As he embarks on his first tenure as a head coach in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson is turning to his peers for advice and suggestions on managing his duties.
After spending the past three seasons as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, Johnson departed for Chicago this offseason, and became the 19th coach in franchise history. Making the move from offensive coordinator to head coach will require Johnson to not only run the offense, but manage the entire team at every level, putting much more responsibilities on his plate.
Current Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who previously served as offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins in 2015, has been a head coach since 2019 with Cincinnati and has a good relationship with Johnson, making him the perfect mentor for the Bears new coach.
During NFL Owners Meetings last week, Johnson revealed that he spoke with Taylor about how to manage his offensive playcalling responsibilities and overall duties as head coach.
"As a head coach you get drawn in certain directions, but as a coordinator they can really set the table to where you can catch up quickly," Johnson said, via Adam Hoge. "A lot of playcallers as head coaches get lost in the fog a little bit and (Taylor) has been able to navigate that in a very positive way."
It's going to be incredibly important for team success that Johnson finds the proper handling of both the offense and the team as a whole. Johnson comes to Chicago as one of the most respected and highly regarded offensive minds in the league, and while he hired veteran coach Dennis Allen to be defensive coordinator, he will still have responsibilities on defense and special teams.
Looking for all the mentorship he can get, Johnson has made it clear that he wants to turn around the Bears franchise and get them back to winning football as quickly as possible.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Ben Johnson reached out to Zac Taylor for head coaching advice
