NFL coach calls Ben Johnson 'one of the smartest people' he's ever known

Few coaches have joined a fanbase with as much fanfare as Ben Johnson did when he accepted the head coaching position for the Chicago Bears. So highly regarded was Johnson as a candidate for the job that as soon as he officially became eligible to hire, some Bears fans were actually monitoring private flights from Detroit into Chicago in case he was already on his way.

This wasn't just your typical die-hard fans overreacting to a new head coach, either. The Bears' hiring of Johnson has been lauded by national media outlets as Chicago's best decision of the 2025 offseason, and for good reason. Every team with a head coaching vacancy over the last two years made strong efforts to woo the former Detroit coach who built an offensive juggernaut and played a central role in the Lions' back-to-back division titles.

He still has to prove himself as a head coach once the regular season begins, but there's palpable excitement all around the NFL world to see what he's got. A former colleague of Johnson's, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, said as much in a recent interview with NFL analyst Kay Adams on her show Up & Adams. When Adams brought up Ben Johnson as one of Taylor's opponents for the upcoming 2025 season, Taylor had nothing but praise, calling Johnson "one of the smartest people" he'd ever known.