Ben Johnson helped Jared Goff establish himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Now he’ll try to do something similar for Caleb Williams.
The offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions has agreed to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract was being finalized.
This will be the first head coaching job for Johnson, 38, who was widely considered the top candidate on the market after spending the past three seasons as the Lions’ offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell. He joined Detroit’s staff in 2019 after spending seven years as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins.
With Johnson overseeing the offense, Goff has thrown for more than 4,400 yards each over the past three seasons. He made two of his four career Pro Bowls during that stretch.
The Lions took first place in the NFC with a 15-2 record before being upset by Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in a divisional playoff game Saturday. Detroit led the league in points per game and was second in passing yards and total yards per game during the regular season.
The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on November 29 and replaced him on an interim basis with Thomas Brown. Chicago finished last in the NFC North with a 5-12 record and lost 10 in a row before closing out the season with a win at Green Bay.
Williams’ development will be Johnson’s top priority following the Bears’ fourth straight losing season. The No. 1 pick in last year’s draft had 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. But he was sacked 68 times, a franchise record and leading the league.
Johnson has a fan in Williams.
“I think it was really cool to watch,” Williams said two weeks ago, when the Bears emptied their lockers. “During our match, I would sit and watch and try to learn something. It was fascinating to watch. He had wrinkles for counters and things like that throughout the match.
Johnson praised Williams before the Bears faced the Lions in Week 16.
“There’s no doubt this guy is talented. I remember standing on the sideline the last game and you can hear the ball whizzing past you,” Johnson said.
“He has a pretty fast ball and has some creativity, he can extend plays and he is also precise on the ground. Like I said, I haven’t really delved into it and I can tell you a lot more beyond that, but it was impressive from afar.
The Bears confirmed they interviewed 17 candidates. That list included former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who got the job in New York. England.
Chicago has only made three playoff appearances since the 2006 team won the NFC. The Bears’ only Super Bowl title came during the 1985 season.
Chicago hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2010 team advanced to the conference title game under coach Lovie Smith. Johnson has since become their sixth head coach, not counting Brown.
In three years under general manager Ryan Poles, the Bears are 15-36 with two double-digit losing streaks. They dropped their final 10 games in 2022 while in teardown mode as part of a franchise-worst 14-game slide.
Chicago entered this season looking for a playoff spot after making some high-profile moves in the offseason, highlighted by the arrival of Williams and a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Chargers for Keenan Allen, six-time Pro Bowl receiver. But after a 4-2 start, the season was derailed.
The NFL’s founding franchise fired a head coach in a season for the first time when it let Eberflus go following a series of poor late-game decisions. The Bears also fired an offensive coordinator for the second time in less than a year, with Shane Waldron playing in just nine games after replacing Luke Getsy in the offseason. Brown, who began the season as passing game coordinator, took over for Waldron and then became interim coach a few weeks later.
Things got so bad that fans chanted “Sell the team!” » in the last home game against Seattle – a 6-3 loss in front of a national audience on a Thursday night.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
