The Chicago Bears are obviously satisfied with the returns of their new head coach so far.
While Ben Johnson was the top choice on the head coaching market last year, there have been some other good candidates from this class. So far, Mike Vrabel and Liam Coen have joined Johnson as coaches who have turned their teams around.
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ESPN’s Ben Solak went through the three coaches, what makes them so good, and how he would rank them so far. He went with Johnson as the top coach so far.
Liam Coen came in third, and while he has been good, he is not quite on the level of these two. Coen is winning games despite Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas being non-factors, which is impressive. However, we have seen and expect more from Trevor Lawrence than people have from the other coaches' quarterbacks.
Coen’s team also has the worst record of the three and is the only one that is not leading the division at the time Solak wrote the article. The real debate is Vrabel against Johnson.
While it may not ever be a win-win, it does appear that Johnson got the nod over Vrabel because Johnson had to do more with Caleb Williams to reel him in, whereas Drake Maye was already ascending and now is taking that next step thanks to Vrabel.
Maye has already realized and is getting the credit, Williams is incomplete, and the wins are being credited to Johnson. On one end, who cares that the Bears are winning games? It does not matter who gets the credit.
On the other hand, it is a small shot to say that what Johnson is doing with a number one overall pick is impressive.
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Beyond that, Bears fans know from Matt Nagy that being the best coach after 11 games, or one season, is not always the best thing. The Bears need sustained success. It will be fun to track Johnson, Vrabel, and Coen over the coming years to see which one turns out to be better in the long run.