Most coaches don’t become great by sheer osmosis. They are developed over time by their hard work and experience. Intelligence plays a part, but that comes with an ability to learn. Ben Johnson is no different. While he was always one of the smartest people in the room, his path to becoming one of the NFL’s best offensive minds was paved with learning at the feet of several coaches over the past 16 years. One would think the biggest inspirations for him were obvious. There were Joe Philbin, Zac Taylor, and Adam Gase in Miami. He also spent a couple of years with Darrell Bevell in Detroit.
Yet none of those names were mentioned when Johnson was asked who his biggest influences were during an interview on Football Night in America. The one he dropped might be one of the more forgotten influences on the game in the past 25 years.
Ben Johnson is right to mention Christensen.
Clyde Christensen is probably one of the more underappreciated assistant coaches in recent NFL history. He was wide receivers coach for the Indianapolis Colts for most of the 2000s, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2006. He then took over as offensive coordinator in 2009 and promptly got them to a second Super Bowl. Even after the coaching staff was fired, he was kept around as quarterbacks coach, where he helped develop Andrew Luck into a star. In 2016, he left Miami, where he helped the Dolphins make the playoffs for the first time in eight years. He then became the quarterbacks coach in Tampa Bay, helping Jameis Winston throw for 5,000 yards in one year and securing a seventh Super Bowl win for Tom Brady the next.
It isn’t hard to understand why Ben Johnson learned some valuable lessons from the man. Success seemed to follow him everywhere. Christensen had some outstanding mentors, including Tony Dungy and Bruce Arians. They understood the values of preparation and detail. It is pretty cool of Johnson to remind everybody how good Christensen was at his job, particularly with quarterbacks.
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Now we’re seeing those same lessons play out with Caleb Williams. Johnson is walking that fine line between tough love and encouragement that many head coaches never quite grasp. It has led to almost overnight success for the franchise. Be sure to remember the name Clyde Christensen as this entire process unfolds.
