Play-caller
- Calls plays: Ben Johnson (HC) — confirmed. Johnson called plays in 2025 and beat reporting confirms "the plan is still for Johnson to be calling the plays on offense" in 2026 (SI Bears/Sun-Times, Feb–June 2026). OC Declan Doyle left for the Ravens' OC job; pass-game coordinator Press Taylor was promoted to OC on 2026-02-08 (Chicago Sun-Times, NFL.com) and explicitly does not call plays ("None of it is calling plays" — SI, June 2026).
- Tenure with team: 2nd season (hired 2025-01-21 from DET OC) · Prior relationship with QB1: 1 full season with Caleb Williams (2025: 11–6, first CHI playoff win since 2010 season — chicagobears.com/Wikipedia).
Last 3 play-calling stops (skip non-calling years):
| Stop (team, yrs) | PROE | Neutral pass% | Sec/play (neutral) | Motion% | PA% | 11 / 12 / 21% | Condensed% | RB tgt share | WR1 TS | Inside-10 pass% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHI 2025 (HC) | −3.9% (nfelo, 2026-07-07) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED (67.1 plays/g, 4th — nflverse pbp_summary) | 47.2% all plays / 54.9% dropbacks (FTN via nflverse; lg avg 42.0%) | 30.3% of dropbacks (FTN via nflverse) | 49.8 / 31.0 / 0.6% (nflverse participation) | UNVERIFIED | 14.9% (nflverse receiving.csv) | 16.9% (Odunze, 12 gm) | UNVERIFIED |
| DET 2024 (OC) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | high — motion "the soul of Johnson's offense" (qualitative; SportsMockery/WCG, 2025) | league-leading PA volume — Goff led NFL in PA attempts (WCG, 2025-02) | 12-heavy: 12 personnel ≈39% of 1st/2nd-down plays (WCG, 2025-05) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
| DET 2023 (OC) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | high (qualitative, same sources) | league-leading PA volume — Goff led NFL in PA attempts (WCG, 2025-02) | 12-personnel around/above average with 2 capable TEs (WCG, 2025-05) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
Read: Johnson is a run-tilted-by-PROE (−3.9%), high-motion, high-play-action caller who generates volume through efficiency and pace rather than pass-heaviness — CHI 2025 was 4th in plays/game (67.1) and 8th in EPA/play (+0.076) while below expected pass rate. He is 12-personnel-heavy (31% in 2025, ~2× the WR3-death threshold), which feeds two TEs (Loveland/Kmet) and caps the WR3's snaps, and he manufactures touches for his best YAC player — in 2025 that became Luther Burden III, whom Johnson has publicly committed to feeding ("get the ball in his hands as often as we possibly can" — Sun-Times, 2026-05-29). With DJ Moore's 85 targets traded away and no meaningful receiver capital added, the concentration behind Odunze/Burden/Loveland rises in year 2 of the install.
Scheme family
- Run scheme: Wide/outside zone base with gap/duo mixed (Shanahan-tree; DET-carryover — WCG scheme series, 2025). 2025: 2,345 team rush yds, 3rd-most in NFL; 67 runs of 10+ (roundtable/bears.com). Fits one-cut sudden backs (Swift) and downhill grinders in the duo package (Monangai).
- Pass-game family: Shanahan/McVay tree — wide zone married to league-high play-action (30.3% of dropbacks), heavy motion (54.9% of dropbacks), 12-personnel-heavy (31.0%). Implications: YAC engine and intermediate in-breakers; slot/YAC profiles (Burden) and flexed TEs (Loveland) are fed schemed touches; mid aDOT overall with a deep-X iso role for Odunze (13.9 aDOT on his 2025 targets — receiving.csv); WR3 snaps are gated by 12 personnel.
