New Chicago Bears offensive linemen excited to play for Ben Johnson

LAKE FOREST – Over the past few weeks, Bears general manager Ryan Poles consistently noticed something when speaking with players’ agents and some players before the start of free agency.

Everyone was excited for the opportunity to play for his new head coach, Ben Johnson.

Yes, they also were impressed with quarterback Caleb Williams' potential. Many also liked what he was building in Chicago and the Bears’ championship aspirations.

But Poles felt excitement whenever the prospect of playing under Johnson came up.

“There’s a lot of excitement, working with Ben, seeing the body of work they had in Detroit and seeing that grow, to what it became, is exciting,” Poles said when he met with reporters Thursday at Halas Hall. “You want to be a part of exciting football, you want to be a part of scoring a lot of points, you want to be a part of creativity in doing things that are a little bit different. It’s fun. It’s fun to work in that environment.”

All three of the Bears’ new offensive line additions – Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson – were excited to become a part of that environment after the team acquired them over the past week. The Bears traded for Thuney and Jackson and officially signed Dalman on Thursday.

Johnson became one of the top head coach candidates over the past few offseasons because of his unique play calling as an offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions. According to players, that generated interest around the league.

He even found ways to get the linemen, such as Penei Sewell, involved in the passing game with some trick plays.

Jackson had firsthand experience of the fun when he played for the Lions from 2020 to 2023. During their time together, Jackson felt he was at his best because Johnson put together a game plan that featured their roster’s strengths.

Johnson also was hard to keep up with. He became unpredictable with his play calling, keeping opponents on their toes.

Although Jackson wasn’t interested in throwing passes with the Bears, he was excited for the opportunity to reunite with Johnson

“Ben is one of a kind,” Jackson said. “He’s like a wizard.”

Thuney had the same impression from an outsider’s point of view. He spent the first nine years of his career working with a couple of the league’s top offenses in New England and Kansas City. He also played and learned from two of the best quarterbacks in the sport’s history: Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

But Thuney said he was impressed with what he saw from afar and wanted to be a part of Johnson’s offense. He also liked Johnson’s vision.

“[Johnson] has such a clear, communicative way of describing what he wants,” Thuney said. “You can feel the passion and the love he has for the game, and it’s infectious. I think people, everyone around him feels it, and he is just a coach you want to play for.”

Johnson didn’t sugarcoat his plan for the offensive line and the rest of the team when players meet for offseason workouts in a couple months.

“You want to be a part of exciting football, you want to be a part of scoring a lot of points, you want to be a part of creativity in doing things that are a little bit different. It’s fun. It’s fun to work in that environment.”

—  Ryan Poles, Chicago Bears general manager

The offensive line will need time to jell. The group will feature three new starters with the additions of Thuney, Dalman and Jackson. Left tackle Braxton Jones also will return from injury.

But Johnson didn’t plan on making the transition easy with an entire turnover in the line’s interior.

“As we’re coming into the springtime, we’re going to load these guys up, we’re going to see what they can handle,” Johnson said. “We’re going to fail, and that’s OK. That’s part of how you learn and how you grow. You get better. So we’re going to encourage that as a coaching staff, so nothing about this is about making it easier. It’s going to be fun.”

Johnson’s approach was part of the reason why Dalman signed with the Bears. Dalman said parts of Johnson’s schemes fit his strengths, while there are still some parts that he wants to explore under his new coach.

The prospect of what he and the Bears could become was too hard to pass up.

“Just having someone who embraces challenges, and that’s what the NFL is all about, is really exciting,” Dalman said. “It makes us feel like we’re going to approach everything head on, that it’s good to fail, it’s good to be aggressive and all those things, because when you’re working at your fringe, that’s when you’re gonna improve the most.”