When the Chicago Bears pledged to do anything and everything to find their next head coach after firing Matt Eberflus 51 weeks ago, that included even the most unimaginable scenarios.

Like placing a call to the Pittsburgh Steelers to see if they could have permission to chat with Mike Tomlin and determine if their longtime coach might be interested in a fresh start elsewhere. If so, who knows, maybe a trade could be brokered.

No way, the Steelers replied, and Tomlin, after the Steelers were bounced from the playoffs, made it clear he wasn’t interested in leaving what he has built in Pittsburgh.

“Save your time,” Tomlin told Pittsburgh reporters.

The next week, the Bears landed on Ben Johnson, launching into a new era that has started more successfully than just about anyone could have imagined with the team at 7-3 and atop the NFC North standings. By all accounts, the franchise has the right man for the job.

It creates an interesting backdrop for Sunday’s game against the Steelers (6-4) at Soldier Field. The Steelers, in a lot of ways, have been the envy of the NFL for decades because of their success and unmatched stability. Since 1969, three men have held the role of head coach: Hall of Famers Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher and, since 2007, Tomlin. Johnson is the 13th full-time head coach of the Bears since Noll was hired.

This gets at what the Bears have been chasing for the longest time, well before general manager Ryan Poles’ introductory news conference in 2022.

“The most important piece,” Poles said, “is we’re gonna take the North and never give it back.”

The organization has been in pursuit of sustained success for two decades since last having consecutive winning seasons in 2005 and 2006. When done right, sustained success leads to much more than just two years, and in reality, it’s something the Bears haven’t enjoyed legitimately since Mike Ditka patrolled the sideline at Soldier Field.

So, it makes sense the Bears would pick up the phone to see if they could land a Hail Mary with Tomlin, who has not experienced a losing season in 18 years on the job. In a league designed to create parity with opportunities for clubs to rise and fall, the Steelers have been averse to a cycle that drags teams into a rebuilding mode, the kind that some — such as the Bears — struggle so mightily to escape.

Chicago Bears Q&A: How is this season different from Matt Nagy’s ‘fluky’ NFC North title in 2018?

“It’s absolutely incredible to think he’s been a head coach as long as he has and just keeps churning out wins,” Johnson said. “He sets the bar very high and nothing but respect for him, how he goes about his business. He holds his players accountable.

“He just keeps it real and authentic at all times. The players respect that. You can tell that they play hard. The film is always the resume of the coach, is how I feel. When his players are playing as hard and consistent as they do for as long as he’s been doing it, I think that’s a huge credit to him.”

Unprompted, Johnson shared admiration last month for John Harbaugh before playing the Baltimore Ravens.

“I think this is his 18th year,” Johnson said. “He’s only had two losing seasons, so he knows what he’s doing.”

The Steelers and Ravens are considered part of the small group of gold-standard franchises in the league. It speaks to massive expectations they have annually that fans of either team would consider it time for a change.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and quarterback Aaron Rodgers talk with an official during a Colts challenge Nov. 2, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

Since 2007, the year Tomlin was hired and a season before Harbaugh landed in Baltimore, the Steelers have 189 regular-season wins, the third-most in the league. The Ravens are next with 182. Both trail the New England Patriots (204) and Green Bay Packers (192).

Tomlin needs one win to tie Dan Reeves for the 10th-most regular-season wins for a coach in league history. He’s four shy of tying Noll, and his .629 winning percentage is seventh-best among coaches with a minimum of 150 games.

Parallels between the Steelers and Ravens begin with continuity — the marriage between the general manager and coach — and then everything that builds off that from the scouting and coaching staffs.

“There’s just so much body of work,” an assistant GM for an AFC club said. “The resume is so long, and in the case of Baltimore and Pittsburgh, so successful. An outsider, for the most part, can see the formula. You don’t know the exact recipe but you get the idea.”

The assistant GM said it has gotten to the point that it’s not difficult to identify draft picks for these clubs before they’re made, especially in the case of the Ravens. They just fit a certain profile. Then, they come in and usually play well.

Bears coach Ben Johnson congratulates wide receiver DJ Moore after a touchdown run against the Bengals on Nov. 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

So how does Johnson make this first season about laying the foundation and structure for sustained success? As easy as it might be to identify what the Steelers and Ravens are doing, that doesn’t make it easy to replicate. Their AFC North rival Cleveland Browns are perfect evidence of that.

“It’s more than Ben saying, ‘Let’s get everyone on the same page,’” the assistant GM said. “Yeah, why don’t we? It’s total marriage between head coach and GM, total alignment.”

He said the Ravens leadership has been in place for so long — with Eric DeCosta taking over for Ozzie Newsome as GM in 2019 — that the club’s area scouts know specifically what the team is seeking in a safety, a guard or a wide receiver when they’re on the college trail. It’s the same situation in Pittsburgh, where longtime Steelers executive Omar Khan became GM when Kevin Colbert retired.

Related Articles

Jaylon Johnson a full participant in Chicago Bears practice, plus 3 more things we learned Thursday

Chicago Bears may be without top 3 linebackers — including Tremaine Edmunds — in defense’s latest injury snag

NFL flexes Chicago Bears’ Dec. 7 road game vs. Green Bay Packers into late-afternoon window

Chiefs assistant Dave Toub: Donald Trump ‘doesn’t even know what he’s looking at’ on NFL kickoffs

What to know about the Chicago Bears’ possible move from Soldier Field to suburban Arlington Heights

“The more time you spend with each other just talking football is where it starts,” the assistant GM said. “You are in the draft room together for a month in April watching tape together, talking, this is what I like. This is what I don’t like. This is what wins in our offense. It’s time on task and then it’s a deal where you’re learning all of the mistakes together because those are going to happen too.”

Johnson, when he turned down potential head-coaching options following the 2023 season and announced he was returning to Detroit, cited the alignment the Lions had in pursuit of a championship that drew him back.

When the Bears hired him in January, he made it clear the structure in place — with Poles at GM — was “conducive to winning” and he said every question he had about support was answered.

There are no shortcuts for the Bears in their bid to leave mediocrity behind, just as the franchise didn’t bend any corners in the search for a new head coach that began a year ago next week.

They did their due diligence, inquiring about the possibility of Tomlin. Time will tell if the Bears perfect the formula required.

Scouting report

Steelers linebacker Nick Herbig (51) grabs Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz as Wentz attempts to get a pass away on Sept. 28, 2025, at Croke Park in Dublin,. (Dave Shopland/AP)

Nick Herbig, Steelers outside linebacker

Information for this report was obtained from NFL scouts.

Herbig, 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, is in his third season in the league after the Steelers selected him in the fourth round in 2023 out of Wisconsin. Herbig had 20 sacks in his final two seasons with the Badgers but dropped because of concerns about his size and what position he would fit.

Herbig leads the Steelers with 6½ sacks — one more than his career high in 2024 — and is tied with T.J. Watt for the team high with 16 quarterback hits. Sixteen QB hits ties for the 10th most in the league and, in comparison, Montez Sweat leads the Bears with 10.

“He fits the profile of your classic Big Ten outside linebacker who flourishes in the NFL because he is so technically sound,” the scout said. “I don’t think he has extremely high-level traits, but he makes up for that with two things. First, his hand usage is excellent and he knows how to set up blockers at the point of attack to get them in position to work the edges, whether it’s running the hoop and closing around the end or attacking inside. Second, is his effort. He’s relentless. He doesn’t stop and a guy like Herbig can make plays late in the down because he never stops working.

“The one negative about him, outside of not having the traits, is he’s a little light in the (rear). So, he’s not a dominant run defender. He’s not a complete (butt) kicker setting the edge and pushing offensive tackles back and creates chaos. Overall, for a Day 3 pick to be this highly productive, that’s why the Steelers win. They are very good at scouting, coaching and developing players.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/chicago-bears-ben-johnson-mike-tomlin/