How Coach Dave Wannstedt Reacted to the Bears’ Hiring of Ben Johnson

Coach Dave Wannstedt, now a Marquee Sports Network analyst, was giddy Monday after news broke that the Bears had hired Ben Johnson.

“It’s exciting,” the former Bears head coach said on a Marquee news special. “Any time you can have a head coach that really checks most of the boxes from a fan perspective, from a team perspective that we’ve been rooting for, it’s exciting news.

“You have to give credit to (general manager) Ryan Poles for the way he’s handled this over the last few days.”

Just two days after the Lions were eliminated from the playoffs in the NFC divisional round, the Bears pounced on Detroit’s offensive coordinator to become their next head coach.

Johnson made the Lions the NFL’s offensive standard, averaging 28.2 points per game – the best mark in football during his third years in Detroit.

(Report: Ben Johnson eyes former NFL head coach as Bears D-coordinator)

He did it with a balanced attack. His offense ranked second in passing yards the past two seasons, sixth in rushing yards in 2024 and fifth in 2023.

“We’ve talked about it all year — hey, we’ve got to be able to run the ball,” Wannstedt said. “Hey, Ben Johnson is running the ball.”

Still, the move from coordinator to head coach isn’t easy, even for someone as talented as Johnson. And Wannstedt remembered the advice he received from Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll when he was named head coach of the Bears: Remember why you were hired.

And in Johnson’s case, it’s his offensive prowess.

“Let’s get this offense going,” Wannstedt said. “Let’s put a system in place that will give our offensive team and Caleb (Williams) a chance to succeed. The rest will come, but we don’t need to do it overnight.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Bears fan.”