Chicago Bears fans are very angry right, specifically at the Las Vegas Raiders. This is because the stars appear to be aligning for the latter to land Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as head coach.
We Raiders fans are just trying to get excited for once but it's hard to do that when all of the media and so many fans are up in arms that Johnson would even consider the job. I'm sorry but I missed the part where an elite head coach job opened up.
The last year has really deluded the minds of a lot of Bears fans. They had so much hype heading into the season thanks to the drafting of Caleb Williams but that hype quickly died once it turned out the team wasn't any good and had to fire head coach Matt Eberflus. Interim head coach Thomas Brown wasn't any more successful as the team finished 5-12.
Despite that, everybody seems to think they have a far better head coaching opening than the Raiders. I don't understand why. In terms of yards per game, the Raiders gained more on offense and allowed fewer yards on defense. They did this despite having a glorified linebackers coach at head coach and two failed offensive coordinators calling plays all season.
The biggest selling point for the Bears job is that whoever takes the job gets to coach Williams. Oh yes, the same Williams who had a worse QBR than Aidan O'Connell last season. I'm a fan of Williams but he's far different than the type of quarterbacks Johnson has worked with in his career.
That's not even mentioning the messy Bears front office. Team president Kevin Warren isn't widely respected around the NFL and general manager Ryan Poles has yet to build a team with a winning record. But what about the AFC West? It's so darn hard.
The NFC North had three teams win 11+ games that made the playoffs. Every head coach in the AFC West is over 60 right now while every coach in the NFC North is under 50. Also, does Johnson really want to face his mentor Dan Campbell twice a year every year?
That isn't to say that the Raiders job is great. Johnson is going to have to find a quarterback, a running back and a No. 1 wide receiver. They also have holes on defense. That said, the Raiders have all their draft picks and ample salary cap space.
The Bears also don't have a recent history of winning. They've had a worse record than the Raiders in two of the last three seasons and only won one more game than Las Vegas this season. The Bears also haven't won a playoff game since 2010 and the Raiders have more recently been to the playoffs. With the Raiders, Johnson has a chance to truly build the team in his image and find the exact quarterback he wants to work with.
In Chicago, he would not have the same freedom and he'd be going to an equally dysfunctional (if not more) franchise. We can argue whether or not the Raiders are the right landing spot for Johnson, but there is no compelling argument that the Bears are obviously that much better.