Dennis Allen knows what kind of support Ben Johnson needs as a head coach.
The reason: he was Johnson once. Allen, the Bears’ new defensive coordinator, was a 39-year-old first-time head coach when the Raiders started their 2012 regular season. Johnson will be 39 when the Bears play their first game with him as their head coach.
“I think sometimes we can learn through other people’s trials and tribulations instead of having to go through them ourselves — I think that’s a better way to learn,” Allen said Thursday. “I think anything that I can do to help him just from my own personal experience and what I went through as a first-time head coach, a second-time head coach. You know, the challenges are there on a daily basis as a head coach … being able to deal with those as they come along.
“Every day you wake up, you’re coming into the office and you know that there’s going to be things that you’re going to have to deal with. And then it’s just really about, how do you react to those things?”
Allen, 52, gives Johnson something former head coach Matt Eberflus never had — a former NFL head coach on staff. Johnson reached out to Allen after the Saints fired him in November following two-and-a-half seasons as head coach. Johnson knew that he’d need a veteran voice on his coaching staff, wherever he wound up.
Allen had never met Johnson, but he was close with Lions coach Dan Campbell and then-Lions defensive coordinator — and current Jets head coach — Aaron Glenn from their shared love of alma mater Texas A&M.
Allen stayed in New Orleans after he was fired, enjoying Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family, unencumbered, for the first time in years. They went on vacations. By New Year’s Day, he was ready to resume his coaching career.
Allen was thrilled when Johnson chose the Bears. Even though their defense stumbled in the second half of the season, falling from 12th to 27th in yards allowed, Allen saw a talent level that didn’t exist in some other job openings.
“There were some pieces in place,” he said.
Allen’s 4-3 defensive scheme leans heavily on man defense, so he was drawn to the length and physicality of cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson and Kyler Gordon. He praised Gordon, who is expected to receive a contract extension before playing on the last year of his rookie deal, as an “outstanding” nickel cornerback.
“I think the foundation for what we want to do is there, and then I’m just excited about finally getting these guys in here and us having the opportunity to work with him and see exactly what we have,” Allen said. “Then we have to be creative with how we want to do things.”
The Bears finished last in sacks in 2022, second-to-last in 2023 and 17th in 2024. They need an influx of talent on the defensive line, be it through free agency or the draft. That’s part of what Allen will begin evaluating in the coming weeks.
Allen was the Broncos’ coordinator in 2011, then the Saints’ from midway through 2015 to 2021. In each of his last two years before taking over for head coach Sean Payton, Allen’s defenses ranked in the top five in fewest points, the top seven in fewest yards allowed and the top 10 in takeaways.
The Bears have a long way to go to get there. But not nearly as long as some of the other places Allen could have landed.
“We want to be an attacking, aggressive style of defense,” he said. “I think we want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the tempo to us. We’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to challenge everything, we’re going to play the game the right way, we’re going to play a tough, physical brand of football.”