One of the NFL’s most coveted offensive minds is heading to the Windy City.
The Chicago Bears are finalizing a deal that would make Ben Johnson the franchise’s next head coach, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Monday. With contract parameters in place, Johnson is set to fly to Chicago soon and — barring a last-minute snag — will become the Bears’ coach, per Pelissero.
Johnson, Detroit’s innovated OC for the past three seasons, will succeed Matt Eberflus, who was fired midway through a 5-12 2024 season for Chicago.
Johnson’s staff assembly could get underway quickly as former Saints head coach Dennis Allen is a prime candidate to be the rookie head coach’s defensive coordinator, Pelissero added. Johnson’s hiring will also have a ripple effect in the hiring cycle, as he interviewed with the Jaguars and Raiders, teams still searching for their next head coach and that lost out on perhaps a top candidate.
Johnson took over as Lions offensive coordinator in 2022 and ascended to prominence as the conductor of Detroit’s explosive unit, which reached new heights in 2024, finishing the regular season as the NFL’s top scoring offense and posting the highest per-game scoring average (33.2) in the last five seasons. Under Johnson, Detroit scored 20-plus points in 16 of their 17 games in 2024, and posted 40-plus points in six contests, tying for the most by any team in a season in NFL history.
With Johnson directing the offense, Jared Goff has led the NFL in passing yards (13,642) and passing touchdowns (96) since the 2022 season, averaging 260-plus passing yards per game in each of his three seasons played under Johnson and posting the best win-loss record of any quarterback in the last two years (27-7).
In Detroit’s peak season of 2024, Goff set the Lions’ single-season records in completion percentage and passer rating and finished second in the NFL in completion percentage, passer rating, passing yards per attempt and passing touchdowns. The former No. 1 overall pick of the Rams also posted the second-most passing touchdowns in a single season in Lions history (37), trailing only Matthew Stafford’s 41 passing scores from 2011.
Johnson’s handiwork placed him on head-coaching watch lists a year ago, but the coordinator decided it wasn’t the right time for him to leave for a promotion elsewhere, instead returning to Detroit to take care of unfinished business. For most of 2024, Johnson and the Lions appeared to be on track to do just that, finishing in the top five in the NFL in total yards per game and first downs per game while riding an offensive juggernaut to a 15-2 regular-season finish and the top seed in the NFC.
Detroit’s season ended prematurely, though, when the Lions lost a shootout on Saturday to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round, 45-31. The unexpected defeat freed up Johnson to accept a job elsewhere, which he did less than 48 hours after the season-ending loss.
As yet another new Bears coach hired without previous head-coaching experience — John Fox (in 2015) remains the only Bears hire made with such credentials on his resume — Johnson heads to Chicago with 13 NFL seasons under his belt and a monumental task ahead of him: guide the Bears to long-term success. Johnson takes over a Bears team that already includes a hand-picked franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams and arrives with expectation he’ll work the same magic with Williams as he did with Goff in Detroit.
The 38-year-old will also aim to bring a level of professionalism and organization that did not exist under previous Eberflus and interim coach Thomas Brown. Though the latter’s ascension to play-caller and interim coach produced a slight boost in production for Chicago, it only stood as a glimpse of what Williams and the Bears could be under the right leadership.
With three years of proven success as a play-caller in Detroit, Johnson will take over an NFC North rival with the goal of turning those dreams into reality.
