INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL scouting combine is in full swing, and Tuesday offered an opportunity for new Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles to provide updates on the team’s offseason progress.
With Johnson’s coaching staff locked in, the Bears are shifting their focus to free agency and the draft, intent on upgrading the roster and positioning the team for playoff contention in 2025.
Johnson and Poles each met with reporters for 15 minutes Tuesday. Here are five key things we learned from those sessions.
1. Ryan Poles is thrilled with the vision Ben Johnson has set over the past month.
As the Bears solidify their plans for free agency, there has been ongoing collaboration between the front office and coaching staff to create direction in what the team will be seeking at various positions.
Poles lauded Johnson for being crystal clear in his communication on that front and believes it will give the Bears momentum when the market opens in two weeks.
“The clearer the vision,” Poles said, “the more aggressive you can be. And that’s important. You want to be selective in free agency. Because historically, if you look at it, it can tell you (where mistakes are made) and you can learn from that.
“But if there are certain players who hit all the checked boxes that you need, there’s really no reason to hold back.”
That right there is a nice helping of red meat for fans hoping the Bears make a big splash when the negotiating window for free agents opens March 10. The Bears are projected to have north of $75 million in salary-cap space heading into free agency and will have their chances to be major players in addressing significant needs.
2. Johnson was calculated with the way he assembled his coaching staff.
Last week the Bears officially unveiled a list of 28 assistants, and Johnson made it clear Tuesday he was seeking a wide array of experience and perspective.
“I didn’t hire a bunch of my friends,” he said. “I went outside of my circle on purpose because I wanted to collect a different mix of experience, of energy, of ideas. And we’re all going to make it come together.”
Of the 28 assistants, only two accompanied Johnson from Detroit: assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett.
Johnson called Randle El, a Chicago native who has been coaching in the NFL since 2019, “a stud” and said he would be an immediate difference maker.
“He has a special energy and aura about him that just rubs off on everybody,” Johnson said.
3. One of the biggest endorsements of offensive coordinator Declan Doyle came from John Morton.
Morton spent the last two seasons as the Denver Broncos passing game coordinator and is now, coincidentally, Johnson’s successor as the Lions offensive coordinator. When Morton and Johnson talked in January about Doyle’s rise through the coaching ranks, Morton said Doyle was ready to become a coordinator after spending the last two years as the Broncos tight ends coach.
Morton even referred to Doyle as “another Ben Johnson.”
“I think that’s a good thing,” Johnson said with a chuckle. “I’m banking on that being a good thing.”
After their first month together, Johnson called it “a match made in heaven,” praising the 28-year-old Doyle’s detailed and organized nature.
“He thinks very much like me,” Johnson said.
He also expressed confidence that Doyle will connect with offensive players when the team reunites in April.
“The age does not matter,” Johnson said. “He is going to be respected by not only the players, but also his fellow coaches. I can already see that coming into place with the coaching staff meetings we’re having right now.
“He’s very well-informed. And just like anybody, if you can help make the people around you better, they’re going to find value in you.”
4. The Bears are preparing for a full overhaul of the offensive line.
Of the five linemen who logged the most playing time in 2024, three — Teven Jenkins, Coleman Shelton and Matt Pryor — will be free agents in two weeks. Left tackle Braxton Jones, meanwhile, is rehabilitating from a season-ending ankle injury suffered in Week 16.
“We have to see how he comes through on the other side of this,” Poles said. “I know everything has been progressing on schedule and he’s doing a good job with that.”
Still, the Bears will push to improve up front. When Johnson was asked if a full overhaul of the interior offensive line was realistic in his first offseason, he replied, “It has been done before, right?”
He cited the Carolina Panthers, who overhauled a deficient offensive line last offseason by signing guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to big-splash, multiyear contracts.
“That really changed the dynamic of their offense,” Johnson said. “You saw them clicking there in the second half of the season once they really started to jell. There’s no question that you can change the dynamic of the room just like that.”
5. Johnson is now a member of the ‘Breakfast Club’ at Halas Hall.
That’s the moniker he stamped on his recurring meetings with director of research and analytics Harry Freid.]]”] Freid is a holdover from Matt Eberflus’ staff but also has history with Johnson from their days together with the Miami Dolphins from 2016-18. (Johnson was coaching in the wide receivers room then; Freid was a football operations assistant.)
The “Breakfast Club” sessions — 30 minutes per day — revolve around game and clock management situations. Freid schools Johnson on a variety of things he should know as he assumes head coaching responsibilities.
Said Johnson: “I said, ‘Teach me like I’m a rookie quarterback from the start to the finish.’ We’re about halfway through his program right now.
“Once we get through that, we’ll make a decision on where we want to go in terms of (what to do) when the players get in and educating them on how we want to handle the situations that can pop up and potentially win or lose ballgames for us.”
