Bear Digest

Spicy Bears offense is understandable considering all the ingredients

It's not just Ben Johnson's Detroit roots in this Bears offense but a heavy New Orleans and Miami influence along with a touch of some other things.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Saints influence and Sean Payton are major parts of the Bears offense because of coordinator Declan Doyle but also through Ben Johnson.
The Saints influence and Sean Payton are major parts of the Bears offense because of coordinator Declan Doyle but also through Ben Johnson. | Photo: Chicago Bears vide

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When Ben Johnson came to Chicago, he made a very definitive statement about what this Bears offense would not be.

It's not going to be the Detroit Lions offense. There could be even more zing to it.

"This is not simply a dropping of a previous playbook down on the table and starting there," Johnson said.

This, of course, begs the question, what exactly is it then? What it will be is the sum of its parts, in a manner of speaking.

Of course, the greatest elements come from the Lions because of Johnson's three years as coordinator, but he is drawing heavily from the offensive assistants on staff in play design, formations, the language of it and how they run the plays.

If this offense Caleb Williams will line up in and run during OTAs in two week had been a food, there would be a very heavy taste of cajun spices.

Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle has a heavy Saints/Sean Payton influence from his carrier in New Orleans as an assistant and one year in Denver.

"I have experience in Sean's system, which really, that's the genesis of (Johnson's) stuff in Detroit was some of the New Orleans stuff mixed with some of the things that he had done in Miami," Doyle said. "And so the genesis point is really very similar for both of us.

"And that's really why both of think about the game in a similar way."

It's a very heavy Payton/Saints influence and extends well beyond Doyle.

Johnson's past with the Lions and Dolphins blends with an influence Johnson has from his time working under Dan Campbell, who was a coach in the Saints offense.

"Yeah, I think we're very aligned philosophically just from the rip," Doyle said. "I think that's what led to our relationship being as close as it was.

"It's really the reason that I'm here. So we see the game very, very similarly."

Passing game coordinator Press Taylor has input, and in stepping back to look at their offense, sees something interesting, maybe even a bit familiar to Bears fans.

"Yeah, I think we have a little bit in common with the Chip Kelly system," Taylor said. "So my first year in Philadelphia, Bill Lazor was our quarterback coach. He went to become the offensive coordinator for the Dolphins when Ben was down there."

And Johnson was an assistant on that staff, which meant he drew upon some of that experience in devising is own offense.

Lazor, of course, was later the Bears offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021 under Matt Nagy.

"So there's a little bit of crossover there in the system of what we did," Taylor said. "And then just, you know, I have different experience in terms of working with Doug Pederson, Frank Reich, for the last couple years, to where I think that's a little bit of a different mold.

"But there's a lot of crossover that I think people would be surprised with. And really just the NFL, you know? There's a lot of the Peyton Manning style dropback pass game that filtered through Frank Reich that I was exposed to, that Ben was exposed to through Adam Gase."

Gase was the former Bears offensive coordinator under John Fox and then head Dolphins coach from 2016-18 when Johnson was on the offensive staff.

"There are some random blends through there where we can speak a common football language," Taylor said. "Maybe they call it this and we call it that, or whatever it is. Or we're going to call it something different here.

"But in terms of describing concepts and things like that, we have some similarities there."

A heavy dose of Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell Lions, some Sean Payton Saints a little Adam Gase Dolphins and a touch of Chip Kelly Eagles are in a blend that come out orange and blue.

The bottom line is run-based, play-action passing with heavy use of 12-personnel and the quarterback playing under center possibly as much or more than any other team.

While this is the origin, the actual application will look much different in reality because the players dictate the success or failure as long as the coaching end of it has been competent.

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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.