Bear Digest

Where schedule provides a break to first-year Chicago Bears coach

It's a difficult 2025 schedule for the Bears to be sure, but as a first-year coach Ben Johnson can use a few breaks and he gets them.

Gene Chamberlain

Ben Johnson looks over the players at rookie camp. Johnson got a few breaks by the Bears schedule a first-year coach can use.
Ben Johnson looks over the players at rookie camp. Johnson got a few breaks by the Bears schedule a first-year coach can use. / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
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It's never easy being a first-year NFL head coach and Ben Johnson's debut year with the Bears comes with a few difficult challenges, according to the schedule released Wednesday.

There are also breaks for him.

The opener with the Vikings is a break because it's at home Sept. 8 on Monday Night Football. However, it's followed by a challenge. 

The biggest game personally for Johnson is obviously facing his old boss Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions, and the Bears will play this game Sept. 14 in Week 2. It means Johnson's return to Detroit comes on a short work week.

Obviously this isn't ideal, but the Bears don't have to face his old team again until the season finale and it's at home when they do. They can only hope it carries significance for them at that point in the season, but the schedule does give Johnson a full 14 games when that connection does not have to be front and center in his thoughts.

There is one other reunion or "revenge" game on this schedule for Johnson and that one happens right after the first two.

The other big return game, of course, is former Bears coach Matt Eberflus coming to Soldier Field in Week 3 with the Dallas Cowboys for a Sunday, noon game Sept. 21.

The home crowd will be all over Flus, even if he is shielded in the coach's box. It's his defense against Johnson's offense. Last time that happened, Eberflus got fired.

The best thing about this is Johnson has all of the so-called "revenge games" out of the way by the end of Week 3, at least until the finale.

Another break for Johnson comes with the Bears' bye week. Teams usually don't like byes earlier in the year and the Bears have theirs in Week 5.

Even if it is early, it still looks like a break for Johnson. It even looks like a big break.

This is because their week away comes right before they play their rematch of the Hail Mary game at Washington. Because that game is on Monday Night Football, they're actually going in 15 days after their previous game.

The extra week to prepare for Washington isn't the only positive twist to this.

When Johnson had a week off for a bye last year, his offense ran up 47 points to rout Dallas 47-9 in a road game. In 2023, they went on the road after a bye and outscored the Chargers in a free-for-all 41-38. Johnson seems to thrive after byes.

His other game after a bye was a loss but it came when the Lions were still trying to get their act together before arriving as a power later in the 2022 season. They lost that one 24-6 at Dallas but it was in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

The bad news here?

Their loss on the Hail Mary pass came last year after their bye week.

Then again, that was under the Eberflus regime and coming off a trip to London. They're not leaving the country this season and Eberflus is in Dallas.

The other breaks Johnson gets are ones all coaches can appreciate. He doesn't have his team playing on Thanksgiving or Christmas, despite all the pre-schedule speculation.

Also, the Bears won't have to endure the short work week as they do not appear on Thursday Night Football.

The closest they come to it is their Black Friday game at Philadelphia.

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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.