#ben-johnson

#ben-johnson

In practice, it's a yearly argument about expectations and whether we're rewarding actual coaching or just the greatest surprise. But this year's race is a little different. The pool of candidates is unusually deep. It's been the season of turnarounds. The league has been messy, with recent division winners falling away and recent also-rans all rising together. In an ordinary year, Sean Payton guiding the Broncos to the top

"On these benchmarks alone, Johnson has been a smashing success," Solak wrote. "Chicago could be 2-8 right now, had all those winning drives not gone its way, and I'd still be saying it. Johnson's status as a top-five playcaller in the league has been clearly cemented in his first season outside Detroit. The Bears' offense works. And it is significantly ahead of schedule."

With the franchise's brutal decision to fire Jerod Mayo at the conclusion of his first season came an opportunity for owner Robert Kraft to change course. While Vrabel was an obvious top choice (and probably should have been during the 2024 hiring cycle), it was hard not to feel the allure of a young, offensive-minded guru like Ben Johnson, who wound up choosing QB Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears.