Oh, what a time it’s been to be a Chicago Bears fan this week.
There’s just something magical about the offseason, isn’t there? For Bears fans, it’s often the most hopeful time of the year. Historically, that hope tends to fizzle out once the season actually begins.
But this offseason feels different in Chicago. With Ben Johnson stepping in as the new head coach, optimism has returned in a big way. Sure, we’ve all heard the “new era” narrative before—but maybe, just maybe, this time it’s for real.
Now, if you’re a Detroit Lions fan, this week has been a tough one to stomach. Losing Ben Johnson, your offensive coordinator, was bad enough. But losing him to the division-rival Bears? That’s the kind of gut punch that’s hard to recover from. It’s almost Brett-Favre-to-the-Vikings level painful.
Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, the Lions also watched defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn leave town to take the same position with the New York Jets.
Let’s circle back to Johnson, though. In a recent column, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated pulled back the curtain on this saga, revealing just how long the writing may have been on the wall.
According to Breer, there were rumblings last year that Johnson had an eye on the Bears job. But Breer’s insight paints an even clearer picture of just how much Johnson wanted the role.
“I believe if the Bears’ job had opened a year ago, there’s a good chance we’d have gotten the same result. It was the one Johnson liked then, and Chicago was about to draft a quarterback,” Breer wrote.
For Lions fans, that has to sting. If Johnson had been given the opportunity, he would’ve jumped ship last offseason. Chicago, it seems, was always his preferred destination.
Maybe 2024 was as good as it was going to get for Detroit. After a promising season, the team now faces some serious challenges. With both Johnson and Glenn gone, it’ll be fascinating to see if the Lions can maintain their momentum.
To be fair, none of this takes anything away from Dan Campbell. Campbell deserves a ton of credit for assembling such a strong coaching staff in the first place. He’s proven himself to be one of the league’s better head coaches, and his leadership will be key as Detroit navigates this transition.
Still, the big question remains: Can the Lions recover from losing two of their brightest minds? We’ll have our answer in a few months when the season kicks off.
For now, though, the Bears and their fans are reveling in the possibilities of this new chapter. And for the Lions faithful? Well, they’re left wondering if their team’s best days are already behind them.