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The Chicago Bears’ new coach is, indeed, a Tar Heel.
How many of us knew of Ben Johnson when he was a walk-on quarterback for the Tar Heels under John Bunting and Butch Davis? Yes, the same Ben Johnson who rebuilt the Detroit Lions offense into the best in the National Football League.
The Lions, of course, lost in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs to the Washington Commanders whose own offense could not be stopped by the Lions. And a week later, Johnson moved from offensive coordinator to head coach of the Bears.
The 38-year-old Johnson is already being hailed as one of the best offensive minds in the game at all levels. He grew up in Asheville and played for A.C. Reynolds High School, where he helped lead the team to the North Carolina 4-A state championship as a junior and was named offensive player of the year in his conference as a senior.
He could have played at the mid-major schools that recruited him but instead enrolled at Carolina and walked on to the Tar Heels and became tantamount to an assistant coach, who worked closely with star quarterback T.J. Yates.
“He was a player,” recalled John Shoop, UNC’s offensive coordinator and saw the football brilliance of his young walk-on. “He was like an assistant coach and signaled the plays to T.J. He is uncommonly bright and hard working. I’m not at all surprised by his success.”
He graduated with degrees in mathematics and computer science, but was also being encouraged by Shoop to enter coaching. Johnson started as a graduate assistant at Boston College and in his third year with the Eagles was promoted to tight ends coach. By that time, he was already becoming known in the NFL and was hired by the Miami Dolphins and there for seven years and coached QBs, tight ends and wide receivers. New Lions head coach Dan Campbell snagged him in 2019 and went on to be their offensive coordinator.
His name was mentioned for every NFL team looking for a new head coach and will coach Caleb Williams, the Bears’ first pick in last spring’s NFL draft.
During the 2024 season, Johnson called plays for the top-ranked offense in the NFL (33.2 points per game, the highest in franchise history) and set multiple records including most 40-point games without any turnovers (5) and led the second team in NFL history to produce four different players with 1,000 scrimmage yards, the first to ever do it with two wide receivers and running backs.
He was mentored by a half-dozen highly regarded offensive coaches, including former Tar Heel quarterback Clyde Christensen, who coached Peyton Manning and later Tom Brady. The youthful Johnson also interviewed for head-coaching jobs by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots.
Now, with Williams under center, he will attempt to revitalize the offense for one of the storied franchises in NFL history, Da Bears!
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Featured image via Associated Press/Nam Y. Huh
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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