In just his first year as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson took the team to an 11-6 record, winning the NFC North, winning a playoff game, and was a nominee for Coach of the Year.
Despite losing the Coach of the Year award, Johnson appears to be in the conversation once again in 2026 to win it. That path to winning it, though, won't be easy.
The new 2026 schedule is out for the Bears, and it lived up to the hype of being one of the toughest ones in the league. It's clear that if he wants to win the award, a three-game stretch might help determine it.
A three-game stretch could make or break Ben Johnson winning Coach of the Year
Everyone's first thought would be late in the year when they have to play the Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings to close out the season. Yes, that is a gauntlet of games to run through, but there's one that is a bit more in the spotlight that everyone in America is only going to be watching.
There is a three-game stretch in which the Bears play the prime-time game from Week 7 through Week 9. During those games, the Bears are at home against the New England Patriots on Thursday night in Week 7, on the road against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night in Week 8, and back at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night in Week 9.
Those first two games are against coaches who were also candidates for Coach of the Year in Seattle's Mike MacDonald and the winner of the award, New England's Mike Vrabel. Oh, and both teams played against each other in the Super Bowl.
Despite the Week 7 game being at home, it's a short week and comes off a two-game road trip against the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons. Having to try to battle it out with the AFC champions is not going to be easy for Johnson and his Bears.
Then they have to travel across the country the next week to play the Super Bowl champion Seahawks and on a short week play the Buccaneers at night. Yeah, not an ideal stretch for them.
Read more: NFL did not do Bears any favors with roughest five-game stretch in 2026
If Johnson can take down the Patriots and Seahawks in back-to-back games, that will be the moment everyone knows the Bears are for real, and he will have an easier chance of winning the award. Beating the best is the straightforward path to the playoffs and taking home some hardware for the second-year head coach.
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