Poles apart — Ben Johnson's voice carries the day at Halas Hall

It's been Ben Johnson's show ever since the former Lions offensive coordinator was hired as the Bears' head coach in January. But that was never more evident than Tuesday, when general manager Ryan Poles made a mostly perfunctory opening statement at Halas Hall and left the stage, with Johnson dominating the annual press conference to open training camp.

"I have a lot of time with all of you as we go through training camp in the next few weeks," Poles said to reporters in closing.

We'll see about that. But regardless, the procedural opening-day change sure seemed like a sign of change at Halas Hall. The Bears have refuted the idea that Poles gave up authority when he hired Johnson, but there seems little doubt that even it's not in writing, Johnson carries considerably more weight at Halas Hall than any coach at Halas Hall since Dave Wannstedt had roster/draft authority when he was hired to succeed Mike Ditka in 1993.

The GM has been the leading voice to open training camp for years — and answers the most questions from reporters — but not this time. It was a stark departure from procedure. When Poles came off poorly in the shadow of team president Kevin Warren during the press conference following the firing of Matt Eberflus, the Bears made a concerted effort to promote Poles as the leading voice at Halas Hall in the season-ending press conference in January. Poles was alone on the podium in the interview room, with Warren and chairman George McCaskey holding court afterward in the less formal midway next door.

The Bears went almost the opposite on Tuesday. Poles provided an update on Jaylon Johnson's offseason injury ("It's going to take a few weeks before he can come back.") and indirectly acknowledged his contract extension ("I am excited about the alignment and the stability that we have within our leadership group here."). But other than that, a few thank yous to players and staff and a couple of bottom-of-the-roster moves, it was Johnson's whose voice set the tone and dominated the season-opening event. (Johnson came to the Bears from Detroit, where GM Brad Holmes also does not do a pre-camp press conference, with coach Dan Campbell very clearly the leading voice of the organization — so you don't have to connect too many dots here.)

And it's all good. The Bears have been in such a rut since the end of the Lovie Smith era — three general managers, five head coaches, one winning season and no playoff victories — that any change is a good one. A generation ago, giving Ditka (and later Wannstedt) organizational and roster authority was ultimately a negative — creating a fracture that led to the departure of GM Jim Finks and sending the Bears into organizational dysfunction.

Today, it's the way to go. The Chiefs (Andy Reid/Brett Veach), Rams (Sean McVay/Les Snead) and 49ers (Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch) are among the winning teams with virtual coach/GM partnerships. Johnson certainly fits the mold of head coach in charge — an offensive mastermind with quarterback-development chops. The big question is whether he'll be as successful at Halas Hall as he was with the Lions.

That process starts in earnest at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the Bears hold their first training camp practice. It was just a little awkward Tuesday — with Johnson recently hired and Poles in his fourth season and having a better grasp on how this roster was put together. But if Johnson is as good as advertised, we'll get used to it.