When Bears offensive coordinator was sure Ben Johnson hated him

"But the entire time Ben is sitting at the head of the table and he was grilling me. Ben is incredibly detailed, he's a clear communicator but everything that I put up there it was why: 'Why do you do that? What do you like it against?' "

His conclusion: "And so I finished the interview and I was like, I think it went well and I think I could get this job, but I think that guy hates me. You know, I don't think that guy likes me very much."

Maybe Johnson didn't actually hate Doyle, but he failed to get the job. What Doyle did should be a lesson to everyone seeking a job who didn't get it.

"But you know, I don't get that job and I was able to kind of maintain, like, stay in touch with Ben," Doyle said. "I think that after the interview we were able to kind of talk and you know we saw things kind of similarly as far as how you run an offense and, you know, some of the schematic things and the details and all of that. And that was really where the connection was made and we just stayed in touch after that."

Eventually, he is now Johnson's first offensive play caller, although not in a play-calling capacity. He'll need to gain even greater favor for that.

The entire situation is a good lesson for the players Johnson is coaching, too, particularly Caleb Williams. The two seem at times, in practice, to be at odds a bit but Johnson always projects full support of his QB when talking about him.

While some players have described Johnson almost crazy to the point of obsession with details,  it doesn't necessarily mean he hates everything about what his players are doing while he's pointing out flaws.

If they keep working at it, Johnson might come around. Or he might already be behind them and it only seems like "he hate you."