The Chicago Bears’ new head coach is making more than C.J. Stroud.
Way more than Puka Nacua.
Almost as much as Saquon Barkley.
The “early figure on the NFL grapevine” for Ben Johnson, who signed on to become the 19th head coach in franchise history Monday, is $13 million per year, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
That number would make Johnson the seventh-highest-paid NFL coach this season — $1 million ahead of the Ravens’ John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens and $1 million behind the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan.
The Chiefs’ Andy Reid, who is two wins away from the league’s first three-peat, leads all coaches with his $20 million salary.
Of course, Harbaugh’s got a Super Bowl to his name, not to mention four AFC Championship game appearances. The Lombardi Trophy has so far eluded Shanahan, though the Niners head coach has brought his team to the Big Game twice and the conference final on four occasions.
Johnson, meanwhile, amassed just two playoff wins during his tenure as the Lions’ offensive coordinator from 2022-24 and has a grand total of zero years head coaching experience.
That makes $13 million seem an exorbitant sum — that is, until you consider how thirstily the league’s other coach-less franchises chased after Johnson’s services.
The newly minted head coach had been touted as the top dog in this year’s coaching cycle. Prior to signing his monstrous deal with the Bears, Johnson interviewed with the Patriots, the Jaguars and the Raiders, with the latter once thought to be forerunners.
AP
Johnson is believed to be something akin to the prodigal son, an unencumbered one-off offensive mastermind responsible for the reemergence of Jared Goff and the once-woebegone Lions’ offense.
And the numbers back those platitudes up.
2024 NFL highest-paid coaches
| Coach | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Andy Reid | Chiefs | $20 million |
| Sean Payton | Broncos | $18 million |
| Mike Tomlin | Steelers | $16 million |
| Jim Harbaugh | Chargers | $16 million |
| Sean McVay | Rams | $15 million |
| Kyle Shanahan | 49ers | $14 million |
| John Harbaugh | Ravens | $12 million |
As Detroit’s offensive coordinator from 2022-24, the Lions ranked fifth, fifth and then first in points per game. The year before he took over offensive duties, Detroit came in at No. 24.
The 2021 campaign was also Goff’s first in Detroit, with the longtime Ram having been recently cast out of Los Angeles with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.
Little was proved that first year as the then 27-year-old played to a 3-10-1 record in 14 starts while tossing eight interceptions to 19 touchdowns.
Years two through four, though, were entirely different stories. Goff improved in nearly every metric, every season, and the Lions’ record ascended in parallel: nine wins, 12 wins, 15 wins.
Since 2022, no NFL quarterback has more yards or touchdowns than Goff. Those ranks are all the more impressive considering that, over the span, the signal caller’s interception percentage, 1.8%, is the fifth-lowest among qualified passers (despite what the divisional round meltdown loss to the Commanders might lead you to believe).
And so, while $13 million for an unproven head coach is certainly a mountainous lump sum, if Johnson can do for Caleb Williams what he did for Goff, he’ll be worth every penny.
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