It's not hard to see and feel the difference Ben Johnson has made in his inaugural campaign with the Chicago Bears. He's been the driving force behind the franchise's first winning season since 2018.
But you don’t need us to tell you about Johnson’s palpable, tangible, and immediate impact on the Bears. Just ask those in his locker room; they’ll make it clear as day that Chicago’s impressively expeditious turnaround doesn’t happen without him at the helm.
Bears running back D'Andre Swift discussed Johnson’s leadership during a recent appearance on The Schultz Report and gave credit where it’s due.
Bears RB D'Andre Swift may have given strong Ben Johnson endorsement yet
NFL insider Jordan Schultz wondered aloud whether the camaraderie and standard of the 2025 Bears is Johnson's doing. Fans know the answer, though Swift’s declaration all but erased any doubt as to why Chicago’s thriving.
“100 percent,” Swift said regarding Johnson’s fingerprints being all over the Chicago winning games. “The culture he’s set since he got here, since Day 1. So, when you continue to do that day in and day out, you build a level of respect for the guys you’re doing it with and doing it for.”
Swift also mentioned competing for something bigger than yourself, which can be unsustainable if everyone isn’t bought in. However, that becomes much easier when the collective is on the same page, as he’s admittedly experiencing under Johnson’s tutelage firsthand.
“I do, and I feel like it continues to grow week in and week out,” Swift said about the Bears’ connectivity. “As we go out there, we put the work in every single day. We go out there on Sundays, and we're going to battle with each other.
It's exactly that, a brotherhood. All the teams that I've been on that have been successful are the closest teams that I've been a part of. You go a little bit harder for that man next to you, to your left, and to your right. When that relationship is better, you have that chemistry and you have that brotherhood with the person next to you, because y’all put the work in together."
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The Bears are committed to striving for greatness, thanks to Johnson. Few are as qualified to speak on the topic as Swift, so his affirmation is particularly noteworthy. They overlapped as members of the Detroit Lions from 2019 to 2022.