'All about the explosives' - How Ben Johnson keeps defenses on their toes every season
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'All about the explosives' - How Ben Johnson keeps defenses on their toes every season
Nate TiceStaff writerTue, June 23, 2026 at 7:41 PM UTCYahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and The Athletic's Robert Mays explain why Bears head coach Ben Johnson's offensive scheme brings out the best in it's players and is methodical in how they strike downfield. Check out the full conversation on "Football 301" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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He calls football a lot like how I like to see football being called.
the offense is- Jabs and haymakers.
Jabs and haymakers Oh my God, it's exact- yeah, it is all, it's, that's all it's all about.
It's all about the explosives.
and just generating them, not only just, and it's not just philoso- or, or theory, or it's not just him just saying it, like everyone wants to be explosive.
It's like, no, he's calling the plays, and the whole entire offense is to generate big plays.
And it's not just gadgets or anything like that, it's very sound football.
All the run plays are extremely sound.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAll the plays off of that are extremely sound.
There's never a time I watched that Bears offense last year, and really the Lions before that, where I was like, "What was that?"
Like, what?
That guy's, you're leaving that guy unblocked?
What, you got two routes doing that?
Like, why aren't you attacking this part of the field?
Everything Johnson called, and also just how he evolved the offense last year, if you just looked at Johnson just in 2025, just watching how he evolved it with the Bears personnel, and once Colson Loveland got healthy, once, once Luther Burden was able to add more to his plate, once he realized what the offensive line's strength was, which is a lot of zone.
AdvertisementAdvertisementOnce, once he realized a lot of zone runs, once I mean, D'Andre Swift, whether that was Eric Bieniemy or Ben Johnson, D'Andre Swift had his best season ever, most consistent season ever as a runner.
That's, has to speak a little bit about the coaching.
I would even say a guy like a vet, like Cole Kmet, was probably his most consistent he's ever been.
I've always thought he was like kind of an inconsistent player at times, surprisingly.
I thought he had his best, mor- most consistent year when he was out there.
yes, and you could say, oh, they got some O line health.
I haven't even mentioned the quarterback.
AdvertisementAdvertisementyou can mention the O line health, all that, but that also speaks to Ben Johnson going like, "Well, let's juice up our O line, 'cause that's what's gonna help us succeed."
So we're talking about philosophy.
The right side of the line, period, and, like, their ability- It's- to weaponize the right side of the line.
And obviously, like, Dolman's skill set is, I mean, even though this off-season is so funny.
They got a type of center, huh?
They, they, they- Zone, zone, zone, zone, zone they gotta, they gotta type of center.
But- Does Iowa have an available center?
They do?
So come on down.
We're gonna run some more zone.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThat's, it's really funny just watching the off- the off-season happen, and you think, oh man, what sort of help do they need on defense?
Where are they gonna go out- Yeah and seek out?
And obviously they draft a thieman in the first round.
But the idea that on day two it was like, nope, we're going, we're double down a center, we're getting another tight end.
Like, it's- Yep he's just, come hell or high water, we're gonna do exactly what we wanna do offensively.
Offensive with three tight end looks, because theirs is different.
And that's, that's another thing.
It's not just 13 personnel.
May you like
And it's just not like, not like three receivers are built the same when you're 11 personnel.
It's like, their version's gonna be really cool.
- 'All about the explosives' - How Ben Johnson keeps defenses on their toes every seasonYahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and The Athletic's Robert Mays explain why Bears head coach Ben Johnson's offensive scheme brings out the best in it's players and is methodical in how they strike downfield. Check out the full conversation on "Football 301" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.2:29Now PlayingPaused
- Chicago Bears 2026 OTAs: Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson 'Meet Every Day'4:31Now PlayingPaused
- Is Caleb Williams 'the most talented quarterback in the NFL'?3:57Now PlayingPaused
