When Ben Johnson became the Chicago Bears' head coach in 2025, the type of head coach he would be in at least one respect felt obvious. Over four seasons on Dan Campbell's staff in Detroit, he saw the Lions' head coach go for it on fourth down with an at-times reckless abandon.
In Johnson's first season, the Bears had the 12th-most fourth down attempts in the league (29) and the 15th-best conversion rate on those attempts (51.7 percent). That lack of fourth down aggression and efficiency was definitely on the surprising side, but Caleb Williams was also just 9-for-19 on fourth down pass attempts last season.
A failed fourth down decision in Lions' territory by Campbell in Week 7, even though analytics backed the decision, put some spotlight back on his aggressiveness this week.
The Lions have gone for it on fourth down 13 times this season, tied for sixth-most in the league entering Week 8. They have also had their bye already, so Campbell is going for it on fourth down a little more than twice a game.
The league leader in fourth down attempts this season is the Bears, with 17 over their seven games. Two of the four teams that are next closest at 15 fourth down attempts, the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, have already played their eighth game of the season. That said, Carolina attempted four fourth downs on Thursday night while Green Bay attempted zero.
At the current pace, the Bears will finish the season with 41 fourth down attempts. Compared to last year, they are going for it roughly three-quarters of the time more per game. Over a four-game stretch, that would equate to three more fourth down attempts compared to an average four-game stretch last year.
Ben Johnson has become the kind of head coach he was expected to be
As was the case over the first season-plus Johnson worked under Campbell in Detroit, being a bad team in a lot of negative game scripts can drive fourth down attempt volume.
The 5-2 Bears have obviously not been that kind of team this season. They lead the NFL in time of possession per game, and outside of the two losses, they've trailed for less than six minutes of game time.
So Johnson is being aggressive on fourth down for the sheer sake of keeping his offense on the field. Going for it on fourth down also sometimes has to come without fear of how a failure will leave the defense in a bad spot, and the Bears' defense has not been the kind of weakness it was last season.
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Mix a more efficient offense with a defense that has largely held its own outside of one game, and you could very well get a league-high in fourth down attempts through seven completed weeks this season. Or, in other words, Johnson is fulfilling a key part of his expected profile as a head coach.
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