Bear Digest

The opening day Bears coaching legacy Ben Johnson is joining

A look at how Chicago Bears coaches have fared in their first game wearing the headsets and also before there were headsets.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson's big debut has arrived.
Ben Johnson's big debut has arrived. | David Banks-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson makes his historic debut as head coach of the Bears Monday night.

He is the 18th head coach in franchise history, if you count one tag-team operation as two coaches or leave out one man who actually did the job before George Halas and before they were the Bears.

Halas was preceded by former Millikin coach Robert E. Brannan as the sideline boss when the team was known as the Decatur Staleys in 1919, but at that point it was an amateur industrial team with workers representing a starch company. They took the Central Illinois championship in that season.

Then Halas became player-coach in 1920 when the NFL was formed as the APFA. Halas was given the team and moved it to "Cubs Park" in 1921 as the Chicago Staleys , before their name change.

Debuts have gone both ways for Bears coaches. In NFL debuts, Bears coaches are 6-9-1. Here's how it broke down over the years.

Matt Eberflus 2022

19-10 win

In a downpour at Solder Field, the Bears trailed 10-0 but scored 19 second-half points with Justin Fields leading the way for a 19-10 win over the 49ers and Trey Lance. Fields threw a 51-yard TD pass to Dante Pettis and an 18-yarder to Equanimeous St. Brown, then led the winners in doing a face-first slip 'n slide on the soaked Soldier Field grass.

Matt Nagy 2018

24-23 loss

The Bears lost 24-23 at Lambeau Field despite taking a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter behind the pass rushing of Khalil Mack only a week after his trade by the Raiders. The Bears knocked Aaron Rodgers out of the game in the first half with a knee injury and Mack had a sack, a forced fumble, a recovery, an interception and  a TD return, but Rodgers returned and threw for three TDs, including a 75-yard winner to Randall Cobb. against Vic Fangio's defense.

John Fox 2015

31-23 loss

The Bears led in Fox's debut 17-16 early in the fourth quarter at Soldier Field but Rodgers threw a 5-yard TD pass to Cobb and Eddie Lacy ran in from 2 yards out in a 31-23 Packers win. A 141-yard effort by Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall's eight catches for 104 yards and Jay Cutler's 225 yards passing were wasted.

Marc Trestman 2013

24-21 win

The former CFL coach with the Montreal Alouettes took over as coach and started with an eventful 24-21 win at Soldier Field. The Bengals held Forte to 50 yards rushing but Cutler threw two TD passes and went 21 of 33 for 242 yards, while Brandon Marshall hauled in eight passes for 104 yards and a TD. Charles "Peanut" Tillman picked off two passes and Tim Jennings stripped the ball away twice, while Robbie Gould made a career-long 58-yard field goal.

Lovie Smith 2004

20-16 loss

Rex Grossman's third-and-goal pass to David Terrell from the 12 was picked off by Bracy Walker and the Lions survived the Bears 20-16 at Soldier Field in Smith's first game. Terrell had five catches 126 yards in the game.

Dick Jauron 1999

20-17 win

Shane Matthews threw TD passes to John Allred and Curtis Enis and the Bears hung on 20-17 at Solder Field in Dick Jauron's debut as coach, after taking a 20-3 halftime lead. The real fun came when Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham labeled the attack of Bears offensive coordinator Gary Crowton a "razzle dazzle" style and college attack. It was laced with college style bubble screens, but it worked that day.

Dave Wannstedt 1993

26-20 loss

Dave Wannstedt's era began with a tight battle that Phil Simms won 26-20 at Soldier Field for New York with a 1-yard TD pass to Jared Bunch with just over a minute remaining. Ironhead Heyward had 51 rushing yards and Jim Harbaugh threw for a TD to Terry Obee, but the Bears offense was largely lacking.

Mike Ditka 1982

17-10 loss

In the start to Mike Ditka's career at Pontiac's Silverdome, the Bears looked punchless and quarterback Bob Avellini got beat up in a 17-10 Chicago defeat. Vince Evans came in and neither QB could move it through the air. Even Walter Payton was stymied with only 26 yards rushing. Long a staple for the Bears, kicker Bob Thomas was booting this season for the Lions and made a go-ahead field goal. Then Billy Sims ran for a 3-yard TD to put it away.

Neill Armstrong 1978

17-10 win

Payton scored on a 5-yard run, Thomas made a 29-yard field goal and Roland Harper scored the game-winner on a 1-yard run to make the debut of Neill Armstrong as coach a successful one at Solider Field, 17-10 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Virgil Livers and Terry Schmidt intercepted Cards' QB Jim Hart in a defensive standoff.

Jack Pardee 1975

35-7 loss

Jim Finks brought Jack Pardee in from the World Football League to coach the team after firing Abe Gibron and the Bears were ill-suited to combat Bert Jones and the Baltimore Colts in a 35-7 loss at Soldier Field. Walter Payton carried eight times in his NFL debut for no yards and caught a pass for minus-4 yards, and QB Bobby Douglass threw for 87 yards as the Bears were held to 121 net yards.

Abe Gibron 1972

38-21 loss

Abe Gibron's first game as coach started with the Bears down 31-7 at Soldier Field at halftime in a 38-21 loss. Punter/tight nd Bob Parsons caught a 6-yard TD pass from Douglass to tie it at 7-7 in the first quarter and it was all downhill after that as Falcons QB Bob Berry threw for two TDs and ran for one.

Jim Dooley 1968

38-28 loss

Assistant coach Jim Dooley was appointed by Halas to take over as head coach upon his final retirement after the 1967 season. Despite 105 yards rushing by Gale Sayers, two TD runs by Ronnie Bull and one 12-yard TD run by Brian Piccolo, the Bears lost 38-28 at Wrigley Field. Sonny Jurgensen threw for four TDs against Dick Butkus and the defense.

Paddy Driscoll 1956

28-21 loss

Former NFL standout and Cardinals and Chicago St. Mel coach Paddy Driscoll took over the team when Halas stepped away for two years and had a successful first season as he led them to a 9-2-1 record and the NFL Championship Game, where they were blown out by the Giants. In the opener, they were thwarted by the passing of QB George Shaw and running of fullback Alan Ameche in a 28-21 loss in Baltimore to the Colts.

Luke Johnsos-Hunk Anderson 1942

16-0 win

Longtime Halas assistants Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos took over the team at midseason as co-coaches, on Nov. 1, 1942, when the Bears' founder left to help with the war effort in the U.S. Navy. The Bears won 16-0 at Wrigley Field on a 33-yard Scooter McLean TD pass from Charlie O'Rourke, a 26-yard TD pass from Sid Luckman to Harry Clarke and a 16-yard Frank Maznicki field goal. The Bears went on to lose the championship game 14-6 to the Redskins that year but Halas returned after the war and the Bears won the last of their four championships in that decade in 1946.

Ralph Jones 1930

0-0 tie

For the first time, Halas stepped away from the team and focused on getting them through the depression. He turned over the team to Ralph Jones as coach for three years and the Bears fought the Brooklyn Dodgers to a scoreless tie to start the season in front of 10,000 fans at what was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926. Jones was a high school basketball coach in Indiana, then at Purdue and Illinois. He also coached football and later was a coach and athletic director at Lake Forest Academy.

George Halas 1920

20-0 win

The Decatur Staleys, with Halas as a player-coach, beat the Moline Universal Tractors 20-0 to start the first season in franchise history at Staley Field in Decatur. Dutch Sternamen had all three Staleys TDs on runs of 7, 5 and 4 yards.

Source: Pro Football Reference, "Halas by Halas," "The Football History of the Chicago Bears"

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published | Modified
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.