Ben Johnson takes risk picking Bears over Raiders in his HC sweepstakes

I am not so sure I would have done it, but it was Ben Johnson's decision to make, and his alone. In the wake of the Detroit Lions bowing out of the NFC playoffs a few rounds before many of us expected they would, two of the top candidates for the six head-coaching vacancies became available. Aaron Glenn is still tied to New Orleans and New York, while Johnson was tied to Chicago and Las Vegas...

With Lions head coach Dan Campbell having fully accepted that he would lose both of his star coordinators to other NFL jobs, it remained to be seen what teams Glenn and Johnson would pick. Glenn used to star in the New York Jets' secondary in the 1990s, but really came into his own as an assistant while serving on the same New Orleans Saints staff as Campbell did under Sean Payton.

As for Johnson, he was rumored to be tied to the Chicago Bears last offseason, but for Bears reasons, they decided to keep Matt Eberflus for another season. Johnson would have reportedly taken the Bears job if it became available. Well, he jumped at the opportunity. This came on the heels of Johnson almost certainly being a sure thing to take over the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason.

NFL insider Josina Anderson reported "Johnson is deeply considering the head coach vacancy with the Chicago Bears" shortly before Johnson ended up taking the Chicago job. By doing so, this makes him the man responsible for salvaging Caleb Williams' career. He had a rough go of it as an NFL rookie.

Of course, the Bears compete in the same NFC North as do the Lions. I am sure that will go over well...

Ben Johnson takes the Chicago Bears job over the Las Vegas Raiders gig

I may be biased, but neither of these jobs are all that good to begin with. Admittedly, I am not the biggest Johnson fan as a potential head-coaching candidate to begin with. To me, he needed to go to the ideal spot to have success. Since the Cincinnati Bengals did not move on from Zac Taylor, I would have gone back to Detroit for one more season to see if anything else opened up in a calendar year.

That being said, I would have taken the Raiders job over the Bears gig for three reasons. One, you get a new general manager to partner up with, not being stuck with Ryan Poles. Two, you would have an opportunity to draft a quarterback fresh out of college, as opposed to inheriting the potential head-case that is Williams. And three, would you not rather go compete in another division from the Lions?

Regardless, the Bears were exceptionally thorough when it came to hiring their next head coach. Along with the Jets, these teams probably interviewed well over a dozen candidates apiece! At the end of the day, Chicago was the job that Johnson really wanted. That is why he took the position. However, that job has an uncanny ability to devour any number of coaches whole and then ruin them.

Then again, every job that is open has various levels of dysfunction, so beggars cannot be choosers.