether it's in walkthrough or full speed practice. That's really why I'm excited about these preseason games is that's naturally going to occur organically."
This past week of practice and now the game did get Johnson the chance to reflect. His team is opening preseason against a team that fired him, leading to a situation where he was a jobless coach for half a year before the Lions brough thim on board.
Pretty cool that #Bears HC Ben Johnson's first NFL preseason game as a Head Coach comes against the team he started coaching in the NFL with; The Miami Dolphins
Johnson was on the Dolphins staff from '12-'18
Full circle moment for Coach Johnson. pic.twitter.com/nqzG6BhNCA
— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@JAYChi_Bears) August 7, 2025
'“There's no doubt there's a number of familiar faces," he said.
There aren't too many because seven years is a millennium in the NFL.
"It'll be pretty cool to see some of those faces," Johnson said. "When you look back at this game, at this level, it always comes down to relationships. We get into the competitive nature of wins and the losses, and you get fired, you have to move on and all that. Really it's the people that you're around that make the job so enjoyable.”
.@ColemanESPN believes Caleb Williams is going to succeed, but the more it doesn’t look right in Chicago, the pressure won’t be on Ben Johnson — it’ll be on Caleb.@espn1000 | @UnSportsESPN https://t.co/0BrqJWA3uu pic.twitter.com/4ayMaDphup
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) August 7, 2025
The other thing that makes it enjoyable is winning. They're doing what's needed to get there, although the offense definitely hasn't arrived.
"I think we need to complement each other better as a unit right now," Johnson said. "That's what we're learning from, and the guys are still thinking a lot. They're not playing as fast as they can. Over the course of camp, we'll see that play speed pick up.”
Johnson, at the very least, has already shown he knows the difference between that accelerator and the brake.
That puts him well ahead of many of those coaches listed earlier, who made their soft openings with both losses and wins.
As owner George McCaskey said Friday, it's the "honeymoon" period.
No one gets too worked up over games they won't remember years later but the memories of the real opening game always live on for decades.
There's less than a month left now until Johnson needs to have that team ready to hit the accelerator for that one.
.@BaldyNFL on what fair expectations are for the Bears in Ben Johnson's first season in Chicago: "Anything around .500 would be a good first year — if they could get to eight wins, nine wins, I think that would be a good first year." pic.twitter.com/tcYuD6iOqg
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) August 5, 2025
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