What the Bears are getting in new head coach Ben Johnson

The Chicago Bears found their new head coach in Ben Johnson, who has served as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator for the last three years.

Johnson was considered the top candidate in this coaching cycle, and the Bears were able to land him despite competition from the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars. Johnson's work with the Lions offense, specifically quarterback Jared Goff, has been well documented, and he'll be the perfect guy to lead quarterback Caleb Williams.

But what exactly are the Bears getting in first-time head coach Johnson?

We spoke to Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire, who gave us the rundown on what we can expect from the Bears' new head coach and why he's a good fit for Chicago.

What kind of coach are the Bears getting in Johnson?

Johnson is a demanding and energetic coach. He’s always roaming, always observing, always tinkering. He’s the kind of coach who will have a player run a rep until he gets it to Johnson’s satisfaction. The word “perfectionist” comes up a lot amongst the Lions beat. He is personable and relatable to players (and media) and has typically been pretty candid in legitimately answering our questions.

What are Johnson’s biggest strengths as a coach?

I think the demanding perfectionist part is a big strength, in part because he does have a human touch to it. He does know when to back off if a player isn’t responding. He is very smart, on and off the field.

The aggressively creative offense was custom tailored for his Detroit personnel and very strongly done in combination with Dan Campbell and also Jared Goff. His play-calling was often very good but also occasionally cringe-worthy, as anyone who watched the Lions loss to the Commanders can attest. “Too cute for his own good” was a fairly common criticism and he largely got shielded from criticism about that by Campbell taking responsibility. It will be interesting to see if/how he changes now that the buck stops on his desk.

What do you think will be Johnson’s biggest challenge as he transitions to head coach?

He can’t micromanage the minutiae of the offense the way he has. Concocting a full-team game plan and managing his assistant coaches is something he hasn’t done before at any level. That’s a primary challenge for every first-time head coach, and he didn’t really do anything like that in Detroit, where Scottie Montgomery was the assistant head coach and performed a lot of those duties with Campbell.

What impact did Johnson have on the defense during his time with the Lions?

Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn were very competitive against one another in a very collegial way. They were always trying to one-up each other with formations and plans of attack. His offense definitely stressed the defense on purpose with exotic looks and some truly wild blocking schemes. It made training camp incredibly fun to watch in the team drills.

Who are some Lions assistants you think could follow Johnson to Chicago?

There is considerable speculation that he’s taking passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand with him. WR coach Antwaan Randle El is ready for a bigger role, as is assistant QB coach JT Barrett, who is a rising star in the coaching ranks. Just my speculation, but I would very strongly suspect the Lions try to keep Barrett and Randle El. Offensive line coach Hank Fraley is among the very best in the business and I’m sure Johnson will invite him to come along, too.

Remember--Glenn is expected to also depart Detroit and become a head coach (Jets?) and he will be fighting to take some of the same guys, too.

Why do you think Johnson is a good fit for the Bears?

I’ll be honest, it surprises me he’s going to Chicago. He rejected Washington and Indy and rebuffed Carolina and Houston in the last offseasons in no small part because of ownership and GM situations. A holdover regime and ownership that is generally perceived (outside of Chicago) as ineffectually weak above him did not seem like something Ben would be amenable to.

My guess would be he’s been given considerable power, much more than a typical rookie head coach would earn. He wasn’t leaving otherwise. If he and the organization can make that work, the Bears are getting a very bright, very interesting (in a good way) young and dynamic coach who can help maximize Caleb Williams in the way he did Jared Goff (albeit in VERY different ways). The opportunity won’t be too big for him.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: What the Bears are getting in new head coach Ben Johnson