(670 The Score) New Bears head coach Ben Johnson has a creative offensive mind, which was clear in the countless trick plays that the Lions ran in his three years as the offensive coordinator in Detroit.
Johnson isn’t shy about testing the limits of offensive play-calling, but those decisions come after an inherent trust has been established in his players. With that in mind, Johnson explained on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday morning that he'll only open up the bag of tricks if the Bears have earned his belief that they can execute each call.
“All the bells and whistles, those are fun,” Johnson said. “Those are fun for the fans. And I’ll tell the guys this as well: We are in the entertainment industry, and we are entertainers on game day. That’s part of it. We’re competitors, and we need to win, but also, let’s have a little fun while we’re doing it. So, that’s a big portion of it. But none of it can be done unless the fundamentals are really hammered home. That will be our challenge here. How far can we push the fun part, the trick plays, all that stuff? I’d love to get to it. But we’ll see what our guys can handle, what they can do well. End of the day, we’re going to do things that we trust our players to do.
“We’ll take this thing as far as our players are willing to take it. Right now, I'm getting to know this crew, I'm getting to know this locker room. And I’ve been really encouraged by the players I’ve already met and everything I’ve heard from Ryan (Poles) in the meantime.”
Johnson, 38, was officially hired by the Bears on Tuesday. The Lions had the NFL's top-scoring offense in 2024 under his guidance.