New Bears coach Ben Johnson made an extremely positive first impression during his introductory press conference Wednesday at Halas Hall.

Leaving no doubt he can command a room, the former Lions offensive coordinator came across as intelligent, authentic, genuine, confident, motivated and direct. Johnson clearly communicated why he wanted the Bears job, his message to players and much more during a 32-minute session with reporters.

He opened by thanking a Bears search committee that included chairman George H. McCaskey, President and CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles.

"It was clear to me from the beginning that the priorities were straight," Johnson said. "There's only one way for us to have success here and that's [having] the right people in place.

"George, thank you for trusting the people that you hired. It is perfectly clear that you're going to provide all the resources necessary for us to build a sustained winner here in Chicago. Kevin, I appreciate your support as well. You're going to play an integral part of everything we have going on. And Ryan, thank you so much for trusting and believing in me. What you and your staff have already built here is so enticing. This roster is absolutely loaded with talent already and I'm looking forward to building it with you. As we've already talked about, we're going to be in lockstep every step of the way. I cannot wait to work with you."

Poles opened the press conference by introducing the new Bears coach.

"Our entire organization is fired up about Ben Johnson," Poles said. "Throughout the entire process, we came away really impressed with his passion, his leadership, his football IQ and his vision for winning football."

Johnson revealed that there were three primary reasons he pursued the Bears job. He relishes the opportunity to live and work in the Chicago area and remain in the NFC North division, and he's enticed by a talented roster that Poles has constructed.

"It is stocked. It is loaded," Johnson said.

The 38-year-old then delivered an unsolicited message to Bears players, advising them to "get comfortable being uncomfortable."

"The bar has been set higher than it's ever been set before," Johnson said. "The only way for this team, and for you as individual players, to reach your potential, is to be pushed and to be challenged, and that's exactly what I and my staff plan on doing.

"We're going to push. We're going to challenge. And along with those high standards, there's also going to be a high level of support as well. Everybody in this building is going to be all about helping you guys out. How do you become the best versions of yourselves? That's what it's going to be about from start to finish. When you walk in, it's going to be crystal clear—the communication, the structure and consistency—and that will never waver."

Last offseason, Johnson had a chance to become an NFL head coach after helping the Lions capture their first division title since 1993 and win their first playoff game since 1991. He opted to return to Detroit after an NFC Championship Game defeat to the 49ers, but this year he felt more prepared to make the leap even after the Lions lost to the Commanders last weekend.

"A year ago, honestly it was a similar situation in terms of being ejected from the playoffs pretty early," he said. "And as my emotions got the better of me at that point, I decided quite early on that I wanted to come back and take another shot at that in Detroit.

"I was able to do a lot more thinking, just throughout my head and my process, what it would look like as the head coach. I just felt a lot more comfortable in terms of making that jump regardless of how the season ended in Detroit."

The answers that Johnson received to questions he asked during the interview process convinced him that the Bears were the right fit.

"I talked about alignment last year when I came back to Detroit, and that was really important to me, was to see that the structure [and] setup was conductive to winning," Johnson said. "All those questions were answered throughout the interview process. The guys in front of me right here—George, Kevin, Ryan—I believe in them, and I really believe that we will be able to turn this place around.

"The interview process was excellent for me; [they] answered all the questions I was looking forward to. Not to mention the family atmosphere that they clearly outlined was a huge selling point as well."

Given the talent on the roster, Johnson described the Bears as "a sleeping giant."

"We will evaluate the whole roster," he said. "I have not watched all the tape, but I have a good feel from game planning against this defense, and certainly seeing the crossover tape from the offense that I feel confident about the current talent level already in the building. Going into this season, I felt like this place was a sleeping giant.

"To be honest with you, I personally was more concerned about the Chicago Bears than I was about anyone else in this division. Now, there is a number of reasons why that did not unfold, which is why I'm here. I'll get to the bottom of that, and we will see if we can't get that corrected and cleaned up.

"We struggled with that defense here for both games that we played them in 2023. That was a huge deal, knowing that as much as I struggled staying up at night trying to attack this defense, I knew what [they were] capable of. And seeing all the weapons that they have on offense here was really, really encouraging."

While Johnson believes that it takes more than a talented quarterback to win in the NFL, the presence of Caleb Williams was a key factor in him accepting the Bears job.

"It's clear that modern football in the NFL is quarterback driven," Johnson said. "That is no secret. You can look at analytics right now – quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning and losing than turnover ratio which has been for 20-plus years.

"That's changed, so there's no doubt Caleb played a large component into my decision. He is a phenomenal talent that had, as many quarterbacks do, an up and down rookie year. I see my role as a supporter of him. This offense will be calibrated around him. We're going to build this thing. This is not simply a dropping of a previous playbook down on the table and starting there. Nope, we're ripping this thing down to the studs, and we're going to build it out with him first and foremost, and then with the pieces around him next. I really look forward to challenging him and pushing him to continue to grow and develop."

Johnson believes that the keys to a young quarterback's development are time on task and trust.

"I've already talked to Caleb," Johnson said. "We're going to have to spend a lot of time together. The play caller and the quarterback have to be integrated. The quarterback needs to be able to see the game through the play caller's eyes. In my opinion, that's the only way it works. And so we're going to spend a lot of time together this spring time [and] certainly during training camp, and we'll be able to see how much headway we can make. But there's already things that I've talked to him about that I've noticed in his game that I want to address, and I want to go ahead and take a look at early and often here."

In Detroit, Johnson coordinated one of the NFL's most explosive offenses. Over the last two seasons, the Lions have led the league in average points (30.1) and yards (402.2) per game. In 2024, Detroit scored an NFL-leading 68 touchdowns and ranked second with a franchise-record 409.5 yards per game. The Lions became the first team in league history to have two running backs and two receivers all compile at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage.

Philosophically, Johnson wants the same things to look different and different things look the same.

"We want the defense on their heels," he said. "We are always going to be attacking on offense. We believe in multiplicity – that's both formationally and conceptually. We are going to make things very challenging on the defense each and every week. We want the ability to morph, whether it's 50 runs in a game or 50 passes in a game. It does not matter. Balance to me is throughout the entire season, not necessarily in the game.

"With that being said, those are broad strokes of what this is going to look like. It's not going to look like it did in Detroit. We have a completely different personnel group than what we did in Detroit. This entire offense is going to be predicated on the guys that we have available. That's going to take the spring time as well as training camp to hone in what it's going to look like."

Johnson, who confirmed that he will call offensive plays, is excited about also working with the defense and special teams.

"When you're the head coach, you have to be involved defensively," he said. "You have to be involved in special teams. That comes with the territory. When you talk about last year, why I went back to Detroit, part of the reason was I had not fully comprehended how to make all of that work. I'm in a much better space right now in terms of time management, how I can be involved with all three phases.

"The whole key to this is being able to tie them together, play complementary football. I will be heavily involved both defensively and in special teams as much as offense. It's going to be critical that I hire people that have some experience in this league that I can lean on and trust. Defensively, there are a number of guys that I want to talk to. And really it will be predicated on who we decide to go with, what that defense is going to look like."

In an offensive coordinator, Johnson will seek to hire someone "that can organize and structure and set the table, particularly early in the week."

"I have been around a number of guys that have called plays in the past and I've seen the potential pitfalls that could arise as you're approaching the entire football team and you can't get to watching as much tape early in the week as you possibly could," Johnson said. "The offensive coordinator position is going to have to be somebody that not only I trust but will be extremely detail oriented, organized and structured to set the table, and also be willing to work late nights."

Johnson's primary objective this spring will be to establish a culture at Halas Hall.

"Accountability and integrity, they're going to be cornerstones of this," he said. "Team-first mentality is going to be critical for us … At the end of the day, we are going to lean on a professional work ethic. We're going to learn how to be pros here in this building. We'll be deliberate and intentional with what we do, and then we'll get out of the building and off our feet."

Asked what the accountability will look like, Johnson said: "We're going to do what we say we're going to do and we're going to be who we say we're going to be. And if we fall short of that standard, then there has to be consequences to that. That can look a number of different ways, but we are going to get to the point when we are winning here where our veteran players are going to take over the accountability portion of it. Until we get there, though, it's going to be on us as the coaching staff to outline what it should look like, what a Chicago Bear is going to look like, what that professional work ethic is going to look like.

"I'm deeply committed to finding a way to make this work. My core values really rest on work ethic, selflessness and poise. I expect that to be embodied [in] this team."