Ben Johnson was hired to coach the Chicago Bears earlier this week after the Detroit Lions were recently eliminated from the playoffs in the division round. His hiring is historic.
Johnson, who was once on the Miami Dolphins coaching staff, now shares something with legendary Hall of Fame coach Don Shula after being hired.
With the hiring, Johnson became the first Lions' coordinator since Shula to leave the team for a head coaching job. Shula was a coordinator with Detroit prior to being hired by the then-Baltimore Colts. Since that time, no other Lions coordinator has been hired to be a head coach until both Johnson parted with the team this week
This is not to say by any means Johnson will follow in Shula's footsteps, but it is a showcase of how bad Detroit has been since 1963 when Shula left for the Colts.
Shula began his coaching career as the defensive backs coach at the University of Virginia. He held the same role at the University of Kentucky the following season before making the jump to the NFL a year later to join the Lions.
He coached Detroit's defensive backs for one season before taking over the team's defensive coordinator role for two seasons.
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula and Ben Johnson share a connection with the Detroit Lions
Interestingly enough, Shula's NFL playing career also took him through Detroit. Most often associated with his playing career for the Cleveland Browns from 1951-1952, Shula played from 1953-1956 with the Colts before one final season with Washington in 1957.
Unlike Shula, Johnson never played in the NFL. He began his coaching career at Boston College in 2009. In 2012, he joined the Dolphins as an offensive assistant and then was Miami's assistant quarterback coach from 2013 to 2015 before eventually coaching tight ends and wide receivers.
Johnson left the Dolphins in 2019 and joined the Lions where he had been coaching until the Bears made him their next head coach earlier this week.