Bear Digest

The Bears player Ben Johnson can elevate most with his offense

One accomplished Bears player above all others figures to be elevated by Ben Johnson's offense based on what he did in Detroit as a play designer.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson interviews with NFL Network's Tom Pelissero at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Ben Johnson interviews with NFL Network's Tom Pelissero at the NFL Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears coach Ben Johnson took a good look at the hand he had been dealt and found it easy to identify someone who might take the league by storm, provided Caleb Williams is able to elevate his play level in Year 2.

It involves something his offense excelled at in Detroit.

While doing his media rounds with various interviews earlier this week at the combine, one stop Johnson had was with the Bears flagship station, AM-1000, and Marc Silverman and Tom Waddle. He pointed out to them how how he thinks some of the Bears' playmakers might be more dangerous in his offense and included Rome Odunze in this.

"The contested catches outside the numbers, we'll find out what all we can help develop in terms of his inside route tree, as well," Johnson said.

However, Odunze can be expected to improve in his second year.

"And then, we've got Cole Kmet, who had a down year last year but I'm really excited to work with him," Johnson said.

Kmet has already displayed his potential, though. He had 73 receptions two years ago but dropped off last year to 47 receptions. Even while he had 47 catches, his catch percentage went up to an extremely high 85.5% in 2024.

It's someone else Johnson had in mind as a real threat.

"You look at the offensive side and there are playmakers," Johnson told Waddle & Silvy. "It's just a matter of getting it to their hands in space.

"DJ Moore is one of the best run after catch receivers in the NFL and I don't know that the rest of the league knows that per se.

"So we've just got to find a way to get him the ball a certain number of times every game."

Moore flashed this enough last season to let Johnson know on film and in their games with Detroit that he can be someone special in the right offensive coordinator's hands, and with the right passer. Moore finished sixth in the NFL and third among wide receivers in yards after the catch with 588.

Johnson's offense was known for getting players into wide open spaces, where they could gain more yards after the catch.

The Lions led the NFL in yards after the catch last season, largely because of Jahmyr Gibbs finishing 5 yards better than Moore's 588 but Amon-Ra St. Brown finished 31st but 16th among wide receivers, and Jameson Williams 17th overall and seventh among wide receivers.

Put Moore in the hands of a coach who actually knows how to get receivers open for yards after the catch and it could be a deadly combination.

Moore was only 69th for total yards the ball traveled before being caught, so he was catching a lot of very short passes and running. This wasn't the case with Detroit, where St. Brown was fifth in depth the ball traveled (851 yards) and Williams 37th (504). Even Sam LaPorta, a tight end, was catching passes farther downfield than Moore by 5 yards.

Combine Moore with catching more passes downfield and getting more yards after the catch and the Bears have a real weapon.

There is one concern to all of this.

The Lions have been fourth, sixth and first in yards after the catch with Johnson as coordinator and those were with Jared Goff at quarterback. When Goff was with the Rams, they were top 10 in yards after the catch from 2018-20 and then dropped off two seasons after Goff was with the Lions.

Was the Lions' success at YAC because of Goff or because of Johnson's play designs? And would Johnson's offense work as well in this respect with a different quarterback who is in his second year?

They're questions Johnson is about to explore with his offense through Moore and Williams.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.