👋 Good morning!

The Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants and Tennessee Titans all have head coaching vacancies.

They’re looking for their Ben Johnson.

One problem: there is no Ben Johnson-type candidate in this year’s hiring cycle.

In Chicago layman’s terms…

There’s only one … Ben Joooohnson.

– Patrick Norton

Playoffs?! Playoffs!

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Survive & Advance

I saw a graphic yesterday that gave the Bears the sixth-worst odds to win the NFC, according to ESPN’s analytics.

Bet365 gives the Bears a 20-1 shot to win the Super Bowl, which is only better than the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Good thing sportsbooks don’t determine the outcome of games. On second thought, don’t quote me on that one.

Regardless of how the regular season ended, the Bears are the No. 2 seed with a chance to host a couple of playoff games.

Ben Johnson called the playoffs the start of a “new season” for the Bears on Sunday. On Monday, he wrapped up the loss to the Lions and turned the page to this Saturday.

Here’s what I thought was good, better and best from his availability via Zoom:

Good: Ben Johnson is not a phony.

He isn’t reliant on coachspeak and he’s unafraid to give a detailed truth as long as it doesn’t entail giving away anything related to his game plan.

That makes his frustration with Sunday’s loss all the more authentic. It wasn’t up to the standard he and his staff had taught for the last several months.

Johnson said Monday: “The role of the head coach is not to be a cheerleader. It's to say it like it is. And so, if something pops up and I feel like it needs to be said, then I say it. If I don't, then we keep it moving. But I think we’ve got a great group of guys. We’ve got a prideful group. We've earned a division title; we've earned the number two seed in the NFC. Those are things that we're certainly proud about. And at the same time, the season's not over. It's just starting for us.”
Better: Ben Johnson is not worried about what I brought up yesterday morning — the short week.

Why is it potentially troublesome? Well, it’s unfortunate for the Bears to have to play on Saturday night after playing all of their starters on Sunday to fight for seeding when the Packers were able to rest everybody with the No. 7 seed locked up.

Johnson said: “We've been doing this all year long. We've had long weeks. We've had seven-day stretches. We've had six-day, we had a five-day stretch in there. We're really built for this at this point. So, I feel really good about the schedule set up. I know our guys will be prepared.

“I think the biggest challenge anytime you get on a short week like this is just making sure physically that the guys are doing everything they can to get their bodies recovered. But they've done that all season long. I would expect this week to be no different.”
Best: Reinforcements might be here just in time.

It was always a long shot that Rome Odunze would be active against the Lions despite being listed as questionable. But his participation in last Friday’s practice was a good sign for his availability for the postseason.

On top of that, nickelback Kyler Gordon is eligible to come off injured reserve this week. Johnson said he’s hopeful that it will happen.

For a team that isn’t exactly overflowing with playoff experience, you really wouldn’t know it.

Colston Loveland sounded like a seasoned vet in the locker room on Sunday when talking about turning the page to the Packers.

Caleb Williams said it’s his job as a leader, captain and quarterback to make sure everybody maintains the proper focus and mindset for Saturday.

All I’m saying is that this young and scrappy Bears team got the No. 2 seed for a reason, and everybody in the building at Halas Hall, despite consecutive losses, seems to be on the same page again.

Look out.

Bears enter playoffs with plenty to fix but still with a top-10 QB and offense

Read Jahns’ Latest

Celtics 115, Bulls 101: The score would’ve been much worse without Matas Buzelis.

Buzelis scored 26 on 9-of-12 shooting. Nikola Vucevic added 15 points and 15 rebounds, while Ayo Dosunmu contributed 15 points off the bench.

But this one was never particularly close. The Celtics took a two-point lead with 6:34 left in the first quarter and never looked back, holding the Bulls to 33 points for the entire first half.

Just a flat, nothing-burger performance as the Bulls slipped back to two games under .500 — still good enough for the No. 9 seed in the East…

Bob Pulford Dies at 89: Longtime Blackhawks coach and executive Bob Pulford died Monday. He was 89.

Pulford coached the Blackhawks for 426 games in seven seasons over the span of 24 years. He stood behind the bench for the first time with the Blackhawks in 1977. He coached his final game in 2000, concluding his fourth stint in Chicago. He also served as the club’s general manager on three separate occasions.

In a statement released through the Blackhawks, CEO Danny Wirtz said: “As we reflect on (Pulford’s) life and legacy, I am particularly struck that Bob contributed to more than a quarter of our organization’s 100-year heritage. We are grateful for his leadership and devotion to the sport, which will forever be part of our club’s history. This is a tremendous loss for the Blackhawks and the hockey world at large, and on behalf of the Wirtz family, I extend our deepest condolences to the Pulford family.”

MORE: Danny Wirtz’s full statement.