In recent years, the Chicago Bears have developed a reputation for making some of the most baffling head coach hires people can recall. They opted for Marc Trestman, a CFL coach, over reigning NFL Coach of the Year Bruce Arians. Next, they chose to hire John Fox despite him being recently fired after a 12-4 season, which was a glaring red flag. Matt Nagy came next, a one-year offensive coordinator from Kansas City with almost no play-calling experience. Last and maybe least was Matt Eberflus, a defensive coordinator who was about to get fired by his current team before the Bears saved him. One can under why people were skeptical this organization would do the logical thing. That is why the Ben Johnson hire came as a jolting shock.

Almost everybody inside the NFL believed the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator was the top candidate of this cycle. He’s a sharp, creative offensive mind who is only 38 years old. In an era where everybody is looking for the next Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, Johnson’s allure was easy to see. The fact that Chicago, of all teams, reeled him in has left many stunned, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic and David Kaplan of ESPN 1000.

Two Chicago Bears figures made Johnson happen.

The first and most obvious is Caleb Williams. It’s been an open secret that Johnson is a fan of the Bears’ young rookie, having watched him at USC and also heard plenty of stories through his agent Richmond Flowers III, who founded the QB Collective, a training camp that Williams has worked at since high school. The other is GM Ryan Poles. He’s had an eye on Ben Johnson since the middle of the 2023 season and has been researching him ever since. When the off-season began, Poles made it clear the offensive coordinator was the top priority. He got his man, thanks in large part to the McCaskeys’ willingness to cut a big enough check. It is a gamble, but that is what you have to do to win at anything in this league.