Bears avoided making a Commanders-like mistake with Ben Johnson, and it paid off

The Chicago Bears have been mired in mediocrity forever. The once-proud franchise has become irrelevant and is still living off the nostalgia of the 1985 Super Bowl season. So it comes as something of a total that they were able to land Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the most coveted head coaching candidate on the market this offseason.

Many Bears fans had to deal with anxiety for weeks about rumors of how Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders had become odds-on favorites to land him as well as Jacksonville Jaguars were still in the picture. After all, many fans had become used to this franchise being such a failure, especially after an embarrassing 2024 season, and expected the team to settle for someone like Mike McCarthy as their next head coach.

The Bears handled the Ben Johnson process perfectly

ESPN Bears reporter Courtney Cronin provided details of how the Bears were able to land Johnson today, as the Bears were debating whether to fly into Detroit following their stunning loss to Washington to show how much they wanted him. She wrote, "The Bears' contingent ultimately decided against making the trip, opting to let Johnson deal with the disappointment of losing as the NFC's No. 1 seed."

Turns out it was a smart decision — though it helped that Johnson himself wanted the Bears job from the beginning.

The Bears decision not to fly and meet Johnson brought back a story from almost a year ago when the Washington Commanders were flying to meet with him to interview for their vacant job. But Johnson got cold feet and turned them down while they were in mid-air. The Commanders instead hired former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn. The rest is history as he led the Commanders to a 12-5 record and the NFC Championship game by upsetting Johnson and the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Playoffs the week before.

Both the Bears and the Commanders will meet in the 2025 season. We all know by now the Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 8 derailed a once-promising season for the Bears. That loss and Johnson turning them down while they were flying to meet them will provide so many juicy storylines for the matchup next year.

If Johnson is as good of a head coach as he was a play-caller for the Lions, then the Bears fans will look back at this past season as a blessing in disguise, even the Hail Mary loss still stings.