Ben Johnson Had A Sharp Response To Being The NFL’s So-Called New Villain
People thought they knew what they were getting when Ben Johnson became the primary target for the Chicago Bears‘ head coaching position. He was the latest in a line of offensive wizards who’d transformed the Detroit Lions into a juggernaut. Many described him as a math whiz with a computer brain. Most took that to mean he might be more of the nerdish type, approaching the position with cold efficiency. It didn’t take long to realize those people were dead wrong. Johnson was intelligent, sure. He was also highly competitive.
And combative.
Hiding behind every smile in front of the cameras was a man that players and assistant coaches described as a demon. He was obsessed with winning and would not accept anything less than the best from everybody, including himself, to achieve that aim. Unfortunately, such a relentless pursuit can lead to making some enemies. Johnson quickly earned a reputation around the league for being brash, arrogant, and unafraid to take shots at opponents in the media. It led many to label him the NFL’s new villain. The guy everybody loved to hate. When asked about this newfound reputation on The Bigs, the Bears’ head coach cracked a grin.
“I didn’t come into this league or take this position to necessarily make friends. That’s not the case. I love what I do, I love who I’m doing it with. That’s the most important thing to me and everything I do is with them in mind.”
Ben Johnson is a throwback type of coach.
These days, it’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty when it comes to needling other teams with his words and actions. It brings back memories of someone like Jimmy Johnson. People remember him as the architect of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the 1990s. What they often forget was he had a well-established reputation for using the media to snipe opponents and motivate his players. He famously guaranteed a win over the San Francisco 49ers in the 1993 NFC championship. Every time he was asked about it, Johnson brushed it off as if it wasn’t worth the attention.
The truth was the Hall of Fame coach wasn’t in the business of making friends. His job was to win football games. He didn’t care whether he was loved or hated, inside or outside the building. All that mattered was that players did as they were told and executed at a high level. The results spoke for themselves. Ben Johnson is much the same way. He loves his players and his staff. That said, such love comes with a price. It is how much he trusts you to do the right things when the game is on the line.
Somebody has to wear the black hat.
You often find that the best eras of NFL football featured at least one team with a rogue head coach and a bunch of physical, nasty players behind him. It was the John Madden Oakland Raiders in the 1970s or the Bill Parcells New York Giants of the 1980s. More recently, you had Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks of the early 2010s. Those teams didn’t care if they were hated. They seemed to almost thrive on it. Success came anyway, and that is the reality Ben Johnson understands.
It ultimately doesn’t matter if people don’t like him. That has no bearing on the outcome of football games. If anything, it might work in his favor. With other teams focused on what he says or does, they don’t have enough left to handle their business on the field. It certainly worked with the Green Bay Packers, who seemed more intent on getting revenge on Johnson for his treatment of head coach Matt Lafleur than winning a game. Make no mistake. There is deliberate intent behind all of this.