An offseason of moves, a new coach with spectacular, consistent success over three straight years and a young quarterback certified both by draft pedigree and flashes of rookie success should generate some excitement in Chicago.
Apparently it doesn't excite the people at the Pro Football and Sports Network, though.
The website, which claims to use analytics in arriving at its conclusions, has assigned a power ranking to every offense in the league. They sure like what Ben Johnson built in Detroit but not what he's building at Halas Hall.
PFN grades the Detroit Lions offense No. 1 for this season. Apparently new coordinator John Morton will step right in and inherit all of the controls for this machine Johnson helped build and controlled for three years, and operate it efficiently.
"The Bears offense was broken and Ben Johnson was simply hired to fix it."@ruthiepolinsky | @DavidHaugh | #BigPFBShow pic.twitter.com/nnf0aa7CxU
— Bears on CHSN (@CHSN_Bears) June 17, 2025
However, Johnson has come to a team in the midst of adding offensive talent and PFN says people in Chicago will simply need to wait to see success.
Johnson's Chicago offense is rated 30th by PFN. They are ranked ahead of only last-place Cleveland and the 31st-ranked Giants.
Watching Caleb's season back, he's gonna be just fine. Ben Johnson is going to bring the best out of him. The offense is stacked. Fun to watch. pic.twitter.com/ClYVP6iOF4
— Alex Buck (@AlexandtheNFL) June 17, 2025
At least they see the Bears' 30th ranking as being far above the two mired teams at the bottom.
"The Bears may not have the results to sell their fan base on the strides they are taking, and the overall offensive metrics are also lagging," PFN wrote. "Yet, not all poor grades are created equal, and Chicago isn’t in the same tier as the following two squads."
The analysis seems to suggest success will be coming with more experience by Johnson as a head coach and with the offense operating under his direction.
Ben Johnson creates so many easy yards for receivers in the screen game. pic.twitter.com/ZytPXvZFpC
— Bobby Peters (@b_peters12) April 27, 2025
"Patience requires time. It sounds silly, but many fan bases (and coaching staffs, for that matter) don’t mind being patient as long as there is enough growth to sell to their superiors," PFN wrote, before pointing out Caleb Williams "...looked the part at moments last season, and the franchise is clearly committed to building around him."
It was an underwhelming grade for Johnson's first offense and only two spots better than they finished for 2024 in yards gained. They were last then.
Caleb Williams is going to EXPLODE with Ben Johnson.
— Polymarket Football (@PolymarketBlitz) June 16, 2025
Williams always excelled when their was creativity in the offense and now he has one of the most creative minds in the game.pic.twitter.com/yxbBxvMGME
Pro Football Network says it arrived at these rankings based on "...yards per play, points per drive, turnover percentage, success rate against the run and pass, third-down conversion rate, red-zone efficiency, pressure percentage when not blitzing, and various expected points added (EPA) measures against both the run and pass. These are then weighted accordingly to produce our rankings for each season."
Apparently they're arriving at this based on the past.
D’onta Foreman would run for 1k in Ben Johnson’s offense pic.twitter.com/lxef1LP8mW
— Joey Sangwich (@JoeySangwich_) May 17, 2025
If they wanted to rank 2024 offenses, PFN should have simply said so because it's what they've really done. The current 2025 Bears offense has four new starters, possibly five, and an attack led by the 2024 assistant coach of the year. He took a miserable offense and transformed it into a top five unit three straight years.
This needs to count for a little more than a ranking reflecting last year's debacle with two offensive coordinators and a head coach who was fired in season for the first time in franchise history.
I love DJ Moore on the Bears and in Ben Johnson’s offense. He’s the best player for it. I’ll be drafting him on all my fantasy football squads this year. Just watch… pic.twitter.com/H7ycrqxpwW
— TJ Goebig (@GoebigTj) May 9, 2025
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