The Chicago Bears know that when the clock hits 0:00 on Sunday, it’ll be on to 2025 and the future of the organization. Caleb Williams will be the future at quarterback for at least the immediate future. Getting Williams a head coach who can get the most out of him will be key.
However, there is one candidate that general manager Ryan Poles isn’t feeling good about.
Bears’ GM Ryan Poles Already “Turning Down” One Highly Qualified HC Candidate
According to Andy Jachim of Chi City Sports:
Charlie Campbell of Walter Football dropped a big rumor on Wednesday that gives a further update on the Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears connection. Johnson is without a doubt the hottest coaching option on the market this offseason and with the Bears having the most enticing job, a partnership makes too much sense.
Campbell’s report definitely put wind into Chicago Bears fan’s sails.
“Rumors I’m hearing on Bears head coach opening via team sources: Lions OC Ben Johnson wants the job, but Ryan Poles has reservations. There is a lot of belief that Johnson would push Poles out. –
Johnson is said to want Commanders assistent GM Lance Newmark as the GM. Newmark was with Johnson in Detroit. – Poles has a history with Vikings DC Brian Flores, and Flores is a top candidate for Poles,” per Campbell.
There is so much to unpack with this report, but the biggest nugget is that Poles isn’t sold on Johnson as the next leader of this Chicago Bears locker room. Fans and followers of this franchise across the world are most likely panicking when reading this report from Campbell, and you can’t blame them.
Johnson seems to be as much of a slam-dunk candidate in a coaching search as one will find. He checks all of the boxes and impressed the Chicago Bears front office both times Detroit faced them this season.
It appears that Johnson still has some unfinished business with the Lions. On Sunday night, they will face Minnesota for the top seed in the NFC. With a Lions victory in that game, the Bears would be able to interview Johnson earlier due to Detroit’s bye.
This won’t matter if Poles can’t bring Johnson on board from the outset.
Here is a look at Jared Goff’s stats this season with Ben Johnson as his OC:
| Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Team | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | TD% | Int | Int% | Lng | Y/A | AY/A | Y/C | Rate | Sk | Yds | Sk% | NY/A | ANY/A | Att | Yds | TD | Lng | Y/A | Fmb | |
| 2024-12-30 | DET | @ | SFO | W 40-34 | 26 | 34 | 76.5 | 303 | 3 | 8.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 42 | 8.9 | 10.68 | 11.7 | 132.4 | 2 | 16 | 5.56 | 7.97 | 9.64 | 3 | -3 | 0 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 |
| 2024-12-22 | DET | @ | CHI | W 34-17 | 23 | 32 | 71.9 | 336 | 3 | 9.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 82 | 10.5 | 12.38 | 14.6 | 137.0 | 1 | 7 | 3.03 | 9.97 | 11.79 | 1 | -1 | 0 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 |
| 2024-12-15 | DET | BUF | L 42-48 | 38 | 59 | 64.4 | 494 | 5 | 8.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 66 | 8.4 | 10.07 | 13.0 | 118.9 | 3 | 21 | 4.84 | 7.63 | 9.24 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 6.5 | 1 | |
| 2024-12-05 | DET | GNB | W 34-31 | 32 | 41 | 78.0 | 283 | 3 | 7.3 | 1 | 2.4 | 28 | 6.9 | 7.27 | 8.8 | 109.7 | 1 | 3 | 2.38 | 6.67 | 7.02 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 1.8 | 0 | |
| 2024-11-28 | DET | CHI | W 23-20 | 21 | 34 | 61.8 | 221 | 2 | 5.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 30 | 6.5 | 7.68 | 10.5 | 100.2 | 1 | 9 | 2.86 | 6.06 | 7.20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | |
| 2024-11-24 | DET | @ | IND | W 24-6 | 26 | 36 | 72.2 | 269 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 27 | 7.5 | 7.47 | 10.3 | 93.4 | 3 | 16 | 7.69 | 6.49 | 6.49 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 2024-11-17 | DET | JAX | W 52-6 | 24 | 29 | 82.8 | 412 | 4 | 13.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 64 | 14.2 | 16.97 | 17.2 | 158.3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14.21 | 16.97 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 8 | 5.3 | 0 | |
| 2024-11-10 | DET | @ | HOU | W 26-23 | 15 | 30 | 50.0 | 240 | 2 | 6.7 | 5 | 16.7 | 37 | 8.0 | 1.83 | 16.0 | 59.7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.00 | 1.83 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 |
| 2024-11-03 | DET | @ | GNB | W 24-14 | 18 | 22 | 81.8 | 145 | 1 | 4.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 26 | 6.6 | 7.50 | 8.1 | 109.3 | 1 | 8 | 4.35 | 5.96 | 6.83 | 3 | -2 | 0 | 0 | -0.7 | 0 |
| 2024-10-27 | DET | TEN | W 52-14 | 12 | 15 | 80.0 | 85 | 3 | 20.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 24 | 5.7 | 9.67 | 7.1 | 129.9 | 4 | 33 | 21.05 | 2.74 | 5.89 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | 2 | |
| 2024-10-20 | DET | @ | MIN | W 31-29 | 22 | 25 | 88.0 | 280 | 2 | 8.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 35 | 11.2 | 12.80 | 12.7 | 140.0 | 4 | 33 | 13.79 | 8.52 | 9.90 | 2 | -4 | 0 | 0 | -2.0 | 2 |
| 2024-10-13 | DET | @ | DAL | W 47-9 | 18 | 25 | 72.0 | 315 | 3 | 12.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 52 | 12.6 | 15.00 | 17.5 | 153.7 | 2 | 17 | 7.41 | 11.04 | 13.26 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1.7 | 0 |
| 2024-09-30 | DET | SEA | W 42-29 | 18 | 18 | 100.0 | 292 | 2 | 11.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 70 | 16.2 | 18.44 | 16.2 | 155.8 | 3 | 26 | 14.29 | 12.67 | 14.57 | 2 | -2 | 0 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 | |
| 2024-09-22 | DET | @ | ARI | W 20-13 | 18 | 23 | 78.3 | 199 | 2 | 8.7 | 1 | 4.3 | 24 | 8.7 | 8.43 | 11.1 | 113.6 | 2 | 13 | 8.00 | 7.44 | 7.24 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 2.0 | 0 |
| 2024-09-15 | DET | TAM | L 16-20 | 34 | 55 | 61.8 | 307 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 3.6 | 50 | 5.6 | 3.95 | 9.0 | 61.7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 5.58 | 3.95 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2.5 | 0 | |
| 2024-09-08 | DET | LAR | W 26-20 (OT) | 18 | 28 | 64.3 | 217 | 1 | 3.6 | 1 | 3.6 | 52 | 7.8 | 6.86 | 12.1 | 85.0 | 2 | 17 | 6.67 | 6.67 | 5.83 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | |
