Becoming an NFL head coach is not easy. It’s the exact opposite, in fact. Leading a group of grown adults in a sport built on emotion and belief is incredibly difficult. It takes a significant degree of intelligence, conviction, and charisma. However, there is another trait that George McCaskey had learned over many years of watching his beloved Chicago Bears that was necessary: authenticity. He often found the most successful coaches, both in Chicago and elsewhere, were at their best when they displayed their true selves to the locker room.

According to Dan Wiederer of The Athletic, there was a moment early in 2025 when the Bears’ owner sensed that new head coach Ben Johnson looked a little unsure of himself. He wasn’t communicating to players with his true personality. So McCaskey decided to step in.

In fact, McCaskey emphasizes, before Johnson’s super-charged “Good, Better, Best” postgame sermons became a cultural phenomenon in Chicago, he had seen a too-tame version after one of the Bears’ earliest wins last season.

“His postgame message was something like, ‘Well, golly gee, that was a daggum ringer, wasn’t it, fellas?’” McCaskey says with a laugh. “And I went to him and said, ‘Did somebody get to you?‘”

McCaskey encouraged Johnson to remain authentic, offering his blessing for whatever that might look like, sound like, or turn into. Thus, Johnson reacted to the franchise’s first playoff victory in 15 years with fiery invective.

Shortly after that meeting, we saw the debut of the now-iconic “Good, Better, Best” chants. Johnson displayed his passion for the game, leading to unforgettable moments like stripping off his shirt after beating Philadelphia to screaming, ‘Fuck the Packers!’ after that unforgettable win in the playoffs.

George McCaskey has plenty of critics.

It is understandable. Since taking over as team chairman in 2011, he’s had a rough track record at finding the right leadership for his franchise. Phil Emery and Ryan at GM, and Marc Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy, and Matt Eberflus as head coaches are bound to earn lots of scorn from fans. Still, there is one thing you can’t deny about the 70-year-old. He cares. The Bears mean everything to him. He’s grown up watching them since he was a child during the latter years of George Halas himself.

There are plenty of owners out there who don’t need football. They own a team more for prestige than passion for the game. That is not McCaskey. He cares when things aren’t going the right direction. While he isn’t the type to intervene personally, he at least is willing to offer advice and encouragement when it feels necessary. He picked his moment perfectly, it seems. Once Johnson had McCaskey’s blessing to stop holding back, we finally saw the true coach he was meant to be.

Johnson and McCaskey are on the same page.

That is the most important takeaway from all of this. One of the crucial factors needed for a successful organization is synergy between the three men at the top. In this case, it’s George McCaskey, Coach Johnson, and general manager Ryan Poles. All signs point to that finally being a real thing for the Bears. Poles and Johnson work in close tandem on constructing the roster. Johnson has McCaskey’s full blessing to do whatever he feels is necessary to build a championship culture.

If the Bears do reach the mountaintop in the coming years, Johnson and Poles will likely get most of the credit. That comes with the territory. However, it is important not to forget little moments like this. McCaskey stepping in to keep his young head coach focused on what matters is one of those crucial twists in the path that often have far-reaching effects. Give the man credit for recognizing what must be done. The last thing he wanted was a robot running his team.

He might not be the general manager, but Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is way more involved in the NFL draft process than most realize. Several reports have stated that he has significant say in personnel decisions. In other words, no selection happens without the green light from him. That was plainly evident from last year. Up until then, the Bears had operated in a specific way under GM Ryan Poles. They focused on traits and targeted positions of need. With Johnson’s influence last year, they focused less on need and more on taking the best player available.

It is a simple and effective approach that several proven organizations have adopted. However, it doesn’t stop there. Something else has become noteworthy with Johnson since he started gaining more influence in draft decisions, going back a few years to his time in Detroit. He always targets younger prospects. Every offensive player he’s been involved with since 2021 was never over the age of 21.

• OT Penei Sewell – 21
• WR Jameson Williams – 21
• RB Jahmyr Gibbs – 21
• TE Colston Loveland – 20

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but history might be influencing Ben Johnson.

The coach entered the NFL in 2012 as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins. During his time there, he would see them make eight 1st round picks. The three best ones were right tackle Ja’Wuan James, left tackle Laremy Tunsil, and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. All were 21 years old. Every other player was 22 or older. All but one had disappointing careers. That was quarterback Ryan Tannehill. It is possible that the seed was planted back then that the wise decision is to target the player who was productive in college, even though they were incredibly young.

Once he saw that strategy continue to work in Detroit, it laid the foundation of how Johnson wished to operate in Chicago. Loveland fit all of the criteria. He was uniquely gifted for his position, won a lot at Michigan, and was only 20. He was an instant sensation for the Bears as a rookie. If we assume the Bears stick to this approach for the 2026 draft, it narrows the list of potential names they might consider.

Johnson might be onto something.

If you want further proof that this method has some merit, just look at the Bears’ recent history of 1st round pick. You’ll find that several notable names were 21 or younger when the team selected them.

• Brian Urlacher
• Tommie Harris
• Roquan Smith
• Darnell Wright

In fact, the only player who was an outright bust that fit the criteria was David Terrell in 2001. Everybody was at least solid. Why is this? The running theory is that younger players who are that productive so early often have the best potential to make a successful NFL transition. They have a higher ceiling with greater room to develop physically and technically.

Data backs this up. Michael Salfino of FiveThirtyEight wrote an article on this subject back in 2018. He came to a fascinating conclusion. Players who were 21 or younger had a higher Career Approximate Value (43.8) than older players.

• 22 years old was 42.9
• 23 years old was 39.5
• 24 years old was 33.6

We must not forget that Ben Johnson was a math whiz in college. Crunching numbers and recognizing trends was something he was very good at. It is more than plausible that he caught onto this trend years ago and aimed to use it once he took control of his own team. We must keep it in mind when we look at the list of potential players the Bears might consider at #25.

One thing the Chicago Bears did a great job of last year in the NFL draft was letting the board come to them. In other words, they didn’t reach at positions of need. They stayed true to the talent available and took the best players, even if they might not have been at more pressing positions. That is how they ended up with Colston Loveland and Luther Burden. Both were outstanding as rookies last year. It stands to reason that general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson will stick to the same approach this year. That means positions that may not be considered needs will be taken seriously. Enter Makai Lemon.

Nobody would imagine the Bears would take a wide receiver in the 1st round. However, after losing D.J. Moore to a trade and having questions about Rome Odunze’s health, the team may wish to keep stacking playmakers. Lemon has been penciled in as a top 15 pick for most of the past two months. Yet from what Jeremy Fowler of ESPN is hearing, his stock is a little more volatile than that.

Scouts say Lemon’s tape is excellent, but his measurables and predraft process raise questions.

“What are you getting?” a personnel executive with an NFL team asked. “I love that dude, watching him last year, but evaluating him through the spring, which version of this player will show up in my building? He didn’t test great, had a couple of rough interviews from what I’ve been told. Seems like something is missing, or maybe I’m missing something.”

Another NFL personnel source said Lemon’s recall and detail of USC’s offense was not the strongest during a team interview. If teams love his intensity and competitive demeanor, they could overlook that. Lemon’s strengths are route running, running after the catch and contact balance. And, to be sure, plenty of star NFL players did not conduct great predraft interviews.

Lemon’s 40-yard dash time ranged from 4.46 to 4.53 seconds at USC’s pro day, according to reports. One AFC scout considers him “too small and too slow. Maybe he can overcome that, but it’s an issue.”

Ben Johnson would not fear Makai Lemon.

Let’s start with the obvious appeal. The USC receiver is probably the most polished route-runner in the class. He shows an almost effortless ability to shake defensive backs and create separation with sharp, quick cuts. Every time the Trojans quarterback needed a big conversion, Lemon was the primary read. His fluidity, strong hands, and competitive aggression with the ball in his hands make him difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, this is the draft, and one problem often looms large this time of year.

Measurables.

The harsh reality is there’s nothing special about Lemon. He is on the shorter side at 5’11” with 30-inch arms. That means his catch radius isn’t the best. On top of that, his speed hovers around the 4.5 range. That isn’t bad, but it’s not exciting. Players like that don’t tend to go in the first half of the 1st round. I looked back at some wide receivers with athletic profiles similar to Lemon’s and checked where they were drafted. You’ll find that most of them landed between picks #20 and #43.

We all know what Ben Johnson accomplished with St. Brown in Detroit. It isn’t crazy to imagine he could duplicate those results with Lemon in Chicago.

Lemon offers multiple good reasons to draft him.

His polish and playing temperament fit exactly what the Bears covet. Johnson’s offense is run through the slot receiver. They haven’t really had anybody who thrives in that role. Makai Lemon would change that. We also know that quarterback Caleb Williams is already familiar with him, having worked together for one season in 2023. This also gives the Bears some insurance regarding their wide receiver room. Odunze still has a lot to prove and must put together a full season before the team can truly consider him a foundational piece.

When we talk about player-team fit, it doesn’t get more obvious than Lemon to Chicago. He would land under a head coach who would know how to use him. His presence would allow Odunze and Burden to play their more natural positions on the outside. The threat he poses would even divert some attention from Colston Loveland, which opponents do not want. Remember, this isn’t a top 10 pick. When you’re picking 25th, the smart thing to do is just take good players.

If Lemon is there, it’s an obvious decision.

Holding the 25th overall pick in the 1st round puts the Chicago Bears in an interesting conundrum. Given the nature of this 2026 draft class, they could easily look to move up for one of the few premium players. That is something Bears general manager Ryan Poles has never done, though. Most of the time, he’s chosen to stick and pick, taking the best player on his board, as was the case in 2024 and 2025. However, we also know Poles isn’t afraid to move down if the situation warrants it. We saw that three years ago in 2023.

That is why speculation remains strong that the Bears may look to move down from #25. They have several starting spots that still need filling, and seven picks might be too slim a margin to work with. There are also rumors that they aren’t overly happy with the options they’re projected to have at that spot. This was confirmed thanks to draft insider Dane Brugler. He recently unveiled his latest iteration of “The Beast,” a massive series of scouting reports on over 300 players in this class. What was interesting from the Bears’ perspective was the player rankings. Here are some notable names and where Brugler stacked them.

• EDGE Akheem Mesidor – #28
• OT Blake Miller – #29
• EDGE T.J. Parker – #31
• OT Max Iheanachor – #33
• DT Peter Woods – #35
• EDGE Malachi Lawrence – #36
• EDGE Zion Young – #37

The Chicago Bears have plenty of incentive to do this.

This means barring a wild series of twists in the top half of the 1st round, that several players projected as potential targets for the Bears should be available at the bottom of the 1st or top of the 2nd round. That screams trade down from their perspective. The only reason not to would be the possibility that they love one of them in particular and are scared that moving down would ruin their chances of getting him. While always possible, it doesn’t sound like this is that sort of class. A lot of players are being clustered into the same category.

Let’s say moving down to the top of the 2nd means Mesidor, Miller, and Young are likely to be drafted, but you still have a shot at Iheanachor, Woods, Lawrence, and Parker. Would you still trade down? The answer is probably yes. The Bears would still have a strong chance of landing a good player while picking up one or two extra picks. Poles has done this before. He’s shown he can handle the process, having secured a massive package from Carolina while still landing Darnell Wright.

The trick is always the same.

You need a dance partner to engineer this kind of scenario. It’s one thing for the Chicago Bears to want to trade down. That won’t matter much if no teams are interested in coming up from the 30-40 range. Hooks aren’t much use without bait. The Bears have to hope that a prospect will be on the board that somebody is anxious to grab. Usually, that means a quarterback. Everybody knows Fernando Mendoza is going #1 overall to Las Vegas. Is anybody else good enough to draw that kind of attention like Jaxson Dart did last year?

We may soon find out. There have been plenty of cases where the Bears looked primed to move down but couldn’t because the offers weren’t there. That is something they can’t control. However, the phone lines are open. Poles likely has a good feel for who the interested parties may or may not be. All things hinge on how the top of the draft unfolds. If some unexpected names slip to #25, Chicago will have a choice: take one of them or dangle them as bait.