RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesBen Johnson’s first year as an NFL head coach went splendidly as the Chicago Bears captured the NFC North and won their first playoff game since 2010. Expectations for this season are even higher as Caleb Williams has another year of experience and the Bears have proof of concept to follow as they attempt to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time in two decades.
Chicago begins its preseason campaign on Aug. 15 but they’ve been hard at work getting everything perfect during training camp. As an example of the steadfast commitment, rookie tight end Sam Rousch shared a story about Johnson’s working hours.
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“I was lifting at 8 am and [Ben] walks in and he’s got bed head,” Rousch told CHGO Sports. I look at him and I was like, ‘You slept in the facility last night, didn’t you?’ And he was like, ‘Don’t ask those kind of questions.’ It was the middle of June.”
Why do coaches sleep at the office?
As a society were are hopelessly addicted to stories about football coaches working insane hours and doing things that are entirely unnecessary to gain an edge. Even if more often than not the protagonists in these stories end up winning, like, 40 percent of their games and do nothing to show all the time they spent at the office instead of at home. It’s the easiest PR win in the world for a football coach to show up in the wee hours of the morning in a big truck wearing work boots. This blue-collar cosplay is just eaten up every single time.
Of course, if a coach then drops five of their first six tests, all that goodwill is out the window.
Now, to Johnson’s credit, he has a good personality and this is a funny response. It’s not any business of mine how much business he’s conducting at the workplace. Chicago had a great year last season and appears poised to do it again.
It’s just my personal belief that I don’t want my favorite team’s football coach sleeping at the office. I want them at home in a big, comfy bed. I want them to have all the healthy diversions a normal person who turns their brain away from their job in non-work hours enjoys. Especially not in June. I don’t need them sleeping at the office in June. There’s not enough to be done in June to warrant that. It feels like one just wants to sleep at the office at that point.
Then again I am lazy and perhaps not a BALL KNOWER. If Chicago wins the Super Bowl then all the long hours and snoozing on the sofa will have been worth it. If the Bears lose in the big game to a coach that went home for dinner every night, well, that’s when reality begins to far apart.
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