Ben Johnson has little interest in reliving the Chicago Bears’ ugly past. When a reporter asked why questions about last season appear to irritate him, the Bears head coach responded with a question of his own.
“Are you trying to annoy me right now?” Johnson joked before explaining why he refuses to spend much time looking backward.
Ben Johnson wants the Bears focused on winning
Johnson’s answer quickly shifted from playful to blunt.
“Listen, all I care about is, does it help us win or not?” Johnson said. “That’s really what I’m all about.”
Chicago cannot erase what happened last season. Johnson also knows that repeatedly discussing old failures will not help his current team prepare for Week 1.
The coach even pushed back against the attention given to injured players. His focus is on those currently practicing and competing for jobs.
“The guys that aren’t out there, they’re not helping us win right now,” Johnson said. “I want to talk about the guys that are out there helping us right now. I want stories to be written about those guys.”
It was not exactly a subtle request.
Johnson pointed out that the Bears have approximately 90 players on their training camp roster, with several fighting to extend their NFL careers. He believes those players deserve attention instead of another autopsy of everything that previously went wrong in Chicago.
Bears’ ugly past cannot become an excuse
Johnson did not deny that last season happened. He simply sees little value in allowing it to dominate the conversation around a team trying to establish something new.
“Talking about last year isn’t going to do us any good in terms of winning this practice, winning the next preseason game, winning Week 1,” Johnson said. “That’s really all we care about right now.”
That answer captures the identity Johnson has tried to install since arriving in Chicago. Every decision is measured against whether it helps the Bears win. If the answer is no, he has no use for it.
The approach is understandable, though questions about the Bears’ ugly past will not disappear because Johnson finds them unproductive. Chicago must win enough games to make them irrelevant.
Until that happens, Johnson will continue hearing about the failures that preceded him. He clearly would rather discuss the players trying to ensure those failures are not repeated.
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