Ryan Poles didn’t bury the lede when he described what Ben Johnson has brought to the Bears. The word he settled on was simple: peace.
That says plenty about where Chicago stands one season into Johnson’s run as head coach. After the first coaching hire went sideways, Poles needed the second swing to land cleanly.
So far, Johnson has done more than just look the part on offense. He has shown he can set the tone, build the culture and give the organization a clear sense of what comes next.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin dug into Johnson’s effect on the Bears as he heads into his second season, and Poles was front and center in that conversation. The general manager made it clear that trust was already part of the equation before Johnson ever stepped fully into the job.
"It's probably my biggest weakness, I trust early," Poles said. "We went through a process to hire, and once you hit all [checkpoints], and once you're in the boat with me, you get everything.
You can have the keys to my car, my house, garage code, you can sign in my iPhone if you want, you can watch my kids, I watch your kids. I'm all in."
" So he (Johnson) hit all of those boxes. So I started at a high level of trust and worked backwards, and it's remained extremely high and I believe it'll stay up there."
That trust has allowed Poles to step back in a way he couldn’t with Matt Eberflus, and he said as much while praising Johnson’s handling of the job.
" It made me proud, because there has to be trust to do that," Poles said. "It's almost like it's your baby and you've got to hand it over, but when you hand it over to the right person, you have a ton of confidence and you're at peace."
Poles came back to that final word for a reason. Peace, in this case, isn’t just a nice feeling. It’s the sign of a head coach who has earned confidence inside the building and made his presence felt beyond the play sheet.
Johnson’s offensive mind was never really the question. What he’s done is prove he can handle the full weight of the role, and Poles said Johnson has given him more peace than he’s ever had as Bears general manager.
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