Bears players report to Halas Hall on Monday for their first look at head coach Ben Johnson (2025)

Bears general manager Ryan Poles is a scout at heart. He graded his head-coaching candidates appropriately and had the other members of the Bears’ hiring committee do the same. Every time committee members finished a forum with one of the Bears’ 17 candidates in January, Poles had them fill out a form.

Poles created a scoring system. He had members of the committee write objective and subjective assessments of each candidate. There was even an area to list whether any committee member knew the candidate or knew others who knew him. If so, they had to make phone calls.

Poles reminded president/CEO Kevin Warren of a lawyer preparing for a trial or a business merger. Chairman George McCaskey, however, thought it looked more familiar.

‘‘It was fascinating and thorough,’’ McCaskey said. ‘‘The sheet I remembered looked like a scouting report. . . . It fit right in with what Ryan does on a day-to-day basis.’’

The coach the Bears chose had the highest score on the sheets: Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

On Monday, Bears players will get to see what all the excitement was about when they report to Halas Hall for the first day of the team’s offseason workout program. Phase I, which lasts two weeks, limits players to meetings, rehabilitation and strength and conditioning. It will be the first time, however, that they’re all in the same building with Johnson and his coaching staff.

Johnson already has thought about what he wants to tell the team, but he joked last week at the NFL’s annual meeting that he was putting off writing anything down.

‘‘Listen, it’s a different regime,’’ he said. ‘‘What happened last year was last year. We’re moving on. We’re moving past that.’’

Johnson’s mentoring of quarterback Caleb Williams will come with help from offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett. Like former coach Matt Eberflus did last year, Johnson will limit exactly how many coaches communicate with Williams every day, starting this week.

‘‘You go back to the basics,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘It’s the fundamentals of the quarterback position. What’s our footwork going to look like under center? From the shotgun? What are we calling the formations? What’s the defensive identification going to look like?

‘‘So that we’re all speaking the same language, we’ve got to get on the same page because it’ll be a little bit different for him than what he experienced last year. And if we can mesh together and start speaking the same language, that’s when things will really start to take off.’’

In the last 10 weeks, those inside Halas Hall have gotten to know Johnson as personable yet driven. McCaskey sees the look in his eye in the weight room.

‘‘ ‘Frenetic’ would be the best description,’’ McCaskey said. ‘‘He’s intense. You can see the competitiveness.’’

Halas Hall feels empty in the offseason, Poles said, which always makes the first day of the offseason program feel special. But the anticipation of the players’ return Monday is more palpable.

‘‘I’m just excited to see guys develop relationships with their new coaches,’’ Poles said. ‘‘I would love for them to feel our intentionality on how the staff was built and the people who are in the building. They’re going to understand that they’re going to be challenged. . . . Through that discomfort, they’re going to know that they’re being challenged to be the best football player they can possibly be.’’

Johnson’s staff has ‘‘a good combination of youth and experience and intelligence and grit,’’ Warren said. Its members come from different coaching trees and schemes. There’s defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, the former Raiders and Saints head coach, who will preach a steady diet of man coverage; running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, the Super Bowl-winning former Chiefs offensive coordinator and a loud, aggressive voice on the practice field; and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El, a Super Bowl winner and Thornton Township High School legend.