‘He just doesn’t call the game scared’ — Ben Johnson’s reputation soars among offensive play-callers heading into first season with the Bears
The Bears head coach just got some major praise.
When the Chicago Bears open the 2025 regular season on Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings, a new face will be on the sideline leading the Bears onto Soldier Field in head coach Ben Johnson.
For the last three years, Johnson was the prized coaching candidate waiting out the ideal coaching destination while leading one of the most historic offenses in NFL history with the Detroit Lions.
When the Chicago Bears head coaching position opened during the 2024 season, Johnson saw an opportunity to turn around a hapless organization and ran head first into the challenge.
In the months since being hired, Johnson’s mad-science has been cooking up again building his new scheme with all the offensive weapons at his disposal, led by second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. As a result, going into the start of the 2025 season, Johnson’s reputation has reached an entirely new height in the eyes of defensive coaches around the league.
Ben Johnson ranked 3rd among offensive play-callers in the NFL
On Tuesday, Ted Nguyen of The Athletic released his 2025 offensive play-caller rankings created by asking six different defensive coordinators and assistant coaches to each submitted their own individual Top-10 ranking.
Johnson came in at 3rd on the list, behind San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay. The Bears head coach was ranked above the likes of Andy Reid, Kevin O’Connell, and Matt LaFleur.
It’s incredibly high praise for Johnson and speaks volumes to his meteoric rise as a play-caller in this league and when breaking down why Johnson’s offense is so effective, one AFC defensive coach had the perfect explanation.
“All the things I’ve come to believe analytically, he does, like, marrying the run and pass game together, he throws the most play action in the league, and in-breakers on the run to create YAC opportunities. That’s all he throws,” one AFC defensive coach explained. “He’s built around Jared Goff and the guys all do very specific things … what they do well. For example, Jared Goff is a really good anticipation thrower on in-breakers and hits them on the run, so the whole playbook is made of those concepts. And then there’s the hook-and-lateral stuff, so there are some creative things that are pretty cool. He just doesn’t call the game scared.” – via The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen
Essentially, there’s two things that make Johnson’s offense so frustrating to defend, yet so effective. Johnson is a master manipulator when it comes to blending the run and pass game. Establishing the run early helps Johnson scheme up some play-action shots and bootlegs for his quarterback, which in turn leads to easy completions that let his skill players work after the catch.
After that’s created, the aggressiveness of his play-calling his really what sets him apart from other play-callers in the league. Coming from Dan Campbell’s coaching tree, Johnson isn’t going to be afraid to use all four downs on offense, which means he’ll try to catch defenses off guard with a third-and-long run or using a first-down play action shot to set the tone at the start of drives.
Finally, you have the creativity of the designs, and not just with the trick plays. Some of the plays Johnson drew up in Detroit blew away some of the best minds in NFL history, including legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who couldn’t comprehend some of the designs Johnson was calling while commentating a Lions game for FOX last season.
As for the next evolution of his play-calling mastery, Johnson is looking to take a page out of the New England Patriots’ playbook back when Brady was under center in Josh McDaniels’ historic offense.
“Every game is its own entity. That’s what I learned. I saw it for a number of years when I was in Miami. The New England Patriots were at the top of the league for so long and each week you just didn’t know. They just continued to morph and they had their opponents guessing. You didn’t know what McDaniels was gonna do on offense. He might throw it 50 times, he might run it 50 times,” Johnson explained.
That level of unpredictability with the game planning is something Johnson is looking to add to his toolbelt this season as the Bears head coach and potentially rise even higher on this list after 2025.
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Former All Pro’s ‘love-hate relationship’ with Bears HC Ben Johnson proves how frustrating his offense can be for opposing defenses
He’s a tough play-caller to defend against.
