I am cautiously optimistic about the Chicago Bears moving forward. Ben Johnson seems to have provided some kind of fresh air to this painfully stale organization. Since the advent of the forward pass, the Bears have always been lacking. They have never had a 4,000-yard passer in their history. Every other NFL franchise has at least one player of that stature. Johnson plans to change all that.
While I do wonder how he is going to handle the inevitable adversity that comes from this job, my biggest concern with the team, outside of ownership of course, is the man who builds it. Ryan Poles continues to make one questionable decision after another as their general manager. This includes taking a flyer on former Missouri standout wide receiver Luther Burden III when other teams passed on him.
A big issue that has hurt Burden is his inability to show up to practice, and Johnson has noticed already.
"It shows up already. I mean, we were in the walk-through yesterday afternoon and the misalignments – we have to re-huddle, we have to start it all over again. He’s a little bit behind right now."
Bears insider Adam Hoge likens Johnson to Vic Fangio, which I think you can take with a grain of salt.
Ben Johnson has some Vic Fangio in him and I'm here for it.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) July 29, 2025
On the time Luther Burden has missed:
"It shows up already. I mean, we were in the walk-through yesterday afternoon and the misalignments – we have to re-huddle, we have to start it all over again. He’s a little bit…
Fangio is a fantastic coordinator, but he was a lousy head coach when leading the Denver Broncos.
Luther Burden III becoming Ben Johnson's burden before his very eyes
I watched and covered Burden throughout his high school recruitment and his college career at Mizzou. Every so often, Missouri gets a bona fide, blue-chip, in-state talent to commit to the Tigers. It is usually out on the perimeter, but it often becomes abundantly clear that Missouri wins big as a collective, rather than with an accumulation of stars. Burden was not always the best fit.
The offense stagnated last year with him as the primary, and really the only, focal point. It did not help that Brady Cook did not level up in his last year as the Tigers' starting quarterback. What I am getting at is Burden may not be ready to play part in an ensemble receiving corps in Chicago featuring the likes of DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, as well as Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet over at tight end.
Again, I do expect that Johnson will demand perfection on the offensive side of the ball. He will not get that, but the Bears will be more balanced and technically sound this season. However, I remain concerned about the McCaskeys' continually hare-brained decisions to never have any alignment at its three most important jobs in general manager, head coach and quarterback.
Johnson took this job to work with Caleb Williams, but will have to deal with Burden and Poles' issues.