The Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as their head coach because he was one of the most successful offensive coordinators in the NFL. They felt he had the necessary expertise to help cultivate quarterback Caleb Williams into the star they envisioned. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. It didn’t take long to realize that Johnson, beyond the offensive genius, is an intense competitor who holds everybody to a high standard, players and coaches alike. However, it didn’t just stop there.
One fundamental belief that Johnson clung to as an offensive playcaller is that the less predictable you are, the more successful you’ll be. He often talks about making different plays look the same and the same plays look different. It goes a step further. One thing he is highly conscious of is avoiding the obvious in certain situations. He took that to sicko levels in 2025, as Robert Mays pointed out in The Athletic Football Show. The Bears threw the ball more in 2nd and short situations than any other team, and ran the ball more in 3rd and medium situations than any other team.
Ben Johnson has the guts to go where nobody else will.
Conventional wisdom in the NFL has always been that you run the ball on 2nd and short. It’s basically a free down. If you don’t get the first down, you’re still left with 3rd and short, which should be an easy completion for the quarterback. Johnson sees it differently. Rather than see it as a freebie run play for a conversion, why not use it as an opportunity for a big play down the field? Hitting a 30-yard pass is far more valuable than converting a three-yard run. Thinking about it like that, it’s hard to understand why other coaches haven’t adopted this thinking sooner.
Then you come to the 3rd and medium runs. This is the one that truly goes against the grain. Every fiber in the being of coaches is to throw the ball if it’s beyond two yards to the sticks. The risks of being stuffed for no gain are too great, and everybody will think they’re a fool for trying something so reckless. Not Johnson. He knows the defenses think the same way. Anything beyond three yards to a first down is a clear passing situation, and they adjust their personnel accordingly. That means a lighter box.
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If that is the case, Johnson will run it. Chicago did that 28 times last season, five more than the next-closest teams.
The Bears certainly made it work.
Despite doing it more often than any other team by miles, they still averaged a healthy 4.2 yards per carry in those situations. By far the most critical usage of that strategy came in overtime against Green Bay last December. Facing 3rd and 3 from their own 43-yard line, the Bears couldn’t risk giving the ball back to the Packers. Did that deter Ben Johnson? Not in the slightest. He calls a counter play to Kyle Monangai with both Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet pulling, picking up 11 yards. One play later, a play action fake to Monangai opened up the now-iconic 46-yard touchdown bomb to D.J. Moore for the win.
Every decision leads into the next one. That is what makes Johnson such a nightmare for defenses to deal with. He doesn’t do conventional, and unpredictability is anathema to successful defense in the NFL. It always has been. Tendencies are the enemy of progress. Johnson strives to erase them as much as one can. He’ll just go to levels that most others wouldn’t dare to touch. It can be incredibly stressful to watch as a fan, but nobody can deny it has the desired effect.
