Bears coach Ben Johnson says his offense won't 'look the same as it did in Detroit'

Ben Johnson vowed, in so many words, not to make the same mistake that cost former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus his job.

Johnson joined FS1’s "Breakfast Ball" and "The Herd" on Thursday and was asked what he’d do if his quarterback took a sack in the final seconds of their Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions with a timeout in his pocket.

"We’re not going there today," Johnson said with a laugh, though he motioned as if he would’ve called a timeout in that scenario.

Of course, this actually happened in the Bears’ November loss to the Lions. Instead of calling a timeout after Caleb Williams took a sack with just over 30 seconds left, Eberflus let the clock run down before the Bears ran a half-hearted Hail Mary attempt on the final play of their eventual 23-20 loss. 

Eberflus was promptly fired the next day, opening up one of the more intriguing head coaching jobs in the NFL. 

Johnson, who was formerly the Lions’ offensive coordinator and arguably the most sought-after head coach candidate this offseason, has cited Williams as one of the main reasons he took the job. But after Williams' relatively underwhelming rookie season — 3,541 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, 489 rushing yards and a 5-12 record as a starter — Johnson knows that he still has a bit of a way to go, and he has a development plan in place for the top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

"You bring up accountability, and that’s going to be at the cornerstone of what we do here," Johnson said. "It’s going to be integrity. It’s going to be accountability — be who we say we’re going to be and be what we say we’re going to do. So, we’ll come to an agreement. We’ll have a plan. We’re going to end up executing that agreement.