Ben Johnson is setting a much higher bar for the Chicago Bears than a standard postseason push. During a training-camp day at Halas Hall on Aug. 4, the Bears head coach said he wants his offense to do more than chase a Super Bowl berth. He wants it to become the highest-scoring offense ever.
Johnson pointed to the 2013 Denver Broncos as the benchmark. That team averaged 37.9 points per game, and Johnson said he wants the Bears to surpass that mark. He also said he wants shutouts and blowouts, framing the goal as a level of dominance that goes beyond what 31 other teams typically describe when camp opens.
A goal bigger than the usual Super Bowl talk
Johnson made clear that he respects the usual championship standard, but he does not want that to be the ceiling. “You’ve got 31 other teams coming to training camp saying, ‘Our goal is to win the Super Bowl,'” he said. “I want more than that.”
He expanded on that idea by saying, “The moon is the Super Bowl, but we’re shooting beyond that, for the stars.” He added that he wants players to feel that ambition every day they come into the building.
The point is not just rhetoric. Johnson has already shown he can quickly change the tone of a program. Last year, in his first season as a head coach, he won the North. The Bears then fell in their playoff game to the Los Angeles Rams last January, but the season still established Johnson as a coach with real credibility in Chicago.
What the Bears are building around
The timing of Johnson’s comments matters because they came on a demanding training-camp day. He arrived in his office at the Chicago Bears' facility shortly before 5 a.m. on Aug. 4, after getting five hours of sleep, then four hours of sleep the night before. Later that day, he planned a practice with two live periods and mostly runs.
That is the kind of approach that matches his message. Johnson is not talking about a vague wish for improvement. He is tying the Bears' identity to scoring at a level the NFL has rarely seen. The 2013 Denver Broncos remain the standard he named, and the challenge is obvious: beating 37.9 points per game would require sustained production over a full season, not just a hot stretch.
For Chicago, the takeaway is simple. Johnson is aiming beyond contention. He is setting an offensive target that would put the Bears in NFL scores history, not just in the playoff conversation.
