The Chicago Bears swung big for the fences and hired Ben Johnson. The Bears interest in Johnson was no surprise, the question was more about whether Johnson was interested in them.
The Bears were competing with teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders for Johnson.
Caleb Williams gets the head coach he wanted in Ben Johnson.
Make no mistake, this does not say as much about the organization as it does about Caleb Williams. Johnson may like things about the Bears front office, roster, and history, but he would not take this job if he did not think that Williams had the chance to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with him.
Williams did not quite live up to the lofty expectations that some fans set for a generational quarterback prospect, but he did have a fine rookie season by all standards. Still, there is an unknown to what he can be. The Jaguars have Trevor Lawrence, who had his issues, but has also won a playoff game and still has youth and upside. Even a team like the Dallas Cowboys had Dak Prescott, but Johnson never showed interest in that job.
Last year, it was reported that Johnson turned down the Washington Commanders job, which meant knowing he had a chance to coach Jayden Daniels. Like many, Johnson did not know Daniels would be doing this, still, he sat out of the coaching ranks for the year because there was that chance he would get to coach Williams.
Whatever you think of the rookie season that Williams displayed, it does not matter because Johnson was impressed enough that he decided to leave Detroit, which was still a great job to coach the potential franchise quarterback entering his second year.