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“Hype don’t win you no games.”
The salient statement was made by Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson amid a room full of reporters last week at the team’s training facility.
Unfortunately, the sixth-year Bear knows just how true that sentiment is firsthand.
“I’ve been through it too many times,” Johnson said. “I’m going to get excited when we win in November and December and we change some things and get to the playoffs, that’s when I’ll be excited.”
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The Bears have been dubbed “offseason champs” multiple years running. Each offseason brings its share of hope and optimism, making it irresistible for Bears fans to buy in every time.
Last year, everything rode on a rookie quarterback’s shoulders. Caleb Williams was selected No. 1 overall. Receiver Rome Odunze was drafted about an hour later. The Bears signed running back D’Andre Swift above market value. They traded for veteran pass-catcher Keenan Allen. They already had D.J. Moore in their arsenal. They had a talented roster on paper.
For all the hype of last year being different, of so many past years being different, Chicago has nothing to show for it.
Over the past decade, the Bears have had exactly one winning season. They’ve been to the playoffs twice (the 2020 team made it with an 8-8 record). They haven’t won anything in the postseason since 2011.
The franchise has spun its wheels in the cycle of mediocrity, despite how good things look on paper offseason after offseason. Fans are deluded into thinking this year is different every year.
That’s why it’s funny that the year players like the infamously outspoken Johnson are now preaching an outlook rooted more in realism, things might actually be different.
Good business
Chicago has taken a completely different approach to this offseason than in years past.
It started with Ben Johnson’s hiring. Johnson was the most highly coveted candidate in this year’s hiring cycle, despite never being a head coach before. The first-time head coach thing isn’t new for the Bears, but loosening the purse strings and making the monetary investment necessary to get a candidate like Johnson is. Contract terms haven’t been officially disclosed, but reports have estimated his yearly earnings to be in the eight-figure range. What’s more, Johnson came with a Rolodex of experience for his staff, including former head coach and long-time defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Those salaries don’t come cheap, either.
It was then and there that things started to feel different.
Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles hit the ground running upon Johnson’s hiring. They had no previous working relationship but share a lot of “career DNA,” even working in the same cubicle as grad assistants at Boston College a year apart when they were getting their starts.
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There were family dinners, where the pair got their wives and children together. Poles told me his kids now draw pictures to send to Johnson’s kids.
Chicago didn’t even wait for free agency to start building the roster in Johnson’s image. The Bears traded for two guards the week before free agency. They acquired Jonah Jackson, who had the best years of his career so far under Johnson in Detroit. They then took advantage of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ need to salary dump Joe Thuney’s contract by trading for the four-time Super Bowl champion.
One of their first moves in actual free agency was signing the best center on the market in Drew Dalman, a veteran whose dad was a longtime offensive line coach.
Other free agency splashes included signing defensive linemen Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo.
All of those signings were a direct contrast to the priorities of this same organization last offseason, where they invested significant capital in the skill positions and tried to get by with value signings in the trenches.
As it currently stands, they’ve surrounded their young quarterback with experience.
After taking a near-record 68 sacks as a rookie, Williams now has guys directly in front of him who know how defenses will try to counter them. He has a center snapping to him with a high football IQ and the ability to handle multiple pre-snap decisions, such as identifying the “Mike” linebacker and setting the protection accordingly, or alert Williams to blitzes or pressure. The three veterans in the middle of the offensive line should also be able to help the tackles in Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright and elevate their play.
A solid offensive line also paves the way for a bolstered run game, which in turn can take some of the pressure off Williams to make every play himself. It makes the offense more well-rounded and therefore, harder to defend.
A stout defensive line on the other side of the ball, coupled with an experienced coordinator in Allen, can also alleviate the pressure by keeping scoring to a minimum and extra possessions coming. The priority was building from the inside out.
The roster construction is different.
Chicago connection
It’s April in Lake Forest, Illinois. The voluntary portion of the offseason program has started, and most of the Bears’ starters reported to get their first impressions of Ben Johnson and his staff.
Players like Williams, Jaylon Johnson, veteran linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and right tackle Darnell Wright were on hand to speak to the media and relay their new head coach’s first messaging.
The overwhelming sentiment coming out of each player’s press conference was that of realism. That there won’t be a payoff without work. That, for as exciting as the roster looks on paper, there’s a lot to be done holistically to build a truly successful team.
It started on Day 2, with Ben Johnson making a grand entrance into the quarterbacks’ room and (metaphorically) handing Williams and the rest of the quarterback room their first quiz covering everything he had talked to them about the day before.
“So, already, first day in and challenging us,” Williams said. “Everybody loves a challenge in this sport. It’s one of the great things about the sport, every day is a challenge. Today, we got our first one.”
It’s not just the quarterbacks, either. Johnson plans on taking an individual approach for each player to not only help them reach their potential, but to raise their floor.
“What excites me as a coach, and what I’m going to challenge our coaching staff to do is define weaknesses within their game that we can work to develop and highlight,” Johnson told FOX Sports. “Something that I’ve been a part of in the past and will implement here is each guy is going to have an individual action plan of what he’s put on tape, how we can get certain elements better from him.”
This individualized approach is one that proves Johnson walks the walk, should these plans indeed be implemented. For as much as coaches say their system is tailored to their personnel, this is how it’s actually done. Johnson has said his offense in Chicago won’t look like his scheme in Detroit. Sure, elements, concepts, priorities, those can all be consistent. But Williams isn’t Jared Goff. Swift isn’t Jahmyr Gibbs. Even Dalman, as good of a signing as he was, isn’t Frank Ragnow.
It’s all about what Johnson can get out of the players he currently has. How he can fit all the pieces together into a successful, cohesive puzzle. It’s easier said than done, but having a clearly communicated plan for that goal is a good start.
“He jumped out there and set a bunch of dos, set a bunch of don’ts, set a precedent of what we’re going to be like as a team, finding our identity and all of that,” Williams said. “We’re excited. Obviously, we have to put in the work. Can’t be too excited because the work hasn’t been done, but definitely excited for what’s to come and the future.”
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For a team that lacked direction, identity and belief before his arrival, Johnson has seemingly said and done all the right things to get them started toward building a culture that includes all of that.
“We have to do it,” Williams said. “It’s something where the time, energy, effort, sacrificing — that doesn’t just mean us putting in time on the board, us being here, working out, lifting, getting stronger, faster. It’s also us hanging out in the offseason, building that bond so that when times do get tough — it’s a long season, as I can say now — it’s a long season, so being able to build that bond off the field, so when times get tough, we fight through it, we get through it, and we keep going as a team.”
Sure enough, Williams was on hand to celebrate Odunze’s birthday at a restaurant with other teammates over the weekend. He put up a story on Instagram celebrating Moore’s birthday on Monday from the Bears’ locker room.
Johnson’s messaging so far has been loud and clear: He believes in this roster, but success doesn’t come without a whole lot of work both on and off the field.
Those crystalline expectations are a direct departure from what Bears players said they had last year. When things went wrong last season, it spiraled into disaster with no clear path forward. There was conflicting messaging from player to player, coach to coach and fans were left grasping for answers in the wake of all of it.
And though this is the first week of Johnson at the helm with players in the building, at least the messaging is all consistent.
The messaging is different.
Proof is in the product
So, where does that leave the fans who want to believe in this team? A city desperate for athletic relevance? A founding franchise that hasn’t reached the mountaintop in exactly four decades?
There are still question marks. Games won’t be played for another five months. We still don’t know a lot about Johnson as a head coach. When mistakes inevitably happen, when injuries threaten the depth chart, when the Bears are in the thick of their schedule and have to play the damned Green Bay Packers again … how does the team respond? What happens then?
What’s the saying? To get results you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done.
In other words, you have to do things differently.
That’s what the Bears have done this offseason.
This team is already different.
Carmen Vitali is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.
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