For all the flashes and flourishes the Bears signed up for when they hired Ben Johnson as coach, it’s his common sense that has stood out the most in what is turning out to be a marvelous first season.
He has benefitted from occasional good fortune, no doubt, but the best thing about Johnson this season is he always seems to have a sound answer amid an endless barrage of questions. The Bears are smarter since bringing him into their building, and in their 31-28 win over the Steelers he showed all the qualities they’ve been missing from their head coaches lately.
He kept running the ball, even when it wasn’t working, and eventually it opened up.
He kept scheming players open with his calls, giving quarterback Caleb Williams ample opportunities to come through and leaving him margin for an imperfect performance to be sufficient.
He kept coming up with good ideas on third downs, where most games are won or lost.
It wasn’t about gimmicks and magic tricks. It was about knowing what to do.
“I just feel the flow of the game sometimes,” said Johnson, who mentioned that radio play-by-play man Jeff Joniak informed him he called a pass play 18 times in a row at one point in the middle of the game. “I don’t think of those things in the moment. I just kind of [think], ‘What do I feel like is going to work best next?’”
It’s not easy, but it’s simple.