Ben Johnson explains origin of 'Stumblebum' trick play vs. Bears

In what could be described as a brilliant audition in front of his future bosses, former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson drew up one of the best trick plays of the 2024 NFL season against the Chicago Bears in late December.

Johnson designed a fake quarterback stumble from Jared Goff on a handoff to Jahmyr Gibbs, which led to the Bears defense biting on the fumble, and leaving tight end Sam LaPorta open behind the defense for a touchdown.

Named "Stumblebum," for the unique play design he created, Johnson recently spoke in an interview with Pro Football Talk and not only discussed the origin of the name and how it all came to creation. When asked about the birth of the play, Johnson said he pulled inspiration from Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who in the previous year had an accidental play similar to this work to success against the Bears.

"That was our inspiration from it," Johnson said. "It was from a year ago, Jordan Love stumbled coming out and they pretty much ran the same play but that was by accident. So we said, 'Hey you think we can pull this off but actually do it on purpose?' It started with a [wondering] if we put the ball on the ground to start it, but the players took it, ran with it, I think half the team was yelling fumble when that thing happened, listen, it worked out great."

As for the name of the play, Johnson said it came from late-night thoughts, but then added it came with a business deal in the aftermath of the success.

"The origin of the name, I think sometimes late nights you end up sitting there and you're like, I got to make a decision, and it [the name] just hit right," Johnson said. "There was a Stumblebum Brewery in Troy, Michigan and next thing I know we have all this merchandise and cases of beer being shipped to it, and we've had it in the offensive staff room for the past few months, it's pretty cool."

Coming up with play names in the late hours of the night, while drawing inspiration for the play based off an accidental situation he had seen before, Johnson's brain never stops working. Highly regarded for his play-calling ability, Bears fans now hope that there will be new unique plays coming to Chicago.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Ben Johnson explains origin of 'Stumblebum' trick play vs. Bears