Ben Johnson’s Week 3 play-calling against the Cowboys turned out to be far more diabolical than most realized at first glance
He’s a menace.
When the Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as the next head coach of the organization, the public perception of the top coaching candidate couldn’t have been further from the truth.
As a quiet offensive-minded guy, many expected Johnson to be some nerdy coach who’s up all night watching film and drawing plays on a notebook. In fact, Johnson is cerebral, calculated, and now we’re learning more and more about him.
While Johnson was the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, few people ever really saw him in the spotlight. Now that he’s a head coach, cameras are constantly on him and showing a coach who never shows an ounce of public emotion, even when his team is up big on an opponent.
During the Bears win on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, the team’s first win of the season after starting 0-2, one play call in particular showed just how diabolical Johnson actually is.
Ben Johnson’s fourth-down decision in Week 3 put him in legendary company
During the third quarter up 24-14, Johnson left the offense on the field on fourth-and-goal from the four-yard-line to go for a touchdown instead of taking a field goal to make it 27-14. Quarterback Caleb Williams took the snap, moved to his right, and found a wide open DJ Moore to instead make the score 31-14 going into the fourth quarter.
A killer call to make that absolutely put the final nail in the coffin for the Cowboys. Yet, most probably aren’t aware how evil of a decision that was by Ben Johnson. With that call, Johnson became the second coach “since at least 2000 to throw on fourth-and-goal from the 4 or longer while leading by 10 in a second half” joining Bill Belichick who did so in 2007, via Mike Sando and TruMedia.
Sando also noted Belichick did so against the Cleveland Browns, the team that fired Belichick in 1996. Johnson had no bad blood on Sunday outside of the Bears going up against Matt Eberflus’ defense, Chicago’s former head coach who was fired last November. I think Johnson is simply just a menace.
“Just have a plan going into the game where you’re going to go for it on fourth-down. We got it inside the five and I felt good about it there,” Johnson explained about the decision after the win.
Going back to his days in Detroit calling the offense and working alongside head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions were always super aggressive in going for it on fourth-down in any situation, so that kind of call wasn’t anything unexpected from Johnson.
“I don’t think they’re surprised at this point with how the preseason went and the first couple of games went,” Johnson said of his players’ reaction to the decision. “We’ll go for it anywhere on the field.”
That’s just a taste of the kind of mentality Johnson wants his team to play with and it’s the same mentality he’s showing everyday. This guy is legitimately a sicko and Chicago is better because of it.
Chicago Bears News
Ben Johnson’s fiery postgame reaction reflects the energy the Bears need to continue to have following the first win of the season
A moment this team won’t forget anytime soon.
