Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was standing on the sideline on Thanksgiving and heard the way the football zipped out of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ right hand.
“You could hear the ball whistle by you,” he said Thursday before Lions practice. “He’s got quite a fastball, and has some creativity to him to extend plays and is accurate down the field as well.
“I haven’t really dove in, and can’t tell you much more beyond that, but he’s been impressive from afar.”
Johnson will soon get a chance to see Williams from up close, and not just because the Bears host the Lions on Sunday. He’ll be the pre-eminent offensive play-caller on the NFL’s head coaching market this offseason and will be one of the Bears’ top targets.
Williams, the former No. 1 overall pick, will be the Bears’ selling point.
“There’s no question this guy’s talented,” Johnson said.
The same can be said of the 38-year-old Johnson, whose offense has rampaged through the NFL this season, scoring a league-best 32.8 points per game.
“He’s a mastermind on the offensive side of the ball,” receiver Jameson Williams said. “And I’m pretty sure he’d find somebody to take care of the defensive side.”
His secret, veteran receiver Tim Patrick said, is how Johnson blends his scheming expertise with what best fits his players.
“He comes up with things that you don’t really think about, but he’s also open-minded to listen to guys that have been here that have input,” he said. “He finds a way to make it work. A coach that listens to his players but also puts his own touch on it, that’s hard to find.”
Just ask the Bears, who figure to hire their fifth head coach since 2013 — or sixth, if you count interim Thomas Brown.
Johnson has flirted with head coaching positions before, but this might be the offseason he jumps. He’s more prepared to do so than ever before.
“I think there’s a burning desire in every man to find what he’s made out of, push the limits and see if you’ve got what it takes,” Johnson said. “There’s a fire there.
“Now when that time is, I don’t know when that will be.”
He interviewed for five head coaching jobs last offseason: the Commanders, Seahawks, Panthers, Chargers and Falcons. Two days after the Lions lost the NFC title game, he withdrew from the Commanders’ and Seahawks’ searches. The Commanders were on their way to interview Johnson, who was considered the favorite for the job, and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn when they found out.
In 2023, he declined to meet with the Panthers in person when he was among their top choices.
“I’d say I’m much more prepared than I was the last two years. …” Johnson said. “The last couple years, getting thrown into the coordinator role, things get on you fast and you don’t really have time to think about the future a whole lot. Now that I’ve been through the wringer a couple times, had some interviews, I certainly do feel more prepared, just from a big-picture standpoint.”
A former walk-on quarterback at North Carolina, Johnson began his coaching career at Boston College, the alma mater of Bears GM Ryan Poles. He worked for the Dolphins from 2012-18, eventually coaching tight ends and receivers, before becoming the Lions’ offensive quality control coach in 2019.
He coached tight ends for two years before being named the passing game coordinator. He took over play-calling when Anthony Lynn was fired midway through the 2021 season.
Thursday, Johnson said the challenge at hand was more important than a future job search. The Lions have been battered by a Biblical wave of injuries — with 18 players already on injured reserve, they lost four more starters, including running back David Montgomery, on Sunday. Still, they’re 12-2 and would receive a first-round bye as the NFC’s top team were the season to end today.
“Honestly, this is why I wanted to be here,” he said. “I have an obligation to people in the building to be right where my feet are. When I walk in and I see the coaches staying long nights and working as hard as they’re doing, and I come in and I see the guys, the players, in the meeting room and on the practice field attacking each day like they are, it’s hard for my mind to wander much beyond what we’re doing in the here and now.”
Johnson has such a deep understanding of play-calling, Williams said, that it’s almost like watching him play a “Madden” videogame. Then there’s his focus on bringing players who fit his scheme.
“Sometime people go for the most talented guy — maybe he’s not a good locker room guy, maybe they can’t do this the right way, maybe they can’t learn what the position is,” Patrick said. “And everybody’s like, ‘What’s wrong with this player?’ He was so talented but he doesn’t fit the system.
“The organization does a good job of bringing in the types of players he likes and fit his system.”
Johnson will have the chance to build his kind of team somewhere else this offseason. Whether he ends up in Chicago may have as much to do with how the Bears convince him of their worthiness as the other way around.
Patrick doesn’t think Johnson will leave.
“He’s so young,” he said. “There’s no reason to be in a rush. What they have built here, it’s just getting started. So it’s like, ride this wave a little, bro.”
And if he becomes a head coach in the Lions’ division instead?
“That’s probably the way he would want it,” he said. “Friendly competition is always fun.”
In Washington’s first two games as defensive play caller, the Bears gave up 68 points, yielded nearly six yards per play, let opponents convert 50% of third downs and allowed scores on 12 of 19 possessions.
Adams is still laughing about lighting up the Bears when he was a Packer after going 14-2 in the rivalry.
The Lions’ defense, which ranked second in the NFL in points allowed when the Lions played the Bears at Ford Field on Thanksgiving, has allowed 31 and 48 points in its last two games (against the Packers and Bills).
