In previous decades, there seemed to be such a thing as sustained momentum. Teams that broke through to the playoffs would usually be able to carry that into the next year, maintaining their pace towards possible contention. Ben Johnson doesn’t believe that is the case in today’s NFL. Due to the nature of many rosters and coaching staff turnover each year, you’re never really going into a new season with the same group. That is why he made it clear at this end-of-season press conference that there is no momentum to build off of from this past year.
The Chicago Bears will be starting from scratch next summer. It will be back to the basics, working on fundamentals, hammering details, and discipline. Johnson did promise one thing, though. The training camp players experienced last year, which they called the toughest of their careers, was nothing out of the ordinary from his perspective. He plans to push even harder than he did before. In other words, players better be ready to work come July because he won’t have any mercy on those who aren’t prepared.
Ben Johnson has no plans to ease up.
He has made it clear from the outset that his goal is to win a championship. You don’t do that by pushing players hard the first year and then going into cruise control. It is done by consistently grinding them until they’re razor sharp and toughened up both mentally and physically. That is the only way you prepare a team for the long march to a Super Bowl. It is, unfortunately, something most head coaches in recent years never seemed to grasp. Marc Trestman had too much easy-going Canadian in him. John Fox no longer had the edge he once did. Matt Nagy started out that way, but failed to follow through. Matt Eberflus just wasn’t competent enough.
This head coach won’t suffer players who are uninterested in doing the work. Remember, the bulk of the names on the roster weren’t acquired by him. There is a strong probability that will soon change. The first influx came last spring. With over 20 free agents to sort through before March, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ben Johnson allows even more to go elsewhere as he continues building the roster in his vision. That means finding players who are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices for success.
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