3 Chicago Bears playmakers who will benefit from a new offense under Ben Johnson

New Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson soon will begin building a new offense geared toward quarterback Caleb Williams.

The first-time head coach said he wouldn’t be bringing his playbook with him from Detroit, where he was the offensive coordinator. Instead, he and his staff – including new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle – will build a new offense from scratch.

Johnson strongly believes that the quarterback has to be an extension of the play caller.

“The play caller and the quarterback have to be integrated,” Johnson said when he was hired. “The quarterback needs to be able to see the game through the play caller’s eyes. In my opinion, that’s the only way it works.”

The quarterback needs to be able to see the game through the play caller’s eyes. In my opinion, that’s the only way it works.”

—  Ben Johnson, Bears head coach

This new offense will be geared toward Williams, and the second-year QB clearly stands to benefit from having an offensive-minded head coach.

But who else will take the next step with Johnson calling the shots on offense? Here are three playmakers who could benefit from the new offense.

1. WR DJ Moore

Whether it was Shane Waldron or Thomas Brown running the offense in 2024, the Bears couldn’t figure out how to get the ball in DJ Moore’s hands down the field. His 7.4 air yards per target, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, marked the lowest depth of target in his career. His previous low was 9 yards during his rookie season in 2018. Every other season of his career, including 2023 with the Bears, Moore averaged better than double-digit yards per target.

Among qualified pass catchers, Moore’s 7.4 yards per target ranked 84th in the NFL in 2024. It didn’t take advanced statistics to see it on the film.

The Bears threw countless screen passes to Moore, and the team grew fond of lining him up in the backfield late in the season.

Moore certainly is capable of racking up yards after the catch. In 2023, he was ninth in the NFL in YAC (with 569 yards, per Next Gen Stats). The Bears still can throw him some short passes, but they probably can strike a better balance between short, intermediate and deep routes.

Johnson almost certainly will use Moore in the Amon-Ra St. Brown role in Chicago. In 2023, St. Brown finished third in the NFL in YAC despite averaging only 7.7 yards per target. There’s a blueprint there.

2. TE Cole Kmet

What was wrong with tight end Cole Kmet in 2024? For starters, the Bears didn’t throw him the ball much.

In 17 games, Kmet recorded six games in which Williams targeted him either one or zero times. That’s pretty remarkable for a player who finished second on the team in receptions and receiving yards a year earlier.

In 2024, Kmet finished with 47 receptions for 474 yards and four touchdowns (and that included a 10-reception game in Week 3).

The advanced metrics, however, liked Kmet more than the traditional statistics might indicate. Kmet’s expected points added per target ranked sixth among NFL tight ends in 2024, per Next Gen Stats. In other words, positive things happened when the Bears threw Kmet the ball, they simply didn’t do it enough.

Among 34 tight ends with enough targets to qualify in the Next Gen Stats database, Kmet finished last with 11.8% of his team’s targets.

That figures to change under Johnson. That’s especially true if the Bears allow receiver Keenan Allen to walk away in free agency. Allen was Williams' safety net in the middle of the field. That almost certainly will be Kmet in 2025.

3. RB D’Andre Swift

The elephant in the room is that the Lions traded running back D’Andre Swift away when Johnson was the offensive coordinator in April 2023.

The Bears signed Swift to a three-year, $24 million contract in March. He remains under contract for two more seasons. The Bears could save some money against the salary cap if they trade him, but if they want to cut him it would cost about $8 million against the cap.

It seems far more likely that he’ll remain on the team in 2025.

With their previous experience together in 2022, Johnson knows where Swift excels and where he struggles.

If the Bears make some expected shakeups along the offensive line, Swift could be put in better positions to succeed in 2025. Most of the analytics suggest that Swift was among the least efficient running backs in the NFL last season. But those numbers don’t really take the offensive line into account.

Swift had his best NFL season as a pass catcher when Johnson was his OC. In Detroit, Johnson proved he could find creative ways to involve the running backs.