Ben Johnson just finished a first year in Chicago that most first-year head coaches would frame their whole tenure around. He is not framing anything around it. He is setting his sights higher, and he told The Athletic's Dan Pompei exactly how high.
"I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos," Johnson said. "I know how many points per game they scored, and I want to surpass them."
"I want shutouts. I want blowouts," he added.
That is the bar. The 2013 Broncos, with Peyton Manning throwing 55 touchdowns, scored 606 points in a 16-game season, still the single-season points record. Their 37.9 points per game is the number Johnson has committed to memory. He wants to pass it.
Coming from most coaches, that might land as offseason bravado. Coming from Johnson, it likely lands a bit differently, because the offenses he's overseen actually have been exceptional.
As Detroit's offensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024 under Dan Campbell's rebuild in The Motor City, he built one of the most productive units in the league. The 2024 Lions finished as the NFL's top scoring offense and hit 40 or more points in six games, tied for the most by any team in a season. He was named AP Assistant Coach of the Year for it, then Chicago hired him as its 18th full-time head coach on January 21, 2025.
Year one was that delivered a taste of the building blocks Chicago fans hope to see built on. Johnson led the Bears to an NFC North title and 12 wins, tied for the most by a first-year head coach in franchise history, and became the first Bears head coach to win a playoff game in his first season. Former USC Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams set a franchise record with 3,942 passing yards, threw 27 touchdowns, and led an NFL-best seven fourth-quarter comebacks. The offense climbed to sixth in total yards and ninth in scoring after finishing bottom five in both the year before Johnson arrived.
Granted, ninth in scoring is a long way from first all-time, but we're talking some incredible progress in year one. Johnson knows the distance that needs to be covered, which is the point of saying it out loud. He is not managing expectations. He is setting a number no offense has cleared in a full season and telling his quarterback, his staff, and fans that is their target.
Johnson, his young and promising quarterback and this Bears offense have a clear standard said out loud now, and the coach setting it has already run offenses that flirted with it. Now it's time to see if the 2026-27 Bears will be the team to top it.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.