The Chicago Bears’ new head coach is making more money than CJ Stroud.
Much better than Puka Nacua.
Almost as good as Saquon Barkley.
Ben Johnson, who signed on Monday as the 19th head coach in franchise history, has a “starting NFL number” of $13 million annually, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
That number makes Johnson the seventh-highest paid NFL coach this season, $1 million more than the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh and $1 million less than the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan. It turns out.
The Chiefs’ Andy Reid is two wins away from the league’s first three-peat and leads all coaches with an annual salary of $20 million.
Of course, Harbaugh has also won a Super Bowl, not to mention played in the AFC Championship game four times. Shanahan has missed out on the Lombardi Trophy so far, but the Niners head coach has taken his team to the big game twice and the conference finals four times.
Meanwhile, Johnson only won two playoff games during his time as the Lions’ offensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024, and has zero years of experience as a head coach.
With that in mind, $13 million seems like an exorbitant amount — considering how eagerly other teams in the league without coaches are pursuing Johnson’s legacy.
The newly appointed head coach was touted as a frontrunner for this year’s coaching cycle. Before signing a whopping contract with the Bears, Johnson met with the Patriots, Jaguars and Raiders, with the latter once considered the bellwether.
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Johnson is considered a prodigal son-like figure, the mastermind behind a no-holds-barred one-and-done offense responsible for the resurgence of Jared Goff and the Lions’ once-slumping offense. .
And the numbers back up those commonplace ideas.
Highest paid coaches in the NFL in 2024
As Detroit’s offensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024, Lyons ranked fifth, fifth, and first in points per game. The year before he took over offensive duties, Detroit finished 24th.
The 2021 campaign was also Goff’s first in Detroit, having carried Lamb for years with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, having only recently been deported from Los Angeles.
The then 27-year-old started 14 games, had eight interceptions and 19 touchdowns, compiling a 3-10-1 record, but showed little in his first year.
But years two through four were a completely different story. Goff improved in almost every metric each season, and the Lions’ record went up along with nine wins, then 12 wins, then 15 wins.
Since 2022, no quarterback in the NFL has had more yards or touchdowns than Goff. These rankings are all the more impressive when you consider that the signal-caller’s interception rate of 1.8% over all time was the fifth-lowest among eligible passers (though he lost badly to the Commanders in the divisional round). (despite what you might be led to believe).
So while $13 million is certainly a hefty lump sum for an unproven head coach, if Johnson can do to Caleb Williams what he did to Goff, he deserves every penny. It would be worth it.
