Ben Johnson dismisses ridiculous rumor about friction with Dan Campbell

It's a shame it became a thing, but Ben Johnson dismissed the flimsy notion that he had friction with Dan Campbell.

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Ben Johnson's departure to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears has wrangled a strong section of Detroit Lions' fans. His words upon arriving in Chicago on Tuesday did not help that, no matter how much he praised the Lions' organization in his introductory press conference the next day.

Johnson leaving for a head coaching job was something a lot of Lions' fans wanted to ignore, as if it would not happen until 'we' (the term some fans like to use to refer to the team) won a Super Bowl. His leaving for a division rival made his leaving worse, as some have called him a traitor-or worse.

Within their anger over Johnson's departure, some Lions' fans have questioned his focus during the playoff loss to the Washington Commanders. But that sentiment forgets the basic facts that Johnson did head coaching interviews 7-9 days before the game, and before the Lions knew their Divisional Round opponent.

Ben Johnson dismisses flimsy rumor about relationship with Dan Campbell

On Wednesday's episode of Woodward Sports' "Big D Energy", co-host Neil Ruhl passed along some "intelligence" about Johnson's departure from the Lions.

"I got a phone call yesterday from a pretty good source, covers the National Football League," Ruhl said. "He had a lot of interesting things to say about the Lions coaching movement, all of that stuff.
The Ben Johnson stuff that he told me about was a little more interesting — was that there was potentially some friction in the organization with Ben Johnson, with Dan Campbell, to the degree that he might not have been back regardless this year."

Yes, Campbell clearly would have let go of the play caller for the No. 1-scoring offense in the league during the regular season due to "some friction". Not that Johnson didn't have some issues against Washington, but 521 yards of offense and 31 points scored was hardly insufficient overall.

Johnson appeared on FS1's "Breakfast Ball" Thursday morning. Ruhl's comments came up, and Johnson denied the premise of them when asked by co-host Craig Carton.

"No. I’ve never heard of that before in my life," Johnson said. "That guy is one of my best friends, he is a mentor of mine, and I view him like family.”

During his introductory press conference, via ESPN's Courtney Cronin, Johnson called Campbell "more than just a colleague...he is a friend, is a mentor..."

Campbell of course didn't want to lose Johnson, but he knew it was inevitable. Any idea of there being tension between the two, as much as it even matters now, should wait for a far more credible report.

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