LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) – Bears president Kevin Warren had just sat down at dinner recently at Old Pueblo Cantina in Lincoln Park when a drink and a note arrived at his table.
Warren was presented a shot glass with tequila and opened the note on a small white piece of paper.
“Kevin, Please hire Ben!!” it read.
Ben, of course, is Ben Johnson, who at the time was the Lions’ offensive coordinator and also the most coveted coaching candidate in the NFL.
Back on Jan. 7, Warren had shared his belief that the Bears had the most coveted coaching opening in the NFL, which reiterated comments he made on Dec. 2, when he addressed the Bears’ firing of head coach Matt Eberflus a few days prior. By speaking with such conviction, Warren created expectations that the Bears would hire the best head coach available.
Warren stashed that note in his pocket and brought it back to Halas Hall. On Wednesday, he read it once again on a monumental day for the Bears as Johnson was formally introduced as the team’s new head coach. The sides reached the agreement Monday, then Johnson flew to Chicago on Tuesday to sign the contract.
The Bears conducted a meticulous search for their next head coach, holding interviews with 17 known candidates over the course of about two weeks. General manager Ryan Poles, who led this search on behalf of the franchise, had been gathering intel ever since Eberflus’ firing on Nov. 29, but the wide net cast from Lake Forest had one big fish in mind all along.
That was the 38-year-old Johnson, who initially intrigued the Bears with his innovative offensive mind and then won them over throughout the search process. Poles discovered that Johnson inherited a cubicle at Boston College in 2009 that Poles had occupied the year before as a graduate assistant with the Eagles’ program. They share more connections beyond that, and now they’ve formed a partnership that they believe will be mutually beneficial.
“He was always the top candidate,” Poles said of Johnson. “But you never know. Just like the draft, you never know how it’s going to fall, so you have to be prepared.”
Throughout the Bears’ search, Poles gathered intel from accomplished figures around football – coaches, executives, agents and others – regarding whom he should covet and the best path forward to improve the Bears. With each passing interview for the 17 candidates, it became more clear to Poles that Johnson was the best fit for the job. It was a question of whether he wanted it.
As the Lions cleared out of their headquarters in Allen Park, Michigan during the NFL wild-card weekend in which they had a bye, the team prepped a conference room for Johnson and then-defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to conduct their virtual interviews with other teams.
Johnson leaned on his own team – led by agent Rick Smith of Priority Sports – to prepare him for each of his four interviews. He met with the Raiders and Patriots on Jan. 10, then the Jaguars and Bears on Jan. 11.
Johnson interviewed in January 2024 with the Panthers and Commanders but removed himself from consideration after the Lions’ loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship game. He didn’t feel prepared to leave Detroit on those terms.
“As my emotions got the better of me at that point, I decided quite early on that I wanted to come back and take another shot at that in Detroit,” Johnson said. “This year, this offseason, summer, I was able to do a lot more thinking. Just throughout my head and my process what it would look like as the head coach. I just felt a lot more comfortable in terms of making that jump, regardless of how the season ended in Detroit.”
The Lions’ season ended Saturday night at Ford Field, where they lost 45-31 to the Commanders in a divisional round upset. The top-seeded Lions were stunned by a team that Johnson turned down last January.
“A tremendous wave of emotions follows up when your season gets ended like it did for us,” Johnson said. “I'm still reeling through some of those feelings myself right now. That's … it’s a hard thing to do when you're around a group of guys as committed as we were to not only winning a division title but getting the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, but following through by winning a Super Bowl and coming up short the way that we did. I'm still … I'm still reeling through that, what I could have done differently, of course.
“(But) it did not take long for me to realize where I wanted to continue my career.”
The Raiders emerged as a strong suitor for Johnson. Las Vegas’ search was led in part by minority owner Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback who also was the color analyst on FOX’s broadcast of the Lions-Commanders game Saturday.
In Las Vegas, Johnson could’ve led the Raiders’ search for a new quarterback this offseason and perhaps even taken a lead in personnel decisions. Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark – who was Johnson’s preferred general manager pick, sources said – interviewed with the Raiders as Johnson became available for hire.
But Johnson never took a second interview with the Raiders, the Jaguars or any other team. He didn’t even have an in-person interview with the Bears before reaching an agreement with Chicago on Monday, less than 48 hours after the Lions were eliminated.
Johnson was plenty comfortable with the vision the Bears had presented him. He was attracted by the offering of “all the resources necessary” from chairman George McCaskey and comfortable with how Warren and Poles will fill their respective roles. Johnson liked the talent on the Bears’ roster and already held an appreciation for the city of Chicago from annual trips to Wrigley Field with his family.
Of course, one of the most important draws on the Bears’ behalf is 23-year-old quarterback Caleb Williams’ promise and potential. He represents hope for the franchise, and Johnson views him as the ideal player to build around.
If the Bear’ vision comes to fruition, Johnson and Williams will be paired together for many years to come.
"I’m really excited about the Bears, this (organization) being able to make this happen and to keep Ben Johnson as our coach for a long time,” Williams said.
On Tuesday, Johnson flew on a private jet from Pontiac, Michigan to Chicago Executive Airport in suburban Wheeling. He was driven to Halas Hall, shared an endearing introduction to Bears team employees and walked upstairs to the building’s second floor to sign his contract.
As Johnson sat down in a conference room at Halas Hall, he was given the George Halas hat with the italics “B” logo – one only to be worn on the sideline by the Bears’ head coach.
“This is a situation where we needed to make sure we got the No. 1 candidate,” Warren said. “And it’s not about the No. 1 candidate (in the hiring cycle) – it’s about the No. 1 candidate for the Chicago Bears.
“This is just a great day for the Chicago Bears.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on X @CEmma670.