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How Bears' Ben Johnson is following Matt Nagy's footsteps

Originally posted on Chicago Bears on SI
By Pete Martuneac | Last updated Dec 28, 2025 3:05 PM ET

With two games remaining in the season, the Chicago Bears, led by their new head coach, defeated the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field to clinch the NFC North, snapping a long Green Bay winning streak over Chicago and securing their first division title in years. I'm talking, of course, about the Bears' 2018 season, not the current one.

The parallels between this season and that one are close enough to raise some eyebrows. Both teams had new head coaches (Matt Nagy and Ben Johnson) and second-year quarterbacks (Mitch Trubisky and Caleb Williams). Both coaches took the Bears from last place in the NFC North to first place in just one year. And, of course, both Nagy and Johnson beat the Packers at home, most recently with Caleb Williams' sensational comeback victory in Week 16.

The similarities may not end there, either. Matt Nagy won the AP NFL Coach of the Year award for his role in turning around a bad Bears team and completing the worst-to-first comeback. Now, head coach Ben Johnson is considered by many to be a shoo-in for the very same award, for the very same reasons.

NFL legend Michael Strahan is one such person. While speaking on the NFL on FOX pregame show, Strahan declared Ben Johnson as his pick to be the 2025 Coach of the Year, saying, "To bring Chicago from worst to first... he's changed everything, literally everything."

Who do you think should be Coach of the Year?@michaelstrahan: In my opinion, it's Ben Johnson. To bring Chicago from worst to first... He has changed the culture, everything. pic.twitter.com/asO1aXvO0M
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 28, 2025

Strahan went on to reference Ben Johnson's hilarious postgame antic after upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, saying, "Who cannot love a coach that took his shirt off so that the entire city can get hot dogs?"

Bears fans could probably do without a coaching award

Unfortunately for Johnson, he faces stiff competition for the award. Liam Coen, another first-year head coach, has pulled off a similar turnaround in Jacksonville while Mike Vrabel, making his second stint as a head coach, has the New England Patriots playing like Super Bowl contenders. And that's not even mentioning veteran options like Kyle Shanahan, Sean Payton, or DeMeco Ryans.

Johnson has as strong a case as anyone, but if he misses out on the award, I don't think many Bears fans will mind. After all, we know what happened to the Bears after that magical 2018 season. A Coach of the Year award and division title were quickly buried under sustained mediocrity, followed by three losing seasons. If 2025 becomes any more like 2018, then Bears fans will come out of Wild Card weekend brokenhearted.

For the sake of Bears fans everywhere, let's hope that the similarities end here and the Bears go on a postseason run. If that means Johnson has to go without the AP NFL Coach of the Year award, I'm sure most fans (and Johnson himself) would make that trade ten times out of ten.