Ben Johnson, Future Head Coach?

Who is Ben Johnson?

Background

Johnson grew up in Asheville, NC, and played quarterback in high school. He graduated top-5 in his class, which led to recruiting interest from Ivy League colleges. Because Johnson wanted to play power-5 football, he elected to walk on at North Carolina.

In his time at Chapel Hill, Johnson competed as a reserve player. In 2007, Johnson had the chance to compete for the starting role before being beaten out by redshirt freshman TJ Yates. Despite losing the competition, Johnson helped coach Yates, who now owns 37 school records. Johnson graduated in 2008 with degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science.

"When a guy talks football, the teaching part just naturally comes out of them and that's something you could really see from Ben early on." - TJ Yates

The Path of an NFL Coach

After graduating, Johnson's former Offensive Coordinator, John Schoop, encouraged him to get into coaching. His path started at Boston College just one year after Bears GM Ryan Poles left the program.

Johnson quickly rose up the ranks, entering the NFL after just three years of college coaching experience. In Miami, he worked under three different head coaches in varying positions. The most impactful of those coaches may have been Joe Philbin and Mike Sherman. Sherman, who represents a branch off the Mike Holmgren coaching tree, is the most common name in Johnson's coaching history.

In 2019, Johnson left Miami and was hired by the Lions to coach under Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell. He took an apparent demotion, dropping from Wide Receiver coach in Miami to Quality Control coach in Detroit. That didn't last for long, though. After just one year in Detroit, Johnson was elevated to Tight End coach.

When a regime change happened in Detroit, Johnson was retained by old friend Dan Campbell. The two spent time together in Miami, and Campbell promoted Johnson to Pass Game Coordinator. In 2021, the Lions started the year 0-8 before Dan Campbell stripped playcalling duties from Anthony Lynn. Johnson's role in the offense increased, resulting in better production. Johnson was officially named offensive coordinator for the Lions entering the 2022 season, leading one of the top offenses in the NFL for the last three seasons.

"Ben really stepped in there about halfway through the year and became very involved in having a lot of ideas and installing things and having his hand in a lot of the stuff the quarterback was doing and really every position, wide receivers, and really tightening everybody." - Lions QB Jared Goff

Ben Johnson's Offensive Scheme

While the offensive scheme in Detroit is the work of Johnson, it is influenced by Dan Campbell as well. Campbell has stated that he wants a physical and explosive offense. Johnson has played and coached under a wide variety of schemes, while Campbell has spent time coaching under Sean Payton in New Orleans. Overall, the Lions' offense is agnostic in a league where coaches are often devoted to one specific scheme. The Lions' roster is built to beat teams in any number of ways while also beating up opponents physically.

Rushing Offense

In Johnson's three years as a play-caller (2022-2024), the Lions have been well above average in their called run percentage. In a league that leans heavily on zone run concepts, Johnson has shown a willingness and ability to coach a variety of zone and gap run concepts. The coaching element here often gets overlooked. A coach can only teach what they know, and Johnson understands a multitude of run concepts well enough to teach them.

Another figure that stands out here is the yards before contact per attempt. Going back to 2014, because that is as far back as PFF's data can go, all but three offenses with Johnson on staff were successful at scheming space for runners. This, along with generating explosive plays on the ground, are the two calling cards across his coaching career.

The passing scheme is rooted in a strong, diverse rushing attack. This goes back to Johnson's coaching tree, pulling from coaches with strong offensive line backgrounds like Mike Sherman and Joe Philbin.

Passing Offense

Because the passing offense is rooted in the ground game, the play-action attack is the logical place to start. The Lions were above average in play-action rate every year that Johnson called plays. They have been better than average in yards per pass attempt and sack rate while throwing to shorter portions of the field in recent years.

The numbers imply that they have used play action to generate quicker, shorter throws. This is a recent trend in the NFL, and Johnson has shown the ability to generate space off these play-action looks and give his playmakers room to work.

The better-than-average sack rate is a sight for sore eyes after the Bears took sacks on over 10% of their play-action attempts. Taking a sack on play-action often indicates a play call that was sniffed out.

I am also interested in reviewing how well Johnson has beaten the blitz. Teams were eager to blitz the Lions each of the last three years, likely due to their strong ground game and tendency to operate from heavy personnel. Johnson has consistently given his quarterback good, quick answers to the blitz.

The Lions were better than average in sack rate against the Blitz each of the last three years. Moreover, despite a lower-than-average target depth, the Lions were better than average in yards per attempt. Again, this indicates a play-caller anticipating the defensive attack and using it to create space for his playmakers.

Building a Coaching Staff

Johnson's network has benefitted from working under many regimes over a relatively short period. He has been a part of four different regimes across two NFL teams. The most anticipated name in his offensive network is Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley, who has spent more time with Johnson than any other coach. The expectation is that Fraley will be Johnson's offensive coordinator. However, I have minor questions about an offensive coordinator whose only coaching experience is on the offensive line.

Johnson boasts a robust defensive network as well. The coach he has spent the most time with, Lou Anarumo, was recently fired by the Bengals. Anarumo has been noted as a coach who may not have a strong desire to become a head coach, which makes him a candidate to be a long-term coordinator wherever he lands. His units in Cincinnati consistently outperformed their talent before 2024.

Ben Johnson Summary

I personally believe that Ben Johnson is the obvious choice for the Bears. His offense in Detroit is built with variety that is hard to teach. Again, a coach can only call the concepts that they know well enough to teach, and it seems like Johnson has a deep understanding of various schemes and concepts. Combine that with the upside and mental capacity Caleb Williams showed as a rookie, and the ceiling is high.

However, I have minor concerns about how his offense might look without an all-world offensive line. That is mitigated by the fact that he played a role in building that offensive line, though.

Compared to previous head coach searches, Johnson is the strongest name the Bears have had real ties to since Bruce Arians. This is not the time to get cute or overthink it. The last time that happened, they hired Marc Trestman. For the sake of Caleb Williams, the Bears brass cannot afford to fumble this decision. Get it right. Hire Ben Johnson, hell or high water.