Ben Johnson’s personnel usage has sparked outrage in the fantasy football community and there’s not a guarantee things should change
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson has made it clear he’s not looking to appease fantasy football managers with his personnel usage on offense, but some things will change moving forward.
The line between fantasy football and real football has been getting thinner and thinner over the last few years, but NFL coaches are not in this business to appease fans and their hopes of winning fantasy games. They’re in the business of doing what it takes to win actual games, whether it works out that way or not.
And Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is a prime example. Johnson has been a frustrating person for fantasy football managers to deal with through the first two games of the 2026 season and that won’t change much.
Currently, veteran WR3 Kalif Raymond leads Chicago with 14 targets, 13 receptions, and 124 yards. Only Jahdae Walker and Cole Kmet have scored receiving touchdowns for this offense. That’s not what fantasy football managers who drafted Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and Luther Burden III wanted to hear after two games.
Explaining Ben Johnson’s bizarre personnel usage through two weeks of the 2026 season
For starters, it’s not like the team’s Big 3 haven’t been focal points. Loveland, for example, has been on the field for 87% of offensive plays and run routes on 83% of his snaps according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. In Week 2, Loveland, Odunze, and Burden all played 40+ offensive snaps.
Yet, in that game, those three combined for seven receptions and 78 yards. The reason behind it is simple, and it’s not one fans want to hear.
“It’s not one of those games where you can really dictate where the ball is going to go,” head coach Ben Johnson explained. “It’s very very difficult to do that. We have to take what that defense gives us in a number of ways.”
The Bears were in a tough matchup last week against a Brian Flores-led defense while fighting terrible weather conditions at Soldier Field. Even going back to the last game between these two teams, Chicago’s young trio only had 108 combined yards.
That’s just the way the gameplan went for that specific matchup. Chicago had to rely on the underneath passes to players like Raymond and D’Andre Swift, who co-led the team with five receptions each. That plan could look different each week.
“He’s very reliable, our quarterback trusts him, and he knows exactly where he’s going to be,” Johnson said of Raymond. “Phenomenal teammate, I think we’ve talked ad nauseum about that. He’s a pretty special player, so this doesn’t surprise me one bit. And yet, as this ball continues to get distributed through all these playmakers, there’ll be a game where Kalif doesn’t have that same production and some of the other guys may end up reaping those rewards instead. That’s the name of the game right now, and each week is its own story.”
Why things should be expected to change, to an extent, for the Bears
This week is going to look a lot different for the Bears’ offense. For starters, Chicago is down to its third quarterback in Case Keenum with Caleb Williams dealing with a hamstring injury and Tyson Bagent in the concussion protocol.
That alone changes the formula for this offense heading into Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Last season when these two faced off, Chicago dominated on the ground totaling 281 rushing yards and I expect Johnson to lean into a similar approach with Keenum potentially in line to start.
The other advantage of having Keenum over Bagent is that the veteran still has the deep ball ability to his game. That’ll help in a big way to keep Vic Fangio’s defense honest and treat the deep ball as a legit threat over the top. That bodes well for Odunze, Burden, and Loveland getting more involved.
Even looking beyond this upcoming game, there’s no reason to be concerned about the production potential Loveland, Odunze, and Burden have in this offense after just two games. Johnson’s offense is very matchup-dependent, something he’s said time and time again, you truthfully never know who’s going to be featured more than another player.
He’s going to feature the players that give the offense the best chance to win in each specific matchups. Loveland, again for example, had seven games with fewer than five targets last year but also had nine games with 5+ targets. You just have to ride the wave if you’re a fantasy football manager with these players.
I get how it can be frustrating. You signed up for this by drafting these guys. Johnson doesn’t care about your fantasy teams, he cares about finding the best way to win games. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But, his philosophy isn’t going to change.
