The Chicago Bears started their season with a strong showing, scoring the second-highest Week 1 total in NFL history in a 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers. The performance brought up an instant comparison that felt right even if it rested more on feeling than on X’s and O’s.
An official from another team described the performance as some “Greatest Show on Turf” stuff after watching the game.
Eight touchdowns were scored by the Bears — six from running plays and two from passing — and nothing the Panthers did could slow them down. That comparison stuck because the game was explosive, much like the Rams’ offense used to be.
Johnson’s Scheme Is a Mutt
Ben Johnson describes his scheme as a “mutt.” It borrows from many systems, including deep passing concepts and presnap motion from “Air Coryell” and more timing-based concepts consistent with West Coast offenses.
There’s a heavy emphasis on a physical running game, and he’s always seeking to attack by gaining advantages through spacing and numbers.
The mutt label is fitting. Johnson isn’t building one system from scratch. He’s pulling ideas from everywhere he’s coached and studied, and the result is an offense that moves fast and attacks from multiple angles.
Martz’s Spring Meeting
A few months ago, Johnson spent a couple of hours talking ball with Mike Martz via Zoom. The two had first met when Johnson was an assistant on Adam Gase’s Miami Dolphins coaching staff.
Rather than going through a playbook, the gathering focused on the bigger picture.
“We didn’t talk much about the Super Bowl,” Martz said. “We talked about wanting to be the best team in the history of the league. If you practice and play at that level, you’ve got a chance. Can it happen? Who knows. One team did, Miami (in 1972). It’s attainable, and if you do those things, you’re going to win a Super Bowl too.”
The Zone Blitz Counter
The scheme Martz employed was designed to combat a common defensive approach from that era: the zone blitz. It was a strategy that Buddy Ryan frequently deployed, while Dom Capers refined it into a dominant force during the early 1990s.
The zone blitz reduced what offenses could do, compelling them to keep running backs and tight ends on the field to protect the quarterback. That greatly cut down the choices available to play callers. Martz reacted by taking all his running backs out of the backfield — lining up Marshall Faulk there with three or even four wide receivers — and saying, “Go ahead, blitz.”.
“The main philosophy we talked about is we tried to dictate to the defense how the game was being played, not the other way around,” Martz said. “For so many years with those zone dogs and blitzes like Kansas City does, they get up there and intimidate you and you can only do so much. There’s a way around that. You just have to figure it out.”
“So by moving and shifting, it wasn’t just window dressing. We were trying to get run force late. Get the linebackers talking to each other on the snap so they were late in their run fits. Take away all the set and personnel recognitions, which is where defense starts.”
Johnson’s Discipline and Creativity
Johnson had already prepared for their meeting by cutting up the Rams offense and gathering questions to ask Martz. When the two men first met, Martz was struck by Johnson’s discipline and creativity, seeing him sitting in his office ready to begin the questioning.
“Every place I’ve ever been to, particularly in the offseason, you just kind of visit and meet with them,” Martz said. “They ask you a question and then (you) say, ‘Well, here’s what we do.'”
“Ben had all these plays and all these questions for every one of them. ‘What did you tell the quarterback here?’ ‘What’s this guy doing?’ ‘What’s this protection?’ On and on and on. For me, that was coach heaven. I knew coming out of there, this guy was different.”
The Mutual Admiration Society
Martz and Johnson share a bond of mutual respect for one another. One thing Martz appreciates about Johnson is that he doesn’t coach scared, a pitfall that some NFL coaches can fall into.
The real substance isn’t in staged social media stunts like stripping off his jersey after a game in the locker room. It’s how he challenges players to improve and is relentless in attacking opponents. It’s in how he talks about chasing excellence with a plain, unadorned matter-of-factness.
“I am flattered to just be mentioned with his name, to be honest with you,” Martz said. “He’s the best one out there and I don’t think anyone comes close. And I felt that way when he was in Detroit and I said so.”
Gase’s Introduction
During an offseason, Gase invited Martz to come to Miami and spend time with his staff, and then made sure to tell Martz about a young assistant he needed to meet.
“Hey, you’ve got to go meet Ben,” Gase said. “He’s special.”
“What do you mean?” Martz replied.
“Just go meet him,” Gase said. “You’ll figure it out.”
Martz made his way along the corridor toward Johnson’s office, where Johnson sat ready with pieces of paper showing the Rams offense.
The Performance Level
Martz’s philosophy is about the performance level. He believes in teaching players all the tiny details of how to get better, not just what to do but why they’re doing it.
“When things go wrong on the field, they know how to adjust without being told,” Martz said.
That’s the kind of detail that separates a coach who tells players what to do from one who teaches them why. Johnson’s offense showed that Week 1, and the comparison to the Greatest Show on Turf was earned.
The Schedule Ahead
| Week | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Minnesota Vikings | Home |
Week 2 opens at Soldier Field with the Bears hosting the Minnesota Vikings, and Brian Flores is running the defense.
What This Means
Calling the offense the Greatest Show on Turf isn’t just flattery; it’s a way of describing how the unit moves the ball everywhere.
Johnson’s scheme borrows from everywhere he’s been, but it shares a core idea with Martz: dictate how the game is played, don’t let the defense dictate to you. That’s the legacy Martz left behind, and Johnson is carrying it forward.
The Bears are one of the biggest stories heading into Week 2, and their quarterback has shown real progress. Caleb Williams is throwing the ball more accurately than before, and he’s also running with more confidence and decision-making. That combination makes Chicago one of the teams to watch. The last time the Bears led the way among NFL offenses was back in the 1940s, when the team moved the needle with the T-formation.
The bar is set very high, and the initial results suggest the team is capable of reaching it. The offense has produced points at a pace that has drawn comparisons to some of the most prolific offenses in recent memory.
Chicago has already proven it can put points on the board. The next test is whether it can actually come away with victories.
Source material: “Brad Biggs: Shades of ‘Greatest Show on Turf’? Mike Martz’s influence on Ben Johnson’s Bears offense.,” Yahoo Sports.
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