Matt Bowen: Ben Johnson is a 'home run' hire for the Bears

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00:00I thought it was outstanding.

00:01I mean, I can't tell you, I think this is a home run move by the Bears.

00:04This is a franchise acting like a blue blood franchise, making a big time move.

00:10If you get the top candidate available, I think we can all agree on that.

00:14In the C coach Johnson yesterday, I thought it was outstanding.

00:17And look, this is the first thing someone will say, right, Dan?

00:20We hear it all the time.

00:20Well, it's just a press conference.

00:21I understand that.

00:23This is more about a head coach's ability to communicate and to deliver a message.

00:28Because think about this, if you're a player in that locker room,

00:30starting in April, you're going to hear a message, okay?

00:33And that message has to be sold to professional athletes.

00:36You have to create hope, you have to create energy,

00:38you have to create juice in that building.

00:39You have to deliver that message each and every day and get everyone

00:43in that building to buy into it and to run with it.

00:47And I think he did a great job of starting with that yesterday.

00:50Because if I'm a player, I'm excited.

00:52If I'm a player for the Bears, right, I'm really excited about what this can be.

00:56I'm also realistic, understanding he has a brand new coach, first time head coach.

01:01But seeing what he did in Detroit from a play calling perspective and

01:04who he worked under, you have to remember this, he worked under Dan Campbell.

01:07I've done a lot of studying on Dan Campbell this year, just a lot of reading,

01:11watching videos, trying to get more of what he is as a coach.

01:15And the best line I got from that, Dan, was when Coach Johnson said,

01:18get comfortable being uncomfortable, and he looked right at the players, okay?

01:23I think we can all understand that applies to everything in life,

01:25not just football.

01:25When you are comfortable, you are not growing.

01:28I think what he's telling them, that when you are physically tested and

01:31mentally tested, that's when you're gonna grow in this football program.

01:33I'm not calling it a program now,

01:34because I think that's where the Bears are going.

01:36And when you talk like that, you look directly at your players,

01:39you are sending a message early that things are gonna change here.

01:42We're gonna play a different brand of football.

01:44We're gonna push to the edge,

01:45because that's what I think he learned under Dan Campbell.

01:48We're gonna start winning football games in Chicago.