CHICAGO (WGN) — As new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson puts it, accountability and discipline will bleed from coaches to players as his new culture is built from Halas Hall to Soldier Field.
That bleeding effect started Wednesday with four players who sat sat front row as he laid out his vision for the Bears.
“I do have a message here for the players. Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Johnson said in his opening statement. “The bar has been set higher than it’s ever been set before. The only way for this team and for you as individual players to reach your potential is to be pushed and to be challenged. That’s exactly what I and my staff plan on doing.”
Caleb Williams, DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet were those four players who sat directly to his left, getting their first taste of what it would be like to play for their new head coach in person.
“Him seeing us on the field and all the talent that we have here, I think brings excitement to him,” Williams said. “I came all the way from Florida. DJ came from Disneyland with his kids. I think Cole, I don’t exactly know where Cole was. Rome was here, but showing up today I think is a start. It shows you the type of guys we have here, and that’s something that he’s excited about.
“Something he talked about is the family aspect of it. Being able to grow that aspect, be able to come closer, become tougher on each other. Then when we get out on the field, we show that.”
A hallmark of the Detroit Lions team Johnson just came from is the hard-nosed, family-based atmosphere of their locker room that’s fueled by players like Jared Goff, Amon Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell, among others.
Based on who showed up for Johnson’s first day, Williams, Moore, Kmet and Odunze could metaphorically serve as the Four Horsemen to Johnson’s apocalypse of the old Bears culture. Their presence Wednesday should also pay immediate dividends toward figuring out who will be at the forefront of building an atmosphere in Chicago’s locker room similar to Detroit’s.
“If guys are stepping out of line or not being in line and not just with him, but with the team. You’re not doing the right things,” Williams said. “You got to be put on blast in front of the whole team because that shows accountability. That accountability shows the discipline that he talked about up there.”
Kmet was one of the most prominent figures on the Bears’ roster when it came to being openly critical of the team’s accountability and attention to detail, whether it was at practice during the week, or on gameday.
“There are moments where maybe some guys lay off here and there, those are the types of things that can happen when you do that for just a split-second,” Kmet said after Chicago’s Week 8 Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders. “It doesn’t always come to bite you in the butt but when it does, it hurts. That’s the unfortunate beauty of this game. If you disrespect it in a certain way, it’ll come to haunt you in some form or fashion.”
Moore came under fire for comments he made about what he’s looking forward to most this offseason late in the year.
“Vacation,” Moore said at the time, with two games left in the regular season.
Moore went on to say his comments were taken out of context, but the fact he hopped on a plane in the middle of a family vacation to Disneyland so he could attend Johnson’s opening presser showed he is far from checked out, and likely onboard with bringing that sense of accountability into the locker room.
Odunze finished the 2024 season sixth in catches and seventh in receiving yards among rookie wide receivers, even though he was the third wideout taken off the board after Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers.
Despite him being just a rookie and the Bears finishing far from early season expectations by year’s end, Odunze has already expressed a desire to learn from last season and be a positive example moving into the future.
“Yeah it’s tough. It’s different, mixed emotions and we all carry that burden, carry that weight,” Odunze said after the Bears’ Week 16 loss to the Lions. “It’s tough. I think there’s some good character men in this locker room that continue to uplift, continue to keep going. I follow that inspiration and try to be a light as well.”
By the time Johnson wrapped up, Williams was already taking ques from his new head coach.
“Once we figure out exactly what his rules are and how everything goes and how it needs to be run, it bleeds into the players,” Williams said. “From there, it’s in the locker room and now we have to take it and run with it from there and keep leaning on each other … What he’s been able to do over there with Detroit and that offense, you don’t see an offense doing things that they were doing without somebody like Ben at the helm of it.
“There’s so much time and so much effort and so much energy and passion that goes into it. [and] that’s great and all, but without the discipline and accountability, you don’t get to do all those cool things — like the stumble bum — that he talked about with us.”