Ben Johnson isn’t holding anything back with his offensive expectations for the Bears in 2026
The Chicago Bears’ offense laid a strong foundation last season in the first year under head coach Ben Johnson and now he’s looking to shoot for the stars with the expectations he has for this unit in 2026.
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson created a strong foundation in Year 1 with the team and isn’t backing off the expectations he has for this team in 2026. What they did in 2025 was great by recent Bears’ standards after winning the NFC North and making it to the NFC’s Divisional Round. For Ben Johnson, wasn’t good enough and he’s made that known.
And for Ben Johnson, just winning the Super Bowl this upcoming season still won’t be good enough for what he believes this team can achieve at its peak potential.
“You’ve got 31 other teams coming to training camp saying, ‘Our goal is to win the Super Bowl,’” Johnson said, via Dan Pompei of The Athletic. “I want more than that. I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored (37.9), and I want to surpass them. I want shutouts. I want blowouts.”
Ben Johnson truly believes he can orchestrate the best offense, and team, in NFL history
This isn’t anything new. Last year when Johnson arrived to Chicago, he told his team that his goal was to dominate opponents on a weekly basis. Not just win, but out-right embarrass any team that dared to step on the field with the Chicago Bears.
The Bears did that in Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys, and again in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns. Twice isn’t good enough. Overall, the Bears posted a Top-10 scoring offense for the first time since 2018, the first season under head coach Matt Nagy that included a 12-win regular season and an NFC North title. The following year, the Bears plummeted to 29th in scoring with an 8-8 record.
That’s a concern the Bears are looking to avoid. Johnson made a point at the start of training camp that everyone views the Bears as the #1 regression candidate in the NFL while sending the message that they are still the hunters and not the hunted. But, the goal isn’t just getting to 11 wins again and sustaining what they did in Year 1.
“Why can’t we do that?” Johnson said in reference to the New England Patriots’ record of most consecutive wins (21). “There has never been an undefeated season. The moon is the Super Bowl, but we’re shooting beyond that, for the stars. And I want these players to feel that each and every single day they come in.”
To reach that point, it’s a day-to-day mentality that starts well before the regular season
Dan Pompei’s feature after spending the day with Ben Johnson inside Halas Hall should cure any remaining doubts about his ability to lead this team to unforeseen heights. The talent is certainly there and the man leading the charge is the right man for the job. This guy eats, sleeps, and breathes thinking about winning and how to improve his entire team, not just the offense.
Speaking with his players, there’s no sugar-coating anything when it’s not good enough. Johnson tells his players the blunt truth, including with his quarterback Caleb Williams. For Johnson, it’s important to break down those barriers and create meaningful back-and-forth dialogue to get everything on the same page. Starkly different compared to how previous coaches in Chicago interacted with the players.
From there, it’s back to square one the next day with marching orders toward improvement. And if it’s still not good enough (which it rarely is for Johnson’s standards), you address it again and repeat. That’s how winning teams have to operate and finally, it’s how the Chicago Bears are operating.
