Ben Johnson wants Bears to set NFL scoring record in 2026
Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift sits down with NFL Network's Stacey Dales and Marc Ross to detail what the team expects out of themselves in this upcoming NFL season.
By every metric, Ben Johnson's first season as coach of the Chicago Bears was a great success.
They won their division and a playoff game, buoyed by the thrilling emergence of Caleb Williams as the face of the franchise’s future. But that's apparently not close to satisfactory for Johnson, who is setting his sights on the Lombardi Trophy and more entering 2026.
Yes, you read that correctly. Johnson doesn't just want to win a Super Bowl -- he wants to rewrite the record books.
“You’ve got 31 other teams coming to training camp saying, ‘Our goal is to win the Super Bowl,'” Johnson told The Athletic's Dan Pompei. “I want more than that. I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored (37.9), and I want to surpass them. I want shutouts. I want blowouts.”
Johnson is chasing the consecutive victories record (21) set by Bill Belichick's first dynasty in New England, too.
“Why can’t we do that?” he said. “There has never been an undefeated season (since teams have been playing more than 14 regular-season games). The moon is the Super Bowl, but we’re shooting beyond that, for the stars. And I want these players to feel that each and every single day they come in.”
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The natural reaction to this extreme ambition (and confidence) might be to scoff at the coach, who is clearly basking in the glow of a wonderful debut season. It's reasonable for fans of rival teams to read his bombastic statements and cast aspersions on Johnson's goals.
But Johnson isn't trying to make headlines; he's aiming to squeeze as much juice as possible from his team.
As Johnson and his fellow coaches across the league know, no job in the NFL is permanent. Regardless of reason, Johnson will no longer be the coach of the Bears one day.
He is now, though. And after winning the NFC North title in his first campaign, he'd be selling himself short if he didn't set his sights as high as possible.
“I’m completely happy with the thought that this is my last job,” Johnson said. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had. I love it to death, and the day I get let go from here, I will have given everything I had to it, and whatever was meant to be will be.”
