Chicago Bears fans are ecstatic with training camp opening up and yet another chapter beginning in this new era under Ben Johnson.
As rookies and veterans reported, one defender took some time to chat with Cassie Carlson and revealed a little bit about what has been so different under Johnson's regime. Safety Jaquan Brisker said, simply put, "It's different."
“When I walked into the weight room at OTAs, the linemen were getting after it. You hear the weights just smashing, everybody getting to work. That never happened while I was with the Bears," Brisker told Carlson.
Is he truly saying that he never saw the linemen working hard in the gym while under Eberflus? If so, that is an eye-opening revelation. Coaching and direction aside, that's pretty disheartening to hear about a group of professional athletes.
Just how bad was the Bears' culture under Matt Eberflus?
We knew the Bears were soft under Eberflus. We could see it every single time they took the field last season. It was blatant and obvious.
We have talked tirelessly about all of the drama from 2024 whether it was due to Eberflus or Shane Waldron. No matter the card you draw from that particular stack, it's a losing game. But, to know the culture got so bad that now, watching the big men giving it their all in the weight room, happens to be a brand-new idea to Brisker ... that almost sounds hyperbolic.
Alas, the culture has officially shifted. Under Johnson, we not only heard all of the right things from Day 1, but we've seen them.
Players have all said very similar things about Johnson, leading up to training camp, and that's music to the fans' ears. Johnson told his players that he'd demand a lot from them, but that at the same time, he and his staff wouldn't ask them to do anything they won't also do themselves.
Johnson and his staff seem to have a firm understanding of accountability and intensity; something Eberflus and the majority of his staff had very little of.