Outside of making a deep January run, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson has little left to prove after a stellar 2025 season. Johnson led the Bears to an NFC North title and a playoff win that eliminated the Green Bay Packers in truly epic fashion. However, among the overlooked stories from the 2025 season was an inability to beat Johnson's former team. Despite missing the playoffs, the Detroit Lions went 2-0 against their former offensive coordinator, and this included a blowout win.
Detroit outscored Chicago 71-37 a season ago and left one obvious checkmark for Johnson in the season ahead. While a sweep would be nice, it isn't necessary. What is for the head coach is proving yourself capable of beating your former team, and not Dan Campbell proving to be a weakness for his former coach.
There is an argument to be made that the Lions are the biggest threat to the Bears when it comes to defending the North. Minnesota remains embroiled in a truly sad quarterback battle, while the Packers lost a treasure trove of coaches and players in the 2026 offseason and are set to start the year with Micah Parsons on the shelf.
With this in mind, Johnson must prove that he can beat his former team and Detroit isn't going ot continue to have Chicago's number. This should be an obvious goal and fair expectation for a coach who has checked nearly every other box.
Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson Must Prove Capable of Beating Former Team
Chicago is going to get their first chance at beating Detroit in a perfect spot with the two sides meeting on Thanksgiving Day at 1:00 PM EST as the first game of the day. Setting the stage for such a huge holiday for the NFL is telling of the expectations of the two teams, and it hands the Bears the perfect stage for Johnson to get his first career win against his former team.
The second scheduled matchup will come at the end of the season on January 3rd, with there being the potential for all types of seeding implications in the season's final game. With this in mind, the Bears have two prime chances to begin to get even for last year's sweep and to hand Johnson his first win against the Lions.
Fans will unquestionably have the matchup scheduled due to divisional implications while understanding the deeper meaning for the head coach. No question, it is one of the few misses from 2025 and must be remedied in the season to come.
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