Artificial Intelligence (AI) has arrived in every form in human culture. Needless to say, it isn’t the most popular topic in the world. Companies trying to push have been met with massive backlash. Those who admit to using it as part of their work are accused of cheating and stealing opportunities from living, breathing human beings. Yet one fact remains impossible to argue. AI is here. It isn’t going anywhere. You can waste time fighting against it or find productive ways to use it. It appears Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson chose the latter.
That isn’t surprising. Johnson was a computer science major in college. AI would certainly be something that interests him on a personal level, let alone a professional one. While he has no plans to replace his coaches or anyone else with AI assistants, Johnson knows it could be a great tool to help make his players better. The trick was finding good ways to use it. His solution was a novel one. Rather than just use it to crunch data as most would, he opted to put its more creative abilities to the test. According to Dan Pompei of The Athletic, it involved using Bears rookies as guinea pigs.
“Repeatedly, Johnson has told his players never to dive for a pylon unless it’s a fourth down or a 2-point conversion attempt. But in an earlier practice, rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas disregarded the rule. In the meeting that followed, Johnson broke up the team with an AI-generated slide of Thomas diving for the pylon while flipping off the camera.”
Ben Johnson didn’t stop there.
One of the standout moments of early training camp involved rookie-on-rookie violence when 6th round defensive tackle Jordan Van Den Berg got into an altercation with undrafted guard Caden Barnett. Both young men have reputations for being tough and nasty. Van Den Berg didn’t appreciate Barnett’s blocking approach and ended up suplexing him to the ground. Johnson immediately recognized an opportunity. So during a team meeting, he made toughness the talking point. Then he unveiled another video.
“Johnson asks the team to think of some of the toughest sports they have ever seen. Then he talks about Power Slap and shows the team his top knockouts in Power Slap, counting down from five to one.
His top Power Slap is a surprise. It’s one combatant knocking out another, but the slapper has van den Berg’s face superimposed on his, and the slapee has the Vanilla Gorilla’s (Barnett’s) face.
Players crack up.”
Johnson deserves credit for his original thinking.
It is a pretty safe assumption that no other head coach in the NFL has thought of that. Most likely use AI for the typical stuff: streamline data, clip game and practice videos, etc. The Bears do that too, but Ben Johnson felt there was more potential there. It seems he was right. The reaction he got from players was precisely what he was hoping for. He knows more than anybody how droning meetings can be. They’re long and detailed, basically the same as taking classes in college. Unless you find ways to break up the monotony, it will be difficult to keep players from zoning out.
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For all the talk about Johnson having a computer mind, he continues to show a remarkably sharp grasp of psychology. He’s not teaching robots how to play the game. These are people. Sometimes, people need a good laugh to gain some levity in high-intensity jobs like playing in the NFL.
It will be fun hearing more stories like this in the future.
You can bet Johnson won’t stop finding ways to use AI. If he believes it can help the Bears win a championship, even in small ways, he will use it. No tool should be off-limits. You’ll often find it’s the teams who are willing to stay on the cutting edge on and off the field that have the advantage. Ironically, Chicago was living proof of this in the NFL’s early years. George Halas was widely known for experimenting with new ideas and new technology. Somewhere along the way, they stopped doing that.
Johnson brought it back. It is fine if you don’t like AI. There are many valid reasons to. Still, the Bears’ head coach only has so many hours in a day. He can’t do everything. AI gives him added opportunities to both teach and motivate his players. There was no way he’d turn that down. Give him credit for finding non-invasive ways to use it. The locker room certainly loves it.
