Chicago Bears Fans Outraged As Ben Johnson Only Receives 1 Vote For Coach of the Year
The NFL Honors ceremony is meant to celebrate the league’s best performances, but for Chicago Bears fans, the 2025 awards left a sour taste. When the votes for AP Coach of the Year were revealed, Bears head coach Ben Johnson—the architect of one of the most remarkable turnarounds of the season—received just one solitary vote. The award ultimately went to New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, a deserving candidate in his own right, but the sheer lack of recognition for Johnson has sparked widespread outrage across the Bears’ faithful.
Chicago Bears Ben Johnson’s Case for Coach of the Year
The argument for Ben Johnson’s consideration is built on a mountain of evidence. He took over a team that had become synonymous with top-10 draft picks and turned them into NFC North champions in his first year. The Bears’ 2025 season was a masterclass in exceeding expectations and changing a narrative.
- Worst-to-First Turnaround: After finishing 5-12 in 2024, the Bears stormed to an 11-6 record under Johnson, winning the NFC North and securing the #2 seed in the playoffs.
- Offensive Revolution: Johnson, known for his offensive creativity, took a unit that ranked in the bottom five in scoring and total yards and elevated it to a top-10 powerhouse. The Bears finished 6th in total yards, 9th in points, and 3rd in rushing yards.
- Quarterback Development: Second-year quarterback Caleb Williams thrived under Johnson’s tutelage, setting the franchise single-season passing record with 3,942 yards and posting an impressive 27-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
- Playoff Victory: Johnson guided the Bears to their first postseason victory in 15 years, a thrilling 31-27 win over the rival Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round.
Beyond the stats, Johnson instilled a new culture at Halas Hall. From his first day, he preached a message of winning now, refusing to accept a “rebuilding” mindset. His mantra of “Good, better, best” became a rallying cry for the team and the city. The Bears became known as the “Cardiac Bears” for their seven fourth-quarter comebacks, a testament to the resilience and belief Johnson fostered in the locker room.
The Voting Breakdown and Fan Reaction
The final vote tally was what truly ignited the frustration. Mike Vrabel received 19 votes, followed by Liam Coen (16), Mike Macdonald (8), and Kyle Shanahan (6). Ben Johnson was at the bottom with just one. While all the other coaches had strong cases, none orchestrated a more dramatic or unexpected turnaround than the Chicago Bears head coach.
For fans, the single vote feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of what the award represents. Is it for the coach of the best team, or the coach who did the most with what he had? Johnson took a team with low external expectations, a young quarterback, and a history of struggles, and made them a division winner. He beat the Packers twice, including in the playoffs, reigniting the NFL’s oldest rivalry and delivering on the bravado he showed when he was first hired.
The outrage isn’t necessarily a knock on Vrabel, who did a phenomenal job in New England. It’s a defense of their coach, who they believe did the most impressive coaching job in the entire league. The feeling is that the voters simply defaulted to a more established name or a team with a better overall record without appreciating the context of Chicago’s season.
A Source of Motivation for 2026
While the snub is frustrating for the fan base, it could ultimately serve as a powerful motivating tool for the team. Ben Johnson has already proven to be a master motivator, and there is little doubt he will use this perceived slight as bulletin board material for the 2026 season.
In his post-game press conferences, Johnson often speaks about earning respect and changing the perception of the Chicago Bears. The Coach of the Year voting is a stark reminder that, despite their success, the team still has doubters. It proves that a division title and a playoff win aren’t enough to fully command the respect of the national media.
The Bears will enter the 2026 season with a target on their back as defending division champions. Every opponent will be giving them their best shot. For a coach looking to guard against complacency, having an external source of disrespect is a gift. Johnson can now point to the vote totals and remind his team that their work is not done and that they still have more to prove.
While Chicago may not have brought home any hardware from the NFL Honors, the 2025 season was an undeniable success. The foundation has been laid, the culture has been set, and the quarterback is in place. The single vote for Ben Johnson is a footnote in a much larger story of a franchise on the rise.
