NFL training camp is still a couple of weeks away, so football fans are finding ways to kill time until the unofficial start of the 2025 season. Luckily, the second season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” is now streaming and features three prominent quarterbacks: Jared Goff, Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins.
With Goff as a featured quarterback, there’s been some glimpses of new Bears head coach (and former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator) Ben Johnson and his brilliant offensive mind. That included one moment from Chicago’s second meeting against Detroit last season which featured one of Johnson’s best trick plays — and served as his audition for Bears head coach.
In a clip narrated by Goff, he explains the origin of “Stumblebum,” where he and running back Jahmyr Gibbs pretend to stumble in order to draw the eyes of linebacker T.J. Edwards as tight end Sam LaPorta got behind him and broke free for an easy touchdown.
Goff revealed that the idea came from Johnson during one of their Monday meetings, where the former Lions OC first showed Goff the clip of Jordan Love fumbling, recovering the ball and throwing a deep completion to Luke Musgrave.
Johnson has talked at length about “Stumblebum,” which was inspired by what Johnson saw on film from the Bears’ Week 1 game against the Green Bay Packers back in 2023, when the Packers turned a mishap into a productive play.
“That was our inspiration from it,” Johnson said back in January. “It was from a year ago, Jordan Love stumbled coming out and they pretty much ran the same play but that was by accident. So we said, ‘Hey you think we can pull this off but actually do it on purpose?’ It started with a [wondering] if we put the ball on the ground to start it, but the players took it, ran with it, I think half the team was yelling fumble when that thing happened, listen, it worked out great.”
Johnson is widely considered one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds, and there’s a lot of excitement about how that will translate to the Bears. For what it’s worth, Johnson had offensive linemen and quarterbacks catching passes from wide receivers, running backs and tight ends during minicamp. So it’s safe to say we can expect the unexpected from Johnson’s offense in Chicago.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Details of Ben Johnson’s ‘Stumblebum’ play revealed on Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’
Reporting by Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
