Ben Johnson helped Jared Goff establish himself as one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks.

Now, he’ll try to do something similar for Caleb Williams.

The Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator has agreed to become the Chicago Bears head coach, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.

The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the contract was being finalized.

This will be the first head coaching job for the 38-year-old Johnson, who was widely considered the top candidate on the market after spending the past three seasons as the Lions offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell. He joined Detroit’s staff in 2019 following a seven-year run as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins.

With Johnson overseeing the offense, Goff has thrown for more than 4,400 yards each of the past three seasons. He made two of his four career Pro Bowls in that stretch.

The Lions earned the top seed in the NFC at 15-2 before getting stunned by Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in a divisional playoff game on Saturday. Detroit led the league in points per game and finished second in yards passing and total yards per game during the regular season.

The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on Nov. 29 and replaced him on an interim basis with Thomas Brown. Chicago finished last in the NFC North at 5-12 and lost 10 in a row before closing the season with a win at Green Bay.

The development of Williams will be the top priority for Johnson in the wake of the Bears’ fourth straight losing season. The No. 1 pick in last year’s draft threw for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. But he was sacked a franchise-record and league-leading 68 times.

Johnson has a fan in Williams.

“I think it’s been really cool to watch,” Williams said two weeks ago, when the Bears cleaned out their lockers. “During our game, I would sit back and watch and try and learn something. It was fascinating to watch. He had wrinkles for counters and things like that throughout the game.”

The Bears confirmed interviewing 17 candidates. That list included former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, former Packers and Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and former Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who got the job in New England.

Bengals hire Pleasanton’s Peters as assistant >> The Cincinnati Bengals hired Scott Peters as offensive line coach and Michael McCarthy as assistant offensive line coach.

Peters, a former Amador Valley High star who went on to play parts of seven seasons in the NFL, replaces Frank Pollack, who was an assistant on Zac Taylor’s staff for four seasons (2021-24). Pollack also coached the Bengals offensive line in 2018, which was Marvin Lewis’ final season.

Peters coached New England’s offensive line this past season. He is familiar with the AFC North though after being Cleveland’s assistant offensive line coach from 2020 through ‘23.

Peters’ immediate task will be to fix a unit that has struggled to keep Joe Burrow upright. Burrow led the league with 4,918 passing yards and 43 passing TDs this season, but was also sacked 48 times, tied for fifth most.

Turnovers, big drop doom Ravens >> Lamar Jackson brought the Baltimore Ravens to the brink of a dramatic come-from-behind victory with the chance to secure their second straight berth in the AFC championship game, only to have the opportunity slip through their fingers.

Mark Andrews’ fingers, to be exact in a 27-25 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday night.

The game was decided with 1:33 left when the usually sure-handed and wide-open tight end had Jackson’s pass glance off his hands and chest and fall incomplete on what would have been a tying 2-point conversion. Baltimore had a chance to change its recent narrative of struggling in the playoffs but heads home with more questions than answers.

“We’ve got to get over this,” Jackson said. “Because we’re right there. I’m tired of being right there. We need to punch that ticket.”

Jackson, who threw an interception and lost a fumble in the first half, refused to blame Andrews.

“I don’t think it’s his fault,” Jackson said. “All of us played a factor in the game. It’s a team effort. We’re not going to put that on Mark. Because he’s been battling all season. All the great things he’s been doing all season. It don’t always go our way. We win as a team. But the times when it’s not going our way, we need to figure that out.”