Already the top candidate to become the next Bears coach, Ben Johnson further increased the distance between himself and the rest of the field with one simple statement during his job interview.

"When we spent time together on the Zoom call, he basically came to the screen and was like, 'I want to be there. I want to help you guys win,'" said general manager Ryan Poles. "And that really separated him from everybody else."

"The first words out of his mouth were, 'I want this job,'" said chairman George H. McCaskey. "The last thing he said before we turned off the camera was, 'Did I tell you that I want this job?' I was especially struck that this is the toughest division in football, and he wants to be here. He wants to go up against [the Lions' Dan] Campbell, [the Packers' Matt] LaFleur and [the Vikings' Kevin] O'Connell and wants to succeed in the toughest environment possible. I was very impressed by that.

"He wanted to be here. He has a passion for this team and for the city … His directness, his dedication, his innovation, his energy, his decisiveness, we liked everything about him."

Johnson's résumé is highlighted by what he accomplished as Lions offensive coordinator. Over the last two seasons, Detroit has led the league in average points (30.1) and yards (402.2) per game. In 2024, the Lions scored an NFL-leading 68 touchdowns and ranked second with a franchise-record 409.5 yards per game en route to a 15-2 record and second straight NFC North title.

During his Zoom interview, Johnson also impressed the Bears with a clear vision of how to put together a winning football team.

"He hit on a lot of the accountability, discipline, how we're going to work to get where we need to get to, some of the things that I know we fell short on this year," Poles said. "I'm confident that he's going to address those things pretty quickly. Then when you add the draft capital, the space that we have with the cap, we can do some damage to get this team where it needs to be."

The Bears cast a wide net in their head-coaching search just in case they couldn't land Johnson, who was also attracting interest from the Raiders and Jaguars.

"He's done a lot of things that are special to put an offense together to operate at a high level and that stood out," Poles said. "He was always the top candidate. But you never know. Just like the draft, you never know how it's going to fall, so you have to be prepared. That's the reason why we did what we did."

One of Johnson's main responsibilities will be to help Caleb Williams develop into the quarterback the Bears envisioned when they selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft.

"He's going to be challenged to be a professional football player, to do the little things the right way," Poles said. "That foundation, I know Ben is going to hit that early and often, get that foundation strong, because you're going to build everything off of there. So once that's there, now we can continue to get better and play more consistently."

Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren lauded the organization for landing Johnson as well as gathering a wealth of information from other candidates.

"It was a perfect process," Warren said. "I enjoyed it. I think Ryan was very clear when we started this journey that a wide net would be cast, which it was. We would talk to many candidates. And one thing about this interview process, you would learn so much, not only about the candidate, but about other coaches, their thought process, other people in the industry.

"I thought it was a first-class process and Ryan should be commended, and I'm grateful to George and the entire McCaskey family for their support. We want to win, and we want to win now."

Warren described Johnson as "one of one."

"He talks about [Lions coach] Dan Campbell being a unicorn; you know, [Johnson] is a unicorn," Warren said. "He has grit. He is smart. He is hardworking. He is innovative. He is curious. He is demanding and now we need to surround [him with] a great staff. We need to make sure our players are surrounded with accountability but given the resources they need to win. And then the thing that I really like that I see developing is that relationship between Ryan and Ben, because that is where it is won."