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Ben Johnson gets sound advice that will help sustain a strong culture with the Chicago Bears from one of the most unlikely sources
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

When the Chicago Bears hired head coach Ben Johnson, a subset fans were skeptical about the decision to go with another hot-shot offensive guru who had never been an NFL head coach.

It's a rational worry because it's something that burned the Bears' organization before, and while things could go differently with Johnson, there is a fair sense of deja vu.

In 2018, the Bears hired a hot-shot offensive guru as a first-time head coach in Matt Nagy, who worked under Andy Reid as the Kansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinator.

At first, it looked like a home run hire. Nagy won Coach of the Year in his first season after leading the team to a 12-4 record. But, three years later, the Bears fired Nagy after having a combined 22-27 record from 2019-2021.

Nagy returned to the Chiefs as an offensive coordinator and was able to land back on his feet. With a few years behind him, Nagy reflected on what went wrong in his time as the Bears' coach and it's more sound advice for the team's newest hot-shot coach.

"When we got to Chicago, there just wasn't a lot of energy, they needed a little bit of positivity going around. I think what we had to do was create that culture," Nagy explained on the New Heights Podcast. "The only way to do that is by winning, but you gotta build trust and you gotta build relationships with the players so that they do trust you. And the only way to do that is to be around them. . . 

"Like you can sit there and talk X's and O's all you want, but if you're not around them and they don't know who you are, and you don't know who they are, it won't work."

Nagy noted, as a head coach, the best way to do that was by jumping around different positional meetings with all three units and also meeting with different players one-on-one. Already we've seen Johnson mentioning how he's been popping into multiple defensive meetings led by Dennis Allen and getting to know everyone.

Yet, the downfall for Nagy wasn't failing to do that in Year 1, it was not continuing to do that throughout each of the following seasons as the Bears' head coach.

"As the three years after that went on, till 2021, where I look back and reflect I say 'Man, I wish I done this better' and staying on top of those relationships that we built," Nagy added. "I probably didn't do a good enough job of creating that bond with those players and sustaining it, so that when you hit a tough patch, you can get through that, you can get through the lows."

We saw a similar breakdown happen with former head coach Matt Eberflus. Before the 2024 season, it seemed like Eberflus had created a strong culture within his locker room. Last season, he started letting some of those relationships break down and once the team hit a tough patch, everything fell apart.

Ben Johnson wants to build a winning culture in Chicago and stick around for many years to come with this team. It's critical for Johnson to learn from his predecessors and the mistakes they made during their time in Chicago.

Already the players on both sides of the ball are bought into Johnson's culture in believing this team can hit the ground running in Year 1. It's on Johnson to continue sustaining that belief from his players and the relationships well beyond 2025.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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