The dust has still settled on Ben Johnson’s somewhat shocking decision to accept the Chicago Bears head coaching job. Clearly, it was time for Johnson to go, but many Detroit Lions fans were upset that he chose to join a division rival. Outside of a stunning Instagram post from running back David Montgomery, we haven’t seen many Lions players react to the news. That changed Wednesday, when the latest St. Brown podcast was released and Amon-Ra St. Brown shared his thoughts.
Here is a transcript of what St. Brown had to say.
“Obviously I love Ben. He’s one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever had, I would say for sure. He’s intelligent, he’s one of the hardest-working coaches I’ve been around. But obviously I would love to have him in Detroit forever, but that’s not the reality. Other teams will approach him. He’s going to want to – I think it’s like all coaches, not all coaches, but a lot of coaches want to be a head coach at some point in their life if they can. This is, I think, the best opportunity for him to leave. If he didn’t start this year, I feel like teams would be like, “Oh, what’s wrong with him?” He had the most points. We had the highest scoring offense in the league. Unfortunately we lost early, but I feel like it was his year to go and he took it. So I don’t blame him.
Next, St. Brown wanted to address some Lions fans who had accused Johnson of phoning in during the Lions’ divisional round loss to the Washington Commanders. Some thought Johnson was too distracted by head coaching opportunities to focus on the game plan ahead. It’s safe to say that St. Brown disagreed.
“Everyone on Twitter – Lions fans – hated him and said, ‘He didn’t prepare for this (the playoff game). He was taking interviews during the bye week. Trust me. I know Ben. He was as locked in as he could be for this game,” St. Brown said.
St. Brown has also spoken to Johnson since he accepted the job. He shared some of their playful banter on the podcast.
“I told him, I said, ‘Twice a year, Ben, we’re going to fuck you up,'” St. Brown said. “He says, ‘Fuck you.’ I said, ‘Okay, we’ll see.’ I told him I knew all the pieces he liked to play. I know all his tendencies. But we were just going back and forth messing around. It’s funny. He says, “If I want to be the best, I have to beat the best, right?” »
Ultimately, St. Brown was happy for its former offensive coordinator.
“I love Ben. I am happy for him, happy for his family, his children. I love his kids, his wife is amazing.
…even though he clearly wasn’t thrilled with the idea of him joining a division rival.
“I didn’t know if he was going to take the Bears job, if I’m honest, but he took it.”
You can watch St. Brown’s latest podcast below:
