The Bears officially got their guy Tuesday. They announced the hiring of Ben Johnson as the team’s 19th head coach in franchise history.
Hiring Johnson is viewed as a home run by many around the NFL. Johnson was responsible for one of the top offenses in the league over the past three seasons with the Detroit Lions, becoming one of, if not the top, coaching candidates in the past few head coach hiring cycles.
“A proven leader with winning pedigree and a mind toward innovation, we are excited to welcome Ben and his family to Chicago as our head coach,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said in a press release.
A new era in Chicago.
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 21, 2025
Welcome to the Bears, Coach! 🐻⬇️
Tuesday’s hiring felt like a departure from others the Bears have made. The team hasn’t always hired or convinced an obvious No. 1 candidate to take the job.
Here’s how Johnson’s coaching resume compares to other recent Bears’ head coaches since chairman George McCaskey took over in 2011.
Matt Eberflus, 2022
While hiring Johnson made all the sense in the world, Poles surprised many when he selected Eberflus with his first head coach hiring.
Eberflus had never been a head coach before and was the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator for four seasons when the Bears hired him. The Colts’ defense was ranked middle-of-the-pack in many defensive categories in 2021 and faltered toward the end as Indianapolis lost its final two games and missed the playoffs.
Poles had some strong candidates to choose from in 2022. The Minnesota Vikings hired Kevin O’Connell, whom the Bears reportedly didn’t interview, while the New York Giants hired Brian Daboll, who won coach of the year in his first season.
The Bears also didn’t hire then-Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, whom the Washington Commanders hired last offseason and are in Sunday’s NFC championship game.
Eberflus went 14-32 in less than three seasons with the Bears and became the first head coach to be fired during the regular season in franchise history.
Matt Nagy, 2018
Although he wasn’t as much of a clear-cut top choice like Johnson, the Bears did seem to make an obvious hire of selecting one of the top offensive candidates at the time to pair with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Nagy had been the Kansas City offensive coordinator under head coach Andy Reid in 2016 and 2017 after serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2013 to 2015. He took over play calling from Reid midway through the 2017 season and rejuvenated the offense toward the playoffs. But Nagy was also criticized for his play calling in a playoff-opener loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The 2018 coaching class had some moderate success. The then-Oakland Raiders brought Jon Gruden back to coaching from the TV booth while the Colts initially hired Josh McDaniels before he withdrew. The Colts ended up with Frank Reich and the Titans hired Mike Vrabel.
Nagy was the most-successful Bears coach since Lovie Smith. He went 34-31 over four seasons, reaching the playoffs twice and winning one NFC North title. The Bears fired him after he went 6-11 in 2021.
John Fox, 2015
The Bears broke a longstanding franchise record when they hired Fox. He became the team’s first head coach hire who had previously been an NFL head coach since George Halas took over as head coach again in 1958.
Fox brought a lot of experience when the Bears hired him, something the team needed after Marc Trestman’s second and last season. He led both the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos to Super Bowl appearances as a head coach and entered his Bears tenure with a 119-89 head coaching record.
The Bears also snagged one of the bigger names in that year’s coaching cycle. The Buffalo Bills hired former New York Jets head coach Rey Ryan while the Atlanta Falcons selected Quinn, who led the Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance. The Jets hired Todd Bowles and the Broncos took Gary Kubiak.
Fox’s tenure ended up being a tenure many Bears fans want to forget. The team went 14-34 over his three seasons in charge, missed the playoffs each year and never finished higher than fourth in the division.
Marc Trestman, 2013
Hiring Trestman was the most out-of-the-blue in recent Bears selections. The team replaced Smith with a coach who hadn’t coached in the NFL for five seasons.
Trestman had served as an offensive coach for various NFL and college teams in the previous three decades before he became the head coach of the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes in 2008. He led the Alouettes to two championships during his tenure and earned the league’s Coach of the Year honor in 2009.
The list of who the Bears could’ve hired instead of Trestman doesn’t look great in hindsight. The Chiefs hired Andy Reid a few days after the Philadelphia Eagles fired him and changed the trajectory of that franchise.
The Bears also reportedly chose to hire Trestman over Bruce Arians, who led the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC championship game and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Trestman and quarterback Jay Cutler built some rapport in his first season, creating some of the franchise’s best offensive numbers in the past 25 years. But things became unraveled in his second season year and the Bears fired him after a 5-11 year and several blowout losses.