Ben Johnson Thread

Halfway through Johnson's 2nd year as HC, he already has 4 more wins than Eberflus did in 3 full seasons.

Johnson - 18-8, 1-1 vs Eberflus - 14-32

Johnson has coached in 9 total losses, 6 of the losses were when the defense allowed 27 or more points. The Bears are 3-6 in those types of games in the regular season, and 1-0 in the postseason. The Bears are 15-2 under Johnson in the regular season when the defense allows less than 27, Lions 19-16 in 2025 and 9-3 in the Monsoon Bowl this year.

That got me thinking to look back at each loss and see what happened:

2025 - Week 1 - MIN - Ben Johnson's first game as HC. Bears lead 17-6 heading into the 4th Quarter and the defense shits the bed, allowing 21 4th quarter points, McCarthy gets a game ball for 143 passing yards. Bears lose by 3. As much as you want the offense to score more, 24 pts against Flores in Week 1 is pretty good. This one was on the defense.

2025 - Week 2 - DET - The Johnson era is off to a terrible start. The Bears get dominated by the Lions. The defense allows 52 points and it could've been more. Bears lose by 31. The biggest loss for Johnson as a coach. Not many teams win when their defense allows 52 pts.

2025 - Week 8 - BAL - Another defensive failure. 30 pts allowed to Tyler Huntley, 14 pts allowed in the 4th quarter. Offense left too many pts on the field, but defense was terrible. Bears lose by 14. Probably the first all-around loss, 16 pts for the offense is not enough, and 30 pts is too much. Full team loss here.

2025 - Week 14 - GB - Bears down 14-3 at half, make it a game, but ultimately the defense can't stop TDs. 3x Explosive TD Passes allowed is the difference. Bears lose by 7. Game was close but with was probably another full-team loss; offense needed a little more and defense needed to be a little tighter.

2025 - Week 17 - SF - Highly competitive game, but the Bears defense allowed 6 TDs and lost by 4. This was a defensive loss.

2025 - Week 18 - DET - At the time, it felt like the Bears backed into the playoffs and Division with 2 straight losses. Compared to the previous game against DET, this one was closer, but the defense couldn't make a stop and DET got the walk-off FG to win by 3. Offense only scoring 16 was the difference; this was an offensive loss.

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2025 - Divisional Round - LAR - To think the Bears had the ball on the LAR 48 after LAR possessed the ball in OT, and they lost the game is still a tough pill to swallow. Too many turnovers, Moore giving piss poor effort. The defense held the LAR juggernaut offense to 17 in regulation and 20 in OT with LAR getting 2 possessions in OT.

So thru Johnson's first season, 7 total losses, it felt like 2 full team losses (BAL and GB), 3 losses by the defense, and 2 losses by the offense. However, one theme about 2025 was the officiating; the Bears were on the wrong side of a ton of calls, but they were not good enough to overcome them.

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2026 - Week 2 - MIN - In a literal monsoon, Swift fumbles at the one, Caleb gets hurt, Santos has a FG blocked, and Bagent can't do anything; Bears lose by 6. This is one of those throwaway games. Reminds me of Fields/Eberflus beating SF in the monsoon in Week 1, then the Bears went 2-14 the rest of the way.

2026 - Week 5 - GB - No Caleb, no Sweat, no Gordon, no Monangai. Simmons not on the team yet. Still would've liked a better effort from the defense; 2x 40+ Yard TD Passes to Watson is unacceptable. Lost by 24, second-biggest loss for Johnson. Would definitely want both sides of the ball to be better, but hard to gauge the offense without Caleb+Monangai, and the defense without Sweat+Gordon, and no Simmons yet. How many teams win when you have 4-5 of your top 10 guys out, on the road? Very few.

Year 2 feels completely different, the Bears two losses have had external factors directly impact the games, and now they are not letting bad officiating beat them.

The worst loss in terms of opponent record was losing to the then 2-5 Ravens who finished the season 8-9. Every other loss for Johnson has been to a winning team.