WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – They are two of the NFL's premiere offensive play-calling head coaches who have established strong rapports with their respective quarterbacks.
The Rams' Sean McVay and the Bears' Ben Johnson share a mutual respect entering Sunday's divisional round playoff game at Soldier Field in Chicago.
"I think he does a great job," McVay said Monday. "I've studied him really closely from when he took over and started doing it in Detroit. I think the guys that do the best job are the ones that you can see there's a true understanding of what defenses are doing and an intent to try to be able to manipulate a lot of the rules and the coaching points and to really try to attack your front mechanics, your coverage contours, understand some of the percentages of what you're doing situationally, and then being able to maximize his player skill sets. You could see there's a philosophy and core beliefs in terms of how he wants to build it. You look at the four free agents they signed, you look at the guys that they drafted high up, taking the tight end and in a lot of the instances where he was able to take advantage of (Sam) LaPorta in Detroit. I think what shows his flexibility is the ability to have one of the best offenses with a player like Jared (Goff) who's really special and then being able to have some similar foundational principles with (Bears' Quarterback) Caleb (Williams), but also be able to accentuate the things that make him really unique with the athleticism, the ability to move the spot and then take advantage of their skill around it."
Both teams reached the postseason in large part because of their offenses. Los Angeles led the NFL in total offense and scoring in the regular season, while Chicago finished sixth and ninth in those categories, respectively.
"It's hard to gauge who's best and who's worst when it comes to coaching, but there's no question about it — he's (McVay) in the upper echelon," Johnson told Chicago reporters Monday. "All of his teams are well-prepared. There's no doubt that he's super sharp on the offensive side, but how he does it as a head coach, bringing all three phases together, is really critical to their success. He knows how to speak to the team and get the most out of them. There's a reason why they're in it damn near every year since he's been there."
Matthew Stafford's league-leading 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdowns headlined an MVP-caliber season, while Williams' 3,942 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns in his first year working with Johnson mark are career-bests in his young pro career.
While both coaches can appreciate each others' schemes, they can also appreciate the job the other did turning around their team's respective offenses in their first seasons. In 2016, the Rams had the last-ranked total and scoring offense. In 2017 – McVay's first season – the Rams ranked first in scoring and 10th in total offense. It marked the largest increase in points per game (15.9) from one season to the next in the Super Bowl era, according to NFL Research.
Meanwhile, Johnson's Bears ranked sixth in total offense and ninth in scoring offense in 2025 after being in the bottom five in both categories in 2024. Per NFL Research, they are also the first team since the 1971-72 Jets to go from worst total offense to top six in a single offseason (Joe Namath missed 11 starts due to injury in 1971).
All told, Johnson and McVay are two of three head coaches all-time to take over a team ranked last in total offense and lead them to the playoffs in his first season as its head coach, according to NFL Research.
"He does a damn good job," McVay said. "I think he's got a timely feel for wanting to be able to mix in some things like he did with the screen and go that allowed them to take the lead the other day. We're excited about these challenges. This is what it's about. Here we go."
