NFL Scouts Reveal Ben Johnson Has A Superpower Most Play Callers Don’t
The reaction from fans and the media to the news that Ben Johnson had taken the Chicago Bears job was surprise. Out of all the jobs he could’ve taken, he chose the one that felt the least appealing on the surface. Chicago had long been a wasteland of forward thinking in football, stuck celebrating the exploits of one team 40 years ago while unable to join the modern era. Every head coach they hired seemed to fit the same criteria: conservative, unimaginative, and lacking any sort of charisma. That is why Johnson was such a thunderclap.
Not only had the Bears hired a coach known for being vocal and demanding, but also one of the most creative play callers in the NFL. He immediately lived up to those reputations by transforming a 5-12 team into an 11-6 division champion, powered by its first top 10 offense in 12 years. Caleb Williams broke the single-season franchise passing record, and the Bears finished 3rd in the NFL in rushing. Yet even now, people don’t grasp what makes Johnson so lethal. His creativity, mixed with common sense, is good, but people in the league notice something far better.
It’s his ability to lay traps for the defense and wait to spring them until late in games.
“It’s amazing what kind of difference a coach can make,” said a senior scout for another team who spent time with the Bears long ago.
“Ben Johnson is always looking for the knockout blow,” said a national scout for another team who also used to work for the Bears. “He’s in that special group of play callers, the guys that want to put you away.”
What I found really interesting is how one scouting director, late in the regular season, lauded Johnson’s ability to set things up throughout a game.
“It’s jab, jab, jab and then — boom,” he said.
Ben Johnson deployed this tactic to great effect this season.
His most famous was the wild card game against Green Bay. Early in the action, he ran a bubble screen to wide receiver Luther Burden a couple of times. The Packers’ defense began to recognize when it was coming and keyed on it. Then, in overtime, Johnson laid his trap. Chicago once again showed the bubble screen formation. As Green Bay shifted to counter it, Williams did a pump fake to Burden before hitting a streaking D.J. Moore up the sideline for the game-winning touchdown.
That was just one example of many across the entire season and was a big reason why the Bears were so good at engineering comebacks in the 4th quarter. Part of it was Williams’ ability to execute in crunch time. However, an equally big part was all the work Ben Johnson had done in the first three quarters, showing the defense one hand before hitting them with the other. This is not something you can prepare for because it is impossible to know when it’s coming.
The only solace for teams is that play callers who can do this are rare. Johnson is one of them.