Chicago Bears fans are buzzing with excitement over their new head coach, Ben Johnson. The former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator was one of the most coveted candidates in the league, and the Bears successfully landed their top choice.
Johnson represents a new wave of NFL coaches embracing analytics and leveraging data to influence game-day decisions. But his innovation in data-driven coaching didn’t start in Detroit; it traces back to his time with the Miami Dolphins, where he not only used analytics but actively contributed to creating them.
Before becoming one of the hottest coaching prospects in the NFL, Johnson spent six years (2012-2018) with the Dolphins, working under multiple coaching staffs and refining his approach to the game. His time in Miami played a pivotal role in shaping his coaching philosophy.
One of his biggest impacts was in the analytics department. It’s easy to forget now, but NFL teams were far more conservative about fourth-down decisions in the past. Johnson set out to challenge that mindset. According to a recent Yahoo! report, Johnson didn’t fit the traditional mold of an NFL coach typically filled with “football guys” resistant to outside influences. While many teams hired math and computer science experts to handle analytics, Johnson took matters into his own hands, using his coding skills to make data-driven decisions a core part of the game plan.
Whether Johnson will find success in Chicago remains to be seen, but one thing is certain he’s a forward-thinking coach who will leave no stone unturned in his approach to the game.
