Bear Digest

The qualities Ben Johnson found essential in hiring coaching staff

The Bears coaching staff has been described as an all-star staff but coach Ben Johnson found distinct qualities he needed in each member to bring them aboard.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson addresses NFL combine media and describes why he hired his coaching staff for the first time.
Ben Johnson addresses NFL combine media and describes why he hired his coaching staff for the first time. | Photo: Chicago Bears Vide

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Chicago Bears

It's true the Bears coaching staff Ben Johnson put together carries great interconnectivity.

Many coached together at times. Never confuse connectivity with cronyism.

For the first time since he came to Chicago, Johnson spoke about the coaching staff he hired and while many have worked either together or sometimes with him, it's not a case where he only brought in his yes men. He calls this variety a great strength of the staff.

"Listen, what's so beautiful about the coaching staff that we put together is I didn't hire a bunch of my friends," Johnson said. "I went outside of my circle on purpose because I wanted to collect a different mix of experience, of energy, ideas, and we're all going to make it come together and it's going to be the Chicago Bears going forward."

The big question everyone had when Johnson started making hires was how he could name an offensive coordinator who as only 28 years old, former Saints and Broncos assistant Declan Doyle. Or Johnson might say Ben Johnson 2.0.

"Declan, so, great story about him, I ended up calling John Morton, who took the OC job in Detroit," Johnson said. "He worked with Declan the last couple of years and so I asked him, I said, 'Hey how is Declan doing? Is he ready to be a coordinator? (Morton) said, 'Ben listen, he's another Ben Johnson,' which I think that's a good thing. I'm banking on him being a good thing.

"So listen, I think he and I are a match made in heaven. He thinks very much like me. It's been awesome getting him into the building the last few weeks."

Some of the offensive players might be their coordinator's age.

"Extremely detailed, extremely organized, the age does not matter," Johnson said. "He is going to be respected by not only the players but also his fellow coaches as well. I can already see that coming into place with the coaching staff meetings that we're having right now.

"He's very well informed. It's just like anybody. If you can help make the people around you better, they're going to find value in you and so that's what Declan is bring to the table for us."

Johnson found various pieces of his staff contribute key aspects of football he wanted included in the offense including a couple of his more controversial hires, running backs coach Eric Bieniemy and passing game coordinator Press Taylor.

"Eric Bieniemy has got a lot of experience in the gun-run game and what they did in Kansas City, obviously," Johnson said. "And Declan has a lot of success from the Sean Payton tree and Press Taylor has a lot of success from the Chip Kelly, all the way on.

"And so we've got a lot of library, if you will, to draw from and we'll see it all come together once we get our hands on these guys (players)."

Wide receiver coach/assistant head coach Antwaan Randle El gives them more than expertise with wide receivers as he returns home to where he was raised as an athlete.

"Not only will he help me out tremendously but he's going to make this offense, he's going to make this team, he's going to make that receiver room better," Johnson said. "He's going to leave it better than when he found it. I know that for certain. And it helps that he's coming home, too.

"So I'm realy excited about him being able to get in the building, being around these players because he's got a special energy, an aura about him that just rubs off on everybody."

What Johnson has learned from talking with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is essential for a coach who is adding the responsibility of worrying about his team's defense for the first time. Johnson had been a tight ends coach as an assistant and never a defensive side assistant.

"Yeah, listen, talking with D.A. has been very enlightening because we share the same mindset when it comes to defensive football, which is we want to affect the passer and there's a lot of different ways you can do that.

"Certainly up front the pass rush is the primary thing you think of but also on the back end it's challenging the receivers and disrupting the timing."

It's expertise he'll lean on when they start looking with GM Ryan Poles at film of players in the draft and free agency for scheme fits.

"So when we look at guys that are available, absolutely we want to upgrade the pass rush and we also want on the back en to come up and lock down receivers as well," he said. "So it's that fine balance and marriage between rush and coverage that we're looking to augment."

The most important basic qualities for coaches were there for the staff, as well.

"Putting the staff together, that was priority No. 1, feel really strongly about the quality of people that we brought in, character, integrity," Johnson said. :Those were the first things we were looking for.

"And then great teachers, great work ethic, demanding on and off the field. I think we checked those boxes with all the coaches that we brought on board."

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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.