The Chicago Bears are coming off a disappointing 5-12 campaign and dove head first into solving their weaknesses this offseason. The offensive line was bolstered with trades for Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney and was reinforced when Chicago signed Thuney and center Drew Dahlman to big-money contracts.
Grady Jarrett, Olamide Zaccheaus and Devin Duvernay were some of the other players that cashed in on the Bears’ spending spree. But while all of these players will bring something to the table it might be a $65 million addition that may be Chicago’s wisest investment of all.
Ben Johnson’s Arrival Already Paying Off for Bears
The Bears 2024 season showed exactly what was missing from Ryan Poles’s rebuilding plan. Poles became the general manager in Chicago prior to the 2022 season and promptly ripped everything to the studs, resulting in a 15-36 record but landing his franchise quarterback when they took Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in last year’s draft.
A strong finish where Chicago won five of its final eight games to close 2023 gave fans optimism and the Bears fueled the hype train by surging out to a 4-2 start last season. But things unraveled as the Bears went on a 10-game losing streak before beating the Green Bay Packers in the regular season finale.
The players shoulder some of the blame but the coaching staff led by Matt Eberflus never stopped the bleeding when things went south. It was apparent a culture change was needed and the Bears hired Ben Johnson in January.
Teams can talk about culture shifts all they want but Johnson has already brought some of it during the offseason program. The architect of the high-powered Detroit Lions offense, Johnson has already vowed to change some of the attitude that was a problem during last season’s collapse and has already provided the type of support system Williams didn’t have under former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“Body language is a huge thing, demeanor,” Johnson said in May. “We don’t want to be a palms-up team where we’re questioning everything. No, no, no. To me, that’s a little bit of a sign of weakness. We don’t want to exhibit that from anybody on the team.”
Such a mentality helped the Lions endure 16 players landing on injured reserve to finish with the NFC’s best record at 15-2 last season. But it also helped Bears players realize a sense of urgency to start winning now, which gained positive reviews early in the acclimation process.
“Ben Johnson is great and it’s not just Ben Johnson,” Williams said last month via Ryan Garcia of Empire Sports Media. “We have a young staff slash old staff and we have a bunch of experience, bunch of new energy provided by the coaches and players. It’s been awesome. Ben Johnson, he uses some choice words every day toward me. He’s tough and I love him. He’s awesome. It’s great being around him.”
Bears fans won’t know how the positive comments will translate until the season begins. But the front office certainly believes it will make a difference after giving Johnson a five-year, $65 million contract in January. A contract normally reserved for top free agents certainly is a vote of confidence that Johnson can turn around and it feels like things will change as Chicago gears up for training camp.