Ben Johnson is regarded as one of the smartest offensive minds and top play callers in the NFL, which played a big part in the Bears hiring him as head coach. But even he knows there’s still a lot to learn about his new job.
As Johnson goes into his first season as a head coach at any level, he picked several veterans for his coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Not only has Allen been in coaching for three decades, but he was head coach of the Raiders and Saints.
“I came in and he said, ‘When you’re in that seat, you have to come in to work every morning and [know] there’s going to be four or five things that come across my desk that I wasn’t anticipating,” Johnson said this week.
He continued quoting Allen saying, “If you think that it’s going to be smooth sailing, you’re going to be disappointed, but if you come in with that expectation, then you’ll be just fine.”
The Bears don’t practice today, but Johnson said he and the staff planned to reassess the personnel on the off day. That means getting some clarity on who’s in the lead at left tackle between Ozzy Trapilo, Braxton Jones and Kiran Amegadjie, as well as sorting out other parts of the depth chart.
As they debate those spots, Johnson is counting on his staff being direct and honest, even if they disagree with him.
“I like to take their thoughts — I told that staff when we came back from the summer that I need a bunch of truth tellers around me,” he said. “I need guys that aren’t going to tell me what I want to hear, but are going to tell me how they see it, then I’ll be able to assess the information and make a decision and we’ll go with it. That’s been the course so far.”
The Bears resume practice Saturday morning, the first of four in a row. After their off day Wednesday, they’ll have a normal practice Thursday, followed by a joint practice with the Dolphins on Aug. 8.
