INDIANAPOLIS – At Ben Johnson's first NFL Combine as a head coach this week, he and the Bears are seeking prospects that possess three specific attributes.
"The identity of our team going forward, it's going to be a physical, a sound and a poised group," Johnson told ChicagoBears.com.
"We want to see a level of physicality pop off the tape when we're watching that. The sound fundamentals, that's something whether they're either currently showing that or they're showing a willingness to learn that. And then the poised part, that's the fun part is finding out how well they perform when the lights are the brightest. So there will be certain situations we're looking at."
The Bears have challenged prospects in their one-on-one combine interviews to test their mettle.
"We try to put a little bit of pressure on them at times in those meetings," Johnson said, "just to see how they respond to it because at the end of the day that's what's going to win or lose games for us, those one-score games that every team's a part of each year."
Johnson was hired by the Bears after spending the previous 13 seasons as an offensive assistant with the Dolphins (2012-18) and Lions (2019-24), including the last three years as Detroit's offensive coordinator. As a result, this is the first time that he is evaluating defensive prospects at the combine.
"Sitting in with the defensive line [Monday] night was very fun," Johnson said. "That's the first time I've been able to do that in a formal interview setting. [Bears defensive line coach] Jeremy Garrett absolutely knocked it out of the park. He was taking the lead in terms of some of the film and some of the football questions we were asking those guys. I get more excited right now looking at some of these defensive prospects than I would have thought, and that's coming from an offensive coach."
In making the transition from coordinator to head coach, Johnson has sought advice from Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who left coordinator positions for head-coaching jobs with the Raiders in 2012 and the Saints in 2022.
"That was part of the vision in bringing Dennis Allen into the building," Johnson said. "He's a guy that I've been able to lean heavily into it, not just from the combine perspective but also from scheduling to what the weight room's going to look like this springtime and bounce ideas off of. He's had a lot of exposure here in the combine, the formal interviews, what we want that to look like, and he's been able to navigate that process."
NFL clubs are permitted to interview 45 prospects at the combine, conducted in separate team suites at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"For us, it's getting a feel for the football intelligence and it's getting a feel for the personality, as much as we possibly can in 18 minutes," Johnson said. "The only way you can do that in my opinion is to get the player to talk. We have a couple of icebreakers to get them going and then we dive into the film quickly after that.
"That's really what they have the most familiarity with and they can speak on the most. It gives us a good idea what their foundation is, and I think it comes out as they talk, and you listen how coachable they're going to be and what they've been exposed to."
