The Chicago Bears kicked off their offseason program last week, where new head coach Ben Johnson got to meet his team for the first time and lay out expectations.
One of the messages he had for his team was establishing a winning mindset that starts with putting the work in during the offseason. Even though it's his first season, Johnson isn't tempering expectations. He's expecting this team to win now.
"It's really just the mindset of winning and winning right now and winning a certain type of way too," cornerback Jaylon Johnson told reporters Tuesday. "Having that dominating mentality is something I took away from that team meeting. And it starts now.
"It starts with the work we put in. It starts with jelling and being cohesive and understanding what they're going to be asking of us, especially on defense. Just understanding the mentality, understanding the mindset, understanding the identity we're going to establish. Really just chasing that throughout the offseason."
For linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, it's not just that Johnson wants to win, but he wants to dominate. It's what Johnson did as offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions, where they were the league's highest scoring offense.
"He doesn't just want to win. We want to win by a lot," Edmunds said. "We want to dominate. That's important. That just talks about his mentality, talks about his mindset. It's like, 'nah, we're gonna be the best we're gonna be.' We want to dominate, and we want our opponent to feel that for sure."
The Bears haven't had a winning season since 2018, when they went 12-4 in Matt Nagy's first season. But it's something Johnson will be looking to accomplish in his first season, as well as sustaining that success.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears coach Ben Johnson instilling dominating mentality
