The Chicago Bears pieced together a divisive 2026 NFL draft class, both to fans and the wider media. It wasn’t so much that they took a load of bad players. By most accounts, their selections were met with relative positivity. It was more the process involved. The team obviously needed help on defense after ranking 29th last year. Yet general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson ended up using three of their top four draft picks on offensive players. After taking safety Dillon Thieneman in the 1st round, they went with center Logan Jones, tight end Sam Roush, and wide receiver Zavion Thomas through the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
When asked about the odd approach to this class, Johnson made it clear the team’s process wasn’t focused on specific positions. They wanted to add players who fit their team identity.
“We’re looking for high-level competitors. (We’re after) guys who, if you took football away, they’d really not know what to do with themselves…We found guys who fit our DNA and what we want to be about.”
The reasoning was pretty simple. In Johnson’s experience as a coach, he’s often found that such players end up pushing a team toward where it wants to go.
“When you have guys like that, they usually find a way to come out on top.”
Criticize the failed investments on defense if you wish, but one thing that can’t be questioned is the Bears’ vision. They have a clear idea of what kind of team they want to build, and it’s a favorable one. While it would be easy to say Johnson developed this strategy on his own, the truth is simpler.
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He’s stealing it from Detroit.
Ben Johnson learned the value of competitiveness with the Lions.
A few years ago, some media members for Pride Of Detroit noticed a specific approach the Lions took to the draft every year. The buzzword that emerged from their research was “grit.” The dictionary defines passion and perseverance as the drive to work toward long-term, meaningful goals, serving as a motivational force to continue working toward challenges despite setbacks, failures, or slow progress. Put simply, it describes players who are resilient, persistent, and passionate. That is why the two men created the GRIT index, intended to help identify which players the Lions may target and why. It was centered around three categories.
- Identity
- Football character
- Football IQ
By sticking to this philosophy, the Lions have enjoyed some of their best drafting in years under general manager Brad Holmes. It continued in the 2026 draft as Detroit landed three players with GRIT scores over 9.0. However, they weren’t alone. One team outpaced them with four such prospects.
This should serve as undeniable evidence that Johnson has brought the same philosophy to Chicago. He saw such players help build the Lions into a contender, so it would make sense for the Bears to target them. As the saying goes, it’s a copycat league.
Johnson’s decision isn’t anything new.
For years, late Bears owner George Halas tried to find somebody who could build the roster properly after he’d retired. After years of ineptitude, he got fed up and decided to poach Jim Finks from the Minnesota Vikings. Finks was largely responsible for building the roster that reached four Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976. If it worked for them, there was no reason it couldn’t work in Chicago. Halas’ decision proved correct. Finks was the main architect of that 1985 team. It is honestly surprising the Bears never tried that strategy again, especially after watching Green Bay and Minnesota have so much success in the following decades.
It is somewhat ironic that they did it almost by accident when they hired Ben Johnson. Though not a general manager, they granted him significant authority over personnel decisions. That enabled him to make changes to the player evaluation approach that Chicago had. Poles seemed more than happy to make adjustments. The early results from last year signaled it was smart to do so. There is no reason to think the philosophy will suddenly steer them wrong now.
