Newly appointed Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson was given the opportunity to critique predecessor Matt Eberflus indirectly. The former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator took the bait in ingenious fashion while also pursing his lips.
Ben Johnson Answers Trick Question About Matt Eberflus’ Decision-Making
Eberflus was widely criticized for not calling a timeout for the Bears in their Thanksgiving NFL game against Detroit. Having miraculously forced overtime, Chicago had the chance to win the game.
However, quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked on their final possession, and the Bears were unable to line up in time for another snap. This loss dropped the team to a 4-8 record, with the lion’s share of blame fell on the head coach’s inexplicable decision not to call their remaining timeout. Eberflus was fired by the front office shortly after.
Johnson, who watched Eberflus practically fire himself via coaching decisions, has now become the Bears’ head coach after several teams expressed interest in his services and interviewed him. The 38-year-old appeared on the latest edition of “Breakfast Ball” for an interview.
Host Danny Parkins presented a “hypothetical” head coaching scenario for Johnson to give his opinion on, one which mirrored the circumstances that led to the Eberflus firing:
“Totally hypothetical scenario — if you were playing Detroit on Thanksgiving and your quarterback took a sack and you had one timeout and you were out in field goal range, the clock was running down, and there’s just confusion — which is just a hypothetical scenario completely, coming up with it off the top of my head — would you (a) let nothing happen and a wild Hail Mary that has no chance of winning or (b) would you help your quarterback out and call a timeout?”
.@DannyParkins draws a VERY VERY specific hypothetical situation to Ben Johnson, but the Bears HC wasn’t taking the bait 😂👀
“We’re not going there today.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Wo1aPANqct
— Breakfast Ball (@BrkfstBallOnFS1) January 23, 2025
Johnson refused to give a verbal answer, knowing how anything he said would be fuel for more discussion: “We’re not going there today.”
However, the former Lions offensive coordinator also made a timeout signal with his hands while speaking. Perhaps he wanted to spare more critique for his already maligned predecessor while giving the correct answer.
Johnson also made headlines during his introductory press conference after gloating about his Lions’ 2-0 record against the Packers in the 2024 season. He’s already given out bulletin board material to the Bears’ biggest rivals and their head coach, Matt LaFleur.
Any way you think about it, Johnson has definitely shown a lot of confidence while stepping into his new role. But the Bears head coach has a really tough job on his hands changing the culture of a franchise experiencing a four-year playoff drought.