Year 1 of the Ben Johnson era went as well as could have been hoped for the Chicago Bears, with a division title and a playoff win, laying the foundation for a run of sustained success. Now the challenge is taking the next step, when they will not catch anyone by surprise.
Wide receiver DJ Moore was easily placed on the trade block entering the offseason, as his role in the Bears' offense last season and his salary going forward did not match. He was ultimately sent to the Buffalo Bills in a trade that should stick as a nice win for general manager Ryan Poles.
The Bears needed to create cap space, and Moore's situation made trading him the easiest way to do so. The sheer finances pushing the move made it make sense, and it's the only reason anyone really needed.
But there are usually multiple reasons to trade a productive player, and that was likely the case with Moore.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Jeff Hughes of Sports Mockery discussed the idea of the Bears being Johnson's team, with a clear sign-off on personnel moves in concert with Poles, and what that means.
"He also needs guys who will buy into his style because he works these guys really f**king hard", Hughes said. "And Ben's not going to have somebody here who is going to lazily go through the program. A George Pickens would be out of here in a week. He would never do any of the things Ben needs him to do. And I don't think DJ Moore loved doing a lot of those things."
"I think that's why I think they were willing to get rid of DJ Moore....Ben nows wants guys who are going to be his definition of what a Bear is."
Ben Johnson foreshadowed not-surprising reason to green-light DJ Moore trade
The way last season ended up for the Bears may make it easy to forget they started 0-2, and a blowout loss in Week 2 to the Detroit Lions, his former team, had to hit Johnson a certain way. The day after he called out some lackluster effort that showed up on the game tape, and with that, those who wanted to be a part of the following week's game plan would be sorted out during the coming practice week.
"There were some plays there yesterday that we weren't quite as pleased with what that looked like on tape," Johnson said. "So, we're going to find out this week at practice who wants to practice hard and who wants to be a little bit more involved with the game plan here going into Sunday.”
Through those first two games, Moore's general lack of involvement in the Bears' offense last season was foreshadowed with a total of eight catches on 11 targets. Johnson and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El brought a "no block, no rock" mentality for wide receivers with them from Detroit, and for what it's worth, Moore's Pro Football Focus run blocking grade in that Week 2 game was a dismal 54.5.
Beyond that grade, it's possible Moore's effort was lacking in a game that meant a great deal to Johnson.
While Johnson did not name names when he called out a lack of effort last September, it was easy to, at a minimum, include Moore in the group of players he was talking about. It's also not a reach to suggest Johnson was singling Moore out.
For the entire season, perhaps as a sign he got the message, Moore's PFF run blocking grade was a respectable 61.0.
If Moore wasn't willing to meet Johnson's full definition of what a Chicago Bear is, and it's fair to wonder if he was in terms of being a willing blocker, he seemingly had one foot out the door pretty early.
Read more: 3 Bears starters who might find themselves on the bench in 2026 after OTAs
Sometimes there's more than meets the eye on things like this. But Johnson pretty much told everyone who could even read between the lines where Moore stood after two games last season, and then he was, unsurprisingly, gone when the best opportunity came.
Add us as a preferred source on Google