Lions players referred to him as a genius, but beyond the Xs and Os, is he a leader of men? Time will tell.
1 Like
Ben is not a leader. Poles is building a house of cards.
1 Like
Wonder what he said about Eberflus when he hired him?
1 Like
They should probably start to worry when he starts showing up to practice likeā¦ā¦
3 Likes
I could be wrong, but Ben strikes me as the kind of guy willing to throw others under the bus to protect his ego. Just a feeling.
4 Likes
Iām fine with another Ben thread.
I think he flops hard in Chicago. Too many parallels to McDaniels.
Now, have I changed my position a bit because heās in Chicago? Sure did.
Do I care? Sure donāt.
Heāll be back in Detroit with his tail between his legs after being humbled.
5 Likes
Has anyone here been part of (or involved with) a team where one coach was the genius/former stud player/etc.? And another coach was good at organization, communication, and execution (but not a real āgeniusā of the game)?
In my experience, itās rarely the first guy who is the real āleaderā for the team. Because being consistently ābrilliantā is really, really hard. Being a guy who can develop a solid plan, communicate it well so everyone is together, and then allow them to execute is ALWAYS valuable.
Itās like the old Patton quote, which doesnāt apply perfectly, but ties in: āA good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.ā If you can get all of your guys understanding and moving together correctly, that is often more valuable than a more ābrilliantā plan.
The NFL moves really quickly, and adapts constantly to new innovations in the game. Of course, being a smart innovator is helpful. I have loved having Johnson on the team! However, brilliance without the āotherā stuff results in poor understanding, lack of buy-in, and poor execution.
Now, maybe Ben Johnson is really good at those other things. He may be! I donāt know! But being a āreally smart football guyā just isnāt enough in the modern NFL.
2 Likes
Right, and sometimes it is. McVay, Shanahan, Reid, OāConnell looks pretty good, LaFleur.
evidently the Pole likes Bennie .
Probably the same thing.
Ben might compare to Mike Martzā¦.but we have to see him coach at least a game, if not a few games or a whole seasonā¦.to know this.
1 Like
Sure, he might. Or those other guys. Or some as-yet-seen career. I just think everyone writing him off because heās been called an offensive genius is disingenuous.
3 Likes
Thatās bitterness from fans because 1) He left and 2) He went to Chicago, a division rival. So of course rabiid fans are gonna trash him that way without any sort of reasoning
1 Like
Yeah I think thatās exacerbated it quite a bit, but you saw that take plenty before he left too. I think then it was just people wishcasting that he would stay with us, but still. Itās been around for a minute.
1 Like
For Ben to be a hit or miss itās all going to come down to Caleb. Heās under contract for several more seasons. Was pretty bad last year. If Caleb doesnāt improve rapidly itāll cost Ben his job before long. It almost always comes down to the qb.
3 Likes
Thank God they didnāt draft Jayden Daniels.
6 Likes
McVay came from a football family. His grandpa was a coach and eventually GM of the mighty 49ers dynasty. Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren were on that staff. Kyle is Mikeās kid. Andy Reid got his first HC gig after working with Holmgren in Green Bay.
LaFleur and OāConnell got their HC gigs after working under McVay and Shanahan. McVay got his HC gig after working under Shanahan (both).
Its funny to think about. You named 5 guys. But in reality they are all a part of the same tree that dates back to Bill Walsh. And of course Bill had an innovative mind. But he also understood how to treat his players and how to convey the gameplan in a way that players could understand. And if you really think about it, only Andy Reid came from outside of the Kyle Shanahan tree. There is Shanahan himselfā¦then McVay and LaFluer who coached directly under Shanahanā¦then OāConnell who coached under McVay.
Sean Payton too then. My point is just being an offensive genius doesnāt mean theyāll be a bad coach. Doesnāt mean theyāll be a good one either, but using it as the reason heāll be a bad coach is really, really fallacious.
2 Likes
I have no idea if Ben will make a good HC. The potential is certainly there.
But I do think heās trying to hard to be witty/funny which clearly doesnāt come natural to him.
https://x.com/honolulublues_/status/1894804996543168669?s=46
Some Lions fans are really bothered by this thinking itās shade. My main observation is that heās trying to be funny like Dan but that itās just not him. The delivery is wretched. There isnāt really even a punch line even though Simms gives him a chuckle. And Iāve noticed it a lot in his brief time with the Bears. His attempts at levity with the media almost always land with a thud.