{"id":213534,"date":"2025-02-04T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=213534"},"modified":"2025-02-03T21:43:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T02:43:46","slug":"how-to-avoid-burning-bridges-the-ben-johnson-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/04\/how-to-avoid-burning-bridges-the-ben-johnson-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Burning Bridges The Ben Johnson Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Immediately after the Lions’ loss to Washington, Ben Johnson<\/a> peeled out of the Motor City so quickly that he left skid marks. The timing of Johnson’s departure from the Lions and questionable behavior beforehand left bridges burning. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

How to Avoid Burning Bridges The Ben Johnson Way<\/h2>\r\n

The NFL coaching carousel is well-known for its fickle nature. With coaches coming and going and assistants moving up, a head coach may be a hero one year and a scapegoat the next. However, Johnson’s departure left a bitter aftertaste for many fans. It\u2019s fair to say he burned more than a few bridges on his way out of town. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although Johnson had once been an instrumental member of Dan Campbell\u2019s rebuild team, all fans could talk about was how his inept play-calling of the Divisional game led to the Lions’ early departure from the playoffs. While it’s unlikely Johnson deliberately tanked a playoff game, hi<\/span>s decision to coach a division rival angered many. His choice was seen as a betrayal since the Lions play the Bears twice a year. As their former OC, Johnson possesses critical inside information he could use against the team.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Johnson’s Divided Loyalties<\/h3>\r\n

A year ago, Johnson didn’t hide that he wanted to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears. But Johnson\u2019s previous lack of head coaching experience may have hurt him. He was passed over for Matt Eberflus. Nonetheless, when Johnson returned to the Lions for the 2024 season, he kept his eye on the big prize in Chicago. Once Eberflus was fired, Johnson’s desire to become the Bears’ next head coach went into overdrive.<\/p>\r\n

Rather than focusing solely on his responsibilities with the Lions Johnson was allegedly recruiting his coaching staff. According to recently published reports in Sports Illustrated<\/a><\/em>, he spoke with former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen<\/a> late in the 2024 season about becoming Johnson’s defensive coordinator. The two discussed whether Allen would consider a job with Johnson despite his lack of previous head coaching experience. \u00a0When Allen affirmed he was indeed interested, Johnson knew he had his DC and turned his attention to the rest of his staff. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Johnson Recruiting Lions Coaching Staff\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

By the time Johnson was named as the Bears’ head coach on January 21, 2025, he’d already filled several other positions. Even though Johnson made a point of saying he \u201cWouldn\u2019t raid Dan Campbell\u2019s coaching staff,\u201d<\/a> he immediately poached two Detroit coaches. Johnson named Antwaan Randle El<\/a> as his assistant head\/wide receivers coach. Then, he hired J.T. Barrett as his quarterback coach.<\/p>\r\n

Randle El had been with the Lions since 2021 as part of Campbell\u2019s<\/a> initial rebuild team. He worked closely with star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and was instrumental in improving Jameson Williams’ skills. A key member of the Lions offensive staff, Randle El will undoubtedly be missed in Detroit. But as an Illinois native, he couldn’t resist the lure of coming home.

Barrett has been a member of Campbell\u2019s staff since 2022. As the Lions’ assistant quarterbacks coach, he was credited with Jared Goff’s<\/a> consistency as an MVP-caliber talent.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

How To Avoid Johnson’s Pitfalls<\/h3>\r\n

It’s safe to say that if things don’t work out for Johnson in Chicago, he’s severed any possibility of being welcomed back to Detroit. Although the Lions lost their defensive coordinator a day after Johnson, Aaron Glenn’s<\/a> departure was the exact opposite of how Johnson conducted himself. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

After the pain of the Lions’ abrupt loss, Glenn waited a few days to make his announcement. He didn’t take a job with a division rival. Rather, he accepted a position with a team where he had a previous history both as a player and member of the coaching staff. \u00a0Glenn was gracious in his departure, acknowledging the role Campbell played in his career and how much he admires him. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It comes as no surprise that the admiration is mutual. Before the end of the season, Campbell was quoted as saying, “Aaron Glenn is — he’s as good a coach as you’re going to find,<\/a> he’s an even better human being. I don’t want to lose him, but I also root for the guy because I think he’s a hell of a coach.” \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While Glenn recruited Lions tight ends coach Steve Heiden as his new offensive line coach and passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand as offensive coordinator, the timing of these hires seems more appropriate. Engstrand wasn’t named as the Jets’ OC until after the Lions hired David Shaw as their new passing game coordinator. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Glenn is still on close terms with his former head coach. Former Lions players have nothing but praise and appreciation for all Glenn accomplished in Detroit. Everyone genuinely wishes him success in New York. Glenn’s departure was a perfect demonstration of how to leave a job with grace, dignity, and appreciation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Lions Sweet Revenge Against Johnson\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

It’s unfortunate Johnson left the way he did and burned bridges. But the Lions get to play the Bears twice next season. \u00a0The best way for the Lions to avenge Johnson is to emerge with a decisive victory. \u00a0The Lions have a talented and experienced offensive coordinator in John Morton<\/a>. In addition to his previous success with Goff, \u00a0he obtained great results with rookie quarterback Bo Nix in Denver. With Morton helming the Lions’ power-packed offense, winning both games against the Bears next season will be sweet revenge. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Main Image: David Banks-Imagn Images<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The timing of Johnson’s departure from the Lions and questionable behavior beforehand left bridges burning. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5208,"featured_media":214635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[7463,5744,7578,33207,9585,7464,1309,33262,451,33258],"class_list":["post-213534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lions","tag-aaron-glenn","tag-al-harris","tag-amon-ra-st-brown","tag-antwaan-randle-el","tag-ben-johnson","tag-dan-campbell","tag-dennis-allen","tag-j-t-barrett","tag-jared-goff","tag-john-morton"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213534"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214636,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213534\/revisions\/214636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}