Ben Johnson has the buzz, but he doesn’t have the résumé yet.
That’s the basic reason Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report left the Chicago Bears head coach out of his list of the NFL’s 10 best coaches. Johnson is one of the hottest names in the league, but he still hasn’t done enough to crack that group.
The case against him starts with the simplest thing in coaching: time. Johnson did take a team that had a top-10 pick and turn it into one that won a playoff game, but he did it only once. The league has seen plenty of coaches surge fast, generate real excitement, and then come back down to earth.
Chicago has already lived through a version of that story with Matt Nagy. He pulled off a similar turnaround before being fired just a couple of seasons later. That’s why Johnson’s rise is worth paying attention to, but not enough to put him inside the top 10 just yet.
Davenport’s rankings also show how much hardware matters at the top of the coaching mountain. Five of the top six coaches on the list have won a Super Bowl. Sean McVay and Andy Reid sit at No. 1 and No. 2, with Reid owning three rings and McVay having one.
Kyle Shanahan is the lone coach in the top five without a Super Bowl title, but he has still been to the big game twice as a head coach and was the offensive architect behind the Atlanta Falcons’ side that blew a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl.
Mike MacDonald, Sean Payton and Nick Sirianni round out the top six, and Johnson simply doesn’t have that kind of body of work yet.
Mike Vrabel lands at No. 7, and even though he is new to the New England Patriots, his time with the Tennessee Titans gives him a strong track record. Add in his run to the Super Bowl last year, and the “one-year wonder” label doesn’t fit.
Jim Harbaugh is eighth and has a Super Bowl appearance on his record, along with two playoff appearances with the Los Angeles Chargers. Dan Campbell checks in at No. 9, and while Bears fans may believe Johnson was the real force behind Campbell, Campbell still has the kind of track record Johnson does not.
DeMeco Ryans closes the list at No. 10 after taking over a Texans team that was directionless and helping lead them to three straight seasons with a playoff win.
Johnson has every reason to be viewed as a coach on the rise. He just isn’t in that elite tier yet.
In Other News...
Bears Suddenly Have An Uncomfortable Question About One Recent Draft Pick
Kiran Amegadjie entered Bears camp with the kind of profile that usually deserves a longer look, a versatile offensive lineman taken in the third round who was supposed to give the team another option up front. Instead, Chicago has spent the offseason stacking the room with veteran help and workable depth, especially at guard and tackle, which has made the path for a young lineman like Amegadjie look increasingly crowded.
The problem for the Bears is not just the numbers ahead of him, but how little runway he has had to catch up. He missed most of last season, and with several players already positioned in front of him on the depth chart, training camp is starting to feel less like an opportunity to carve out a role and more like a test of whether he can climb fast enough to stay in the conversation at all. [Read more 🡒]
Bears Just Got A Real NFC North Break Against Detroit
The NFC North picture just shifted a little in Chicagos favor after Detroit moved on from cornerback Terrion Arnold, thinning out a secondary that was already facing questions about its depth. With D.J. Reed now standing as the only proven starter in that group, the Lions have less margin for error in a division where every matchup tends to carry a little extra weight.
For the Bears, it is the kind of opening that can matter later in the season, especially in games where Chicago is trying to create an edge in the passing game. A weakened Detroit back end does not decide the division on its own, but it gives the Bears one more reason to like their chances in the matchups that usually shape the race. [Read more 🡒]
Bears May Be Headed Toward A Familiar Secondary Problem Again
Kyler Gordons absence has left the Bears once again looking for answers in the slot, and it is the sort of problem that can quietly shape a secondary even before the regular season really gets rolling. Gordon has been sidelined for nearly a year because of multiple soft tissue injuries, which has opened up a familiar crack in the defense where Chicago would rather have certainty than another camp competition.
Josh Blackwell has emerged as the most logical piece to bridge that gap because of his versatility and his comfort level in the Bears system, especially with his work in the slot and on special teams. Malik Muhammad and Cam Lewis are also in the conversation, but the bigger question is whether Chicago can settle on a dependable nickel option soon enough to avoid letting one injury turn into another lingering weakness. [Read more 🡒]