CHICAGO — One thing Ben Johnson said in January when he was hired as the 19th head coach in Chicago Bears history is that the quarterback has to see the game through the eyes of the play caller.

To understand the foundation of where Johnson, the play caller, is as an offensive mind, you have to trace his history in the profession. Not through the quarterbacks he has worked with along the way but to his entry into the profession, coaching tight ends at Boston College in 2011 and also coaching that position for the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions.

Johnson favors a physical, powerful running game, one capable of challenging defenses in a multitude of ways with as many different concepts as you can imagine. Sometimes the tight end position is a steppingstone for coaches who are eventually promoted to oversee the offensive line. Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar worked with running backs and tight ends in New Orleans before becoming the Saints offensive line coach.

While Johnson didn’t follow that path, the former high school and college quarterback has a unique way of being able to see the game through the eyes of the men in the trenches, which has heavily influenced who he has become as a play designer and caller.

The Lions had the highest-scoring offense in the NFL over the last three seasons with Johnson as the coordinator. They ranked fifth in rushing in that period. Before he became the coach responsible for reigniting quarterback Jared Goff’s career, he got the Lions rolling on the ground.

Consider the Lions rushed for 656 yards and seven touchdowns in their first four games in 2022 when Johnson was a newbie play caller. He wasn’t trying to prove his savvy in the passing game; he was leaning into the strength of the team’s offensive line with D’Andre Swift as the lead back.

With the Bears beginning a new era Monday night at Soldier Field against the Minnesota Vikings, it stands to reason Johnson will be intent on running the ball, even if the development of quarterback Caleb Williams has been the No. 1 story since his arrival.

“I’ve got an affinity more so for the run game than what people might realize,” Johnson said. “I spend more time and I dabble in that maybe more than I do the passing game. The passing game to me? I won’t even get into that.

“There’s nothing more beautiful to me than seeing 11 guys execute a wide zone play the way that we’re coaching it. Even if it’s just a 10-, 12-yard gain, to see it come to life like that — techniques, fundamentals.”

And Johnson links those core beliefs to his upbringing in the profession coaching tight ends, the position at the center of the marriage between the running and passing games. With the Bears making a major investment in the offensive line to bring in guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson around center Drew Dalman, they have the personnel to bring Johnson’s playbook to life.

Flash back to the only time in the preseason when Bears offensive starters played against an opponent’s starting defense: Aug. 22 in Kansas City, Mo. The one thing they did well against the Chiefs was get movement off the ball while creating some nice holes. That was without Thuney, who didn’t play in the preseason.

What Johnson is particularly good at is getting numbers on the edges. He accomplishes that with personnel groupings, formations and motions, and when the ball is snapped, the Bears should be able to put the opponent in immediate conflict.

When Johnson said in July he wasn’t sure yet if the Bears would be zone- or gap-based with their running game, the truth is they’ll do a little bit of everything. It’s likely they major in outside (or wide) zone. That’s what Dalman does at a very high level.

But the Bears should do everything from outside zone to inside zone, counter, power, duo and more. Johnson is incredibly versatile with his running game, and it can change from series to series. In Detroit, he was best at creating edges.

“If this thing goes well, it’s going to be a symphony,” said NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, a former offensive lineman. “It’s going to be a marriage of a very physical run game with Caleb under center, play-action passes and taking his shots. It’s going to look a lot different than it has here.”

Johnson stressed that it all starts with the fundamentals and technique of the offensive linemen, and it will be interesting to track how it evolves.

“When you can put in some of the stuff that we like to do — insertions and slicing the defense — and then you see the cavities that arise from it, that’s what really excites you as a football coach,” he said. “I love that aspect of it and I think the beauty behind what we’ve done here — I’m talking about what (general manager) Ryan (Poles) has brought in from a roster standpoint — is we’ve got some really smart players on that line and they can handle a lot of scheme if we want to go that direction.

“We’ve got to be able to run off the ball every single play. At the same time, if we can accelerate, ‘Hey, we’ve got a premier look here, let’s get into this play so we have better angles,’ that’s good football.”

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay is another guy who cut his teeth in the profession coaching tight ends for Washington from 2011-13, a springboard for him becoming a coordinator with a good sense how the pass and run are integrated and how the offensive line works. McVay also is lauded for his creative ability in running the ball.

“There are a lot of these guys that have coached tight ends and kind of come up in the league, so they have a different appreciation for the run game and understanding for how that ties in,” Bears passing game coordinator Press Taylor said. “It’s really, really impressive to hear Ben talk not just about the run game but football in general. He can very well coach every single position on our offense. I have no doubt about that.

“He sees it all as the play is going on and has the ability to coach every single guy as it goes.”

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