Current Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, born in Illinois and who grew up as a Chicago Bears fan, was asked about Bears head coach Ben Johnson, and he had plenty of praise for the man coming off an NFC Divisional Round appearance.
Kirk Cousins Makes Feelings on Ben Johnson Known
Appearing on the “Hoge & Jahns” Bears insider podcast, the duo asked Cousins about Johnson, and he had nothing but good things to say about him.
“I remember he was the tight end coach in Detroit, and I was getting whispers from guys who I had played with who were in Detroit. They were texting me like, ‘This tight end coach is the real deal. He’s gonna be a dude someday.’ So people knew. And then he becomes the OC and they started to turn as a team once he did. And guys were texting me like, ‘This is Sean McVay, this is Kyle Shanahan, I’m telling you, we got that kind of guy here.’”
From there, Cousins added that once the Bears hired him, he assumed they’d have a lot of success. And that they did. In 2025-26, the Bears finished 11-6, losing the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Rams, a team with McVay, a coach Johnson was likened to.
Additionally, they finished with a 79.5 grade (10th) in PFSN’s Offense Impact metric. For context, the Bears hadn’t reached 11 wins since 2018, when they went 12-4, but they lost in the Wild Card round. They also hadn’t reached the NFC Divisional Round since losing the NFC Championship in 2010 with Jay Cutler at quarterback.
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This playoff appearance marked their first since 2020 and third since 2011. So, to say Johnson, who was in his first season as a head coach at any level, had success would be an understatement.
Now here’s another interesting angle: Could Cousins come home to Illinois and be a potential backup for Caleb Williams?
Cousins is 37, but will turn 38 before the season. It’s expected that he’ll be released by the Falcons at some point this offseason after signing a four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons in March 2024. However, instead of joining another team, he could consider retirement.
That said, Cousins showed he had a bit left in the tank this past season after throwing 10 touchdowns across eight starts. Is he starter worthy? Maybe not, but he could be a great veteran backup.
Here’s the problem, though: the Bears have a fantastic backup in Tyson Bagent. But of course, he could be trade bait for a quarterback-needy team, and Cousins could ride off into the sunset as a backup for his childhood team. It’s unlikely, but a possible storyline to follow.
