Bears HC Ben Johnson selfishly wants Drew Dalman to unretire
The Chicago Bears suffered a big loss this offseason when veteran center Drew Dalman announced his sudden retirement after just one year with Chicago.
The presence of Dalman, along with other veteran additions on the offensive line in Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson , played a pivotal role in turning around the Bears offense, including a significant decrease in sacks allowed on quarterback Caleb Williams .
In an effort to quickly replace Dalman, the Bears acquired veteran Garrett Bradbury in a trade with the New England Patriots , reuniting him with his college teammate, Thuney. Bradbury has just one year left on his contract, and while the team worked fast to replace him, head coach Ben Johnson was honest about his feelings of Dalman's decision.
"I think selfishly, myself, the organization, Ryan (Poles), his teammates - we all want him back," Johnson said via CHGO . "He made us better last year. The success we had on offense was really started because of him. There's naturally that selfish desire - 'No, no, no, I want to change his mind.' But that's not why we do what we do, also. We have to do what's right for the team and the organization but it's also really important that his concerns are taken care of. You could tell pretty quickly that he's a smart guy. This was not a rash decision. I think out of respect to him, I had pretty good confidence this was the direction that was going to go."
It's nice to hear the honesty of Johnson in regards to the Dalman situation, but he'll now be tasked with getting Bradbury set to take over the starting center position. The offensive line was unquestionably the biggest reason for the team's turnaround on offense and overall success, and now Johnson will have to get the most out of Bradbury to keep consistency across the offensive line.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears HC Ben Johnson selfishly wants Drew Dalman to unretire
