Bear Digest

Projecting altered personnel usage for Ben Johnson's Bears offense

It will look different for the Bears on offense this year than it did with Ben Johnson's Detroit attack and roles for returning players in Chicago's offense can be altered.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cole Kmet turns upfield after a reception against Detroit. It's probably safe to assume he'll get targeted more than in 2024.
Cole Kmet turns upfield after a reception against Detroit. It's probably safe to assume he'll get targeted more than in 2024. | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

There is great anticipation over how Bears coach Ben Johnson will change the use of players on the Bears offense.

The reason for this is the last coaching staff specialized at rendering perfectly useful or effective players entirely ineffective and useless. Johnson’s reputation is quite the opposite.

Case in point: tight end Gerald Everett.  Everett had been targeted between 50 and 87 times over six straight seasons following his rookie year, and without being injured he just finished a season when he was targeted 13 times.

It's difficult to believe a tight end who started the season 29 years old and was always productive suddenly lost his skill set without being injured.

Whether Everett is around or not this year is a decision not yet made but at his contract cost it seems less likely he will be. There are other players whose use last year will look different.

“It's not going to look like it did in Detroit,” Johnson said. “We have a completely different personnel group than what we did in Detroit. This entire offense is going to be predicated on the guys that we have available.”

This might be the case but Johnson still has his likes and dislikes and it affects tendencies. He might be building from the ground floor up but his own preferences enter into everything.

Here are players who could be used in different ways by Johnson's offense once he gets his attack in operation based on what he did in Detroit.

TE Cole Kmet

While Everett's pay and lack of production could mean his departure, he wasn't the only tight end on the Bears who suffered a great reduction in usage. Kmet had more reps on offense than any tight end in the league with 994. This doesn't include his reps as a long sanpper against the Jaguars. Yet, he was targeted the fewest times (55) since he was a rookie (44) in 2020. In fact, his targeting dropped from 90 to 55. His catch total dropped to 47 from 73.

While his targets dropped, Kmet dropped only one pass for the second straight season and Caleb Williams had a passer rating of 119.2 when he targeted Kmet. This was following a year when Justin Fields had a high number of 112.9 when he target Kmet. Obviously Kmet's ability hadn't diminished in any way but Shane Waldron's offense didn't scheme him as the first option enough. If it was Caleb Williams' fault, you'd have a much lower passer rating when targeted.

While Johnson stressed this isn't the Lions offense, it only makes sense Kmet would get more chances at receptions in 2025 and some of the explanation goes back to Detroit.

Whether it was T.J. Hockenson and Brock Wright or Sam LaPorta and Wright, Johnson made sure that tight ends got targeted and had plenty of reps. Tight ends got around 1,400 reps or more in every one of his three seasons as coordinator. They had impacts, particularly Hockenson and LaPorta.

Kmet's numbers will climb.

RB D'Andre Swift

Swift should get far less carries. He became a load back with 252 carries last season, a career high. Yet he averaged only 3.8 yards a carry, by far a career low. Whether it means he becomes an outright backup or splits time with another back isn't clear. In fact, he could even be a cut victim for salary cap purposes after June 1 or be traded. But he does have breakaway speed and can have that role of the speed threat.

Here's what happened to Swift in Detroit and maybe it will tell a better tale.

Johnson became offensive coordinator and in his first season doing it Swift went from a career-high of 151 carries and splitting carries almost evenly with Jamaal William (153) to etting 99 carries while Williams became the load back at 262 for 1,066 yards. Swift had a few injuries but only missed three games.

Then they drafted Jahmyr Gibbs and replaced Williams with David Montgomery. Swift went to the Eagles.

Based on this, it's safe to say Johnson will want some sort of power threat if not a more versatile all-around starter. It all could mean less work for Swift.

WR DJ Moore

Look for Moore to get targeted possibly a little more but to line up more in the slot than last year. Amon-Ra St. Brown was the chief Lions receiving threat and was more of a natural slot but had only 39 more plays from outside than he had in the slot. With the Bears, Moore is the main threat and is capable of lining up in the slot or going outside. Last year he was in the slot 201 times and outside 521 times. That difference should tighten up as Johnson wants his offense to deceive and one way to do it is move receivers to different places. Either way, Moore is also the most dangerous Bears receiver with the ball in his hands and can line up in the backfield. Expect this type of thing to continue or expand.

WR Rome Odunze

Barring a return by Keenan Allen to the team, expect Odunze's amount plays lining up from the slot to increase from 240 while his plays on the outside also increase but slightly from 347. Odunze figures to have more plays overall if Allen is gone and most will be from the outside still, although the slot reps should go up.

RB Roschon Johnson

His role could vary greatly. It all depends on how fast Ben Johnson perceives he gets into the line of scrimmage with his carries and if he is a back who could take advantage of the blocking schemes. Roschon Johnson's role could be anything from expanded to very limited.

It could also be that Johnson shows everyone something in camp after he was limited to carrying the ball from the 1-yard line or in short-yardage situations much of the time last year.

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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.