The Bears hired Ben Johnson in large part because of his offensive expertise and the hope that he’ll craft an ideal offense for young quarterback Caleb Williams. He’ll be responsible for a lot more than that, however, as a first-time head coach.
Johnson must work quickly to assemble his staff — the Patriots already have hired offensive and defensive coordinators — and it needs to include a reputable voice on defense. He described his philosophy on that side of the ball as mirroring the way he views offense.
“How do we set up our quarterback to have the most success within a game and how do we disrupt the opposing quarterback?” Johnson said Wednesday after his introductory news conference at Halas Hall. “Whoever we bring in here as defensive coordinator, he’s going to understand that that quarterback disruption is something we focus on every week.”
The Bears will need to adhere to The Rooney Rule and go through a full and fair interview process, but word already has leaked that former Saints and Raiders head coach Dennis Allen is high on Johnson’s list.
Johnson and Allen have never worked together, but two of Johnson’s former co-workers with the Lions — coach Dan Campbell and former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn — put in a good word for him.
“We faced that defense a year ago when he was in New Orleans and I gained a lot of respect for it,” Johnson said. “Everywhere he has been, they have been a top third-down team, a top red-zone team, so there are a lot of pillars about what he does schematically that would be appealing to me.
“But there are a number of really good candidates and … I’ve been more than pleased to see a number of people reach out and be interested in joining this staff.”
Allen, 52, went 8-28 with the Raiders from 2012 through ’14 and 18-25 with the Saints over the last three seasons before getting fired. In 14 seasons as a head coach or defensive coordinator, he has had five top-10 defenses and five in the bottom five.
Johnson added that he hadn’t had a chance to meet with “a number of really good” assistant coaches from predecessor Matt Eberflus’ staff that are still under contract with the Bears, but that he hoped to do so as soon as possible and give them clarity on where they stand.
