4 best things we heard at Ben Johnson's introductory Bears press conference

Are you a Chicago Bears fan that has been living under a rock? Have you tuned out all football-related news since the Bears' dumpster fire of a season mercifully came to an end more than two weeks ago? If so, then have I got some news for you.

There are four teams remaining to fight it out for the Lombardi Trophy, but there's nobody having a better January than the Bears. First they beat the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 18 with a walkoff field goal by Cairo Santos. Then they watched as one by one, each of their NFC North rivals crashed and burned in the playoffs. Best of all, the team announced on Tuesday that it had made the splashiest head coaching hire in franchise history. Go ahead and pinch yourself, because it's true. Ben Johnson is a Bear.

Johnson was the league's most sought-after candidate due to the way he transformed the Detroit Lions offense into a juggernaut as its offensive coordinator. The Lions led the league not only in points per game under Johnson, but in fun. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery led the league's best rushing 1-2 punch. Jared Goff put together a stealth MVP campaign. Offensive lineman threw passes and scored touchdowns. It sounds unbelievable that the man responsible for all of that would agree to coach the Bears, a franchise that has been the gridiron embodiment of a Bowling for Soup song, but it's true. It's a new day for the Monsters of the Midway.

Johnson was formally introduced as the team's new head coach on Wednesday, and to say that it went well would be an early contender for Understatement of the Year. Johnson received a hero's welcome to Halas Hall, and during the course of his first press conference in the navy and orange, he said some things that should have Bears fans extremely excited for what's to come. Here are our picks for the top four.

"There's no doubt that Caleb played a large component into my decision"

With very, very few exceptions, there are two things NFL teams need above all others to be incredibly successful: the right head coach and the right quarterback. Mahomes and Reid. Belichick and Brady. Aikman and Johnson. Walsh and Montana. The Bears stepped out of their comfort zone to pay up for the hottest name on the job market, so to hear that Ben Johnson came to Chicago in large part due to the presence of Caleb Williams is so heartening to hear.

Johnson was strongly pursued by both the Las Vegas and Jacksonville. The Raiders don't have their quarterback of the future yet. The Jaguars have Trevor Lawrence, who was once deemed a can't-miss prospect but hasn't exactly lived up to the hype. Williams has only played one year in the league, and it was enough to show Johnson that he's the guy he wanted to hitch his wagon to.

Bears fans have had to endure the slings and arrows of the Jayden Daniels army. Throughout the season, every NFL show on television has asked some form of the same question: "Do the Bears wish they drafted Jayden Daniels instead of Caleb Williams?" Daniels has been absolutely terrific, and he has the Commanders just one game away from the Super Bowl. Still, the answer is an emphatic no.

Daniels wouldn't have succeeded under Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron any more than Williams did. It's virtually impossible to overcome bad coaching in this league. By contrast, Williams would have no doubt thrived in Washington under Kliff Kingsbury. We are all a product of our situations, and Williams was in a bad one in his rookie season.

Now that Johnson is here, that's not longer the case.

"I want this job"

Being part of a family that owns an NFL team is supposed to be a special experience. Not only are you rich, you're part of an extremely exclusive 32-member club, and you have the potential to feel the love and admiration of a city that's thankful for your very existence.

Bears chairman George McCaskey has never really gotten to enjoy any of that, because he's been the scapegoat for all that has ailed this franchise for decades. The grandson of George Halas, to be fair, has brought much of it upon himself with his questionable decision-making, but we have to give credit where credit is due. McCaskey realized that the Bears needed to break out of their old, tired ways, and he did what it took to make it happen.

McCaskey also addressed the media on Wednesday, and he said that the first thing Johnson told him when he interviewed was, "I want this job." The last thing he said at the end of the interview was, "Did I tell you I want this job?" For someone that was so coveted around the league, that speaks volumes to the potential Johnson saw in the organization.

Johnson himself talked about what a special place Chicago was. He mentioned how he and his family take a trip to Wrigley Field for a Cubs series every year, and that the Windy City is where he wants to raise his kids. He called the organization "a sleeping giant."

Go take a cold shower, Bears fans. You're gonna need it.

"It's not going to look like it did in Detroit"

Johnson's offense has been the talk of the NFL. Most Bears fans had no idea what his leadership style or personality was like before Wednesday, but like a child holding a tattered jump rope that saw a shiny toy in a store window, they pointed and said, "I want that." Bears fans wanted Johnson because they knew that his offense was fun to watch, and it worked. That's why the above quote should have them even more excited.

Coaching is about being able to make adjustments, both to your personnel and to your opponents. Football is a zero-sum game, so if you succeed, that means the other team fails. Coaches around the league spend dozens of hours apiece each week studying tape and trying to figure out how to best prepare for who they're about to face.

Many of the men that have coached the Bears in recent years have had a system, and they stuck to it. Matt Eberflus is a good defensive coach, but opponents knew what they were going to be facing each time they stepped on the field. John Fox had a certain way of doing things, and by God he was going to continue doing them that way.

Being intractable is not a good quality in a coach. The NFL is contantly evolving, and coaches need to adapt with the times or be left behind. Look no further than the best teams, including Johnson's former employer in Detroit, being willing to go for it more than ever on fourth down.

Johnson's statement that he intended to build the playbook from the ground up in Chicago is exactly what Bears fans wanted to hear. Caleb Williams is a special talent. So are DJ Moore and Rome Odunze. Too often under the old coaching staff, the Bears were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Poor Cole Kmet was damn near forgotten about completely. Johnson is going to build a system with his specific personnel in mind, and he's going to tailor the gameplan to each opponent. What a time to be alive.

"Get comfortable being uncomfortable"

X's and O's are tremendously important. Football is a highly choreographed, violent chess match at the end of the day, but it takes more than the smartest guy in the room to solve it. Marc Trestman was innovative, but he couldn't command the room. In four words, Johnson showed that he can, and will.

So many stories have popped up in the past year that proved that the Bears lacked real leadership under Matt Eberflus. Accountability was nonexistent. Those days are gone. Johnson looked at the Bears players in attendance — Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet and DJ Moore, who left that vacation he was so excited to enjoy to be in attendance — and told them, "Get comfortable being uncomfortable."

Johnson spoke clearly about how he and his staff intended to push players to get the most out of them, but it wasn't a domineering, "My way or the highway" type of message. He stated, "The only way for this team, and for you as individual players, to reach your potential, is to be pushed and to be challenged, and that's exactly what I and my staff will be doing."

Johnson went on to say that everybody in Halas Hall is going to share the same mandate, which is to help every player become the best version of themselves. "The communication, the structure, and the consistency ... will never waver", he said. "Our mission starting this spring is to win, and to win now."

Obviously there's an enormous difference between being able to win the press conference and being able to win NFL football games, but the Ben Johnson era in Chicago is off to a phenomenal start.