Why Ben Johnson’s Coach Of The Year Snub Is Great For The Bears

The NFL doesn’t know it yet, but it may have just already crowned the Chicago Bears next year’s Super Bowl champions.

Because the only possible thing that disrespecting head coach Ben Johnson will accomplish is turning him into an even more maniacal supervillian than he already is. 

As a guy who lives in Boston and watches a lot of Patriots football, I completely get Mike Vrabel winning Coach of the Year for the 2025 season. He just led a 4-13 team to the Super Bowl. Hard to argue that one.

But you mean to tell me that one—literally, just one—person (Dan Pompei) voted Johnson as their top candidate for the award after he led the Bears from the cellar of the NFC North, one of the most competitive divisions in football, to a division title? That Bears team everyone, including us fans, loves to make fun of, defies the odds at every turn, and you don’t want to reward that?

Is this some kind of Belichickian wrist-slapping for him being mean to poor Green Bay Packers Matt LaFleur by shaking his hand too quickly and aggressively, and then saying he hates LaFleur’s team? Did voters think this would teach him a lesson in humility and decorum, that he better watch his mouth, or we’re not going to let you win our popularity contest? (Again, not a shred of disrespect meant to Vrabel.)

Okay.

Just know that, like Michael Jordan in The Last Dance, Mr. Johnson is about to take that very personally, whether he admits it or not. Because he got your message, loud and clear. In fact, he might even print that tweet up and hang it in his office.

And even better, he’s going to positively infect his players, who are already pissed they didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, with that energy from OTAs through the end of next season.

“They don’t believe in you.” “They think you’re overrated.” “They want you to be humble and shut up.”

You thought this team came out trying to bully people before? Oh my goodness, 2026 is going to be a movie.

I’m just remembering how dirty Johnson did the Cincinnati Bengals back in Week 9, when he had Caleb Williams catching passes left and right just for the fun of it, or that flea-flicker bomb Williams chucked to Luther Burden III in Week 3. This year? Please. Johnson’s going to have them running the Annexation of Puerto Rico, or one of those Mean Machine trick plays from The Longest Yard.

Last year, we saw the Bears average 25.9 points per game (ninth in the league), their fourth-highest average in the last 20 years. In 2026? We might see point differentials that you only get in Madden. You can’t tell me Johnson’s not going to try and beat the Packers 82-0, just so he can walk down LaFleur at midfield with nothing but contempt in his eyes.

And then, when he lifts the Lombardi Trophy, he can tell the NFL: “You can have that. I’m gonna get this.”

Thank you so much, NFL. You’ll find out why next year.