It was a boisterous offseason for the Bears, and it’s hard to imagine any team that was more in need of the kind of mood shift they got when general manager Ryan Poles landed the top coaching candidate on the market.
Matt Eberflus is gone, ending a clunky and clueless era. Ben Johnson is here with the promise to turn all that around.
There is no meekness in him, and his first seven months were filled with bravado. He took a slightly different tone Tuesday, however, as players rolled in to report for training camp. It’s a crucial preparation period for Johnson, too, and there was a hint of humility as he acknowledged how much he must master before the Bears begin the regular season Sept. 8 against the Vikings.
‘‘The situations we practice over the course of camp are going to be huge, not only for me but [for] the rest of the staff and the players to figure out how my mind works, so that they can play off of that
accordingly,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘I just hope we can, in six weeks, get enough reps to feel good going into Week 1. That’s the challenge. This is a race now.’’
Between now and the opener, Johnson’s top priorities are to get himself and quarterback Caleb Williams ready.
The consensus on Johnson, just 39, long has been that he is ready for the top job. As the Lions’ offensive coordinator, he was hotly pursued in the last three coaching cycles before the Bears persuaded him with a $13 million salary and Williams’ potential.
But here’s what everyone, including Johnson, has in the back of their minds but don’t want to admit: There’s no way of knowing whether he’ll be a good head coach. All signs point to yes, but there’s no certainty.
So as Johnson launches his first camp, he’s under as much scrutiny as anyone. The players need to make a strong first impression on him, but he must convince them he’s capable in ways that Eberflus wasn’t. As part of that, he has to attack the aspects of the job he doesn’t know aggressively.
‘‘Game management is another area where [it’s my] first time really calling the shots,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘I’ve been well-versed in it over the years, but this will be the first time actually pulling the trigger. We have people in the building that are going to help out in that regard, as well. It’s going to be leaning heavily on the people around me and trusting them.’’
He’s eager to grow with the help of an experienced staff that includes former head coach Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator and veteran assistants in special-teams coordinator Richard Hightower, running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, linebackers coach Richard Smith and offensive line coach Dan Roushar.
The healthiest aspect of Johnson’s approach to his first season is his willingness to acknowledge he’ll need help. Is he the next Sean McVay? Maybe, but he isn’t McVay now. It’s a good indicator that he hired an experienced staff — ‘‘by design,’’ he noted — without any insecurity about some assistants possibly knowing more about this job than he does.
It’s also encouraging for the Bears that Johnson said he’ll be focusing on clock management — an Achilles’ heel for Eberflus — throughout camp and preseason games. When the Bears’ third- and fourth-stringers are playing at the end of the preseason opener Aug. 10 against the Dolphins, Johnson said he ‘‘absolutely’’ will be treating it like a real game to get his own reps.
That’s the way for him to earn trust, not only from his players but from the organization at large and from a fan base that has had its hopes dashed far too many times in the last 40 years. He’s confident and talented, and if he also works relentlessly on his weaknesses, the Bears finally might have the right guy.
