In recent years, the Chicago Bears have developed a reputation for making some of the most baffling head coach hires people can recall. They opted for Marc Trestman, a CFL coach, over reigning NFL Coach of the Year Bruce Arians. Next, they chose to hire John Fox despite him being recently fired after a 12-4 season, which was a glaring red flag. Matt Nagy came next, a one-year offensive coordinator from Kansas City with almost no play-calling experience. Last and maybe least was Matt Eberflus, a defensive coordinator who was about to get fired by his current team before the Bears saved him. One can under why people were skeptical this organization would do the logical thing. That is why the Ben Johnson hire came as a jolting shock.

Almost everybody inside the NFL believed the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator was the top candidate of this cycle. He’s a sharp, creative offensive mind who is only 38 years old. In an era where everybody is looking for the next Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, Johnson’s allure was easy to see. The fact that Chicago, of all teams, reeled him in has left many stunned, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic and David Kaplan of ESPN 1000.

Two Chicago Bears figures made Johnson happen.

The first and most obvious is Caleb Williams. It’s been an open secret that Johnson is a fan of the Bears’ young rookie, having watched him at USC and also heard plenty of stories through his agent Richmond Flowers III, who founded the QB Collective, a training camp that Williams has worked at since high school. The other is GM Ryan Poles. He’s had an eye on Ben Johnson since the middle of the 2023 season and has been researching him ever since. When the off-season began, Poles made it clear the offensive coordinator was the top priority. He got his man, thanks in large part to the McCaskeys’ willingness to cut a big enough check. It is a gamble, but that is what you have to do to win at anything in this league.

 A DARTS ace has shared his World Championship payslip – to show earnings are not as “Pally” as you might imagine.

World No 39 Matthew Edgar is a three-time contestant at the Ally Pally.

But the 38-year-old has revealed how he once scooped £6,800 for a first-round defeat, only to cough up around £1.6k in “deductions”.

It comes as PDC chiefs announced prize money for the showpiece event will DOUBLE in 2026.

That means Luke Littler would pick up £1million if he retains his title – compared to the £500k he won three months ago.

Edgar posted a video on TikTok explaining what happened cash-wise when he competed in the ultimate oche occasion.

“Prime Time” – as the Daventry ace is known – suffered an opening-round exit twice but reached the second stage in 2021.

He made £30k in all from that trio of Ally Pally appearances.

That was in the form of two £7.5k sums plus one £15k prize – something of a juicy jackpot for Edgar.

But after displaying his remittance notice from the PDC on social media, he told how that princely figure was far from the final story.

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Edgar said: “That doesn’t mean what you get paid as a player.

“There are deductions which need to come off this. All PDC players are self-employed contractors, not employees of the PDC and so we get remittance notices. 

“We get deductions, two per cent is your PDC levy – that comes off everything before you even get it and comes from playing on the Challenge tour to being world champion.

“We all pay two per cent on our prize money before we even get it.

“Not only that, you’ve got to consider your membership fees – £500 is your membership which goes before you even get it. That’s a once a year fee and your DRA fee as well.”

If all that detail is giving you an Ed-ache, he went on to explain how there was still more to come – or rather to go – in his financial tale.

Edgar added: “£6,800 is what came into my bank account from the first round defeat. 

“From that, I’ve got to deduct my travel, my hotel and any other costs with that. Then, the money that is left is open to tax.”

Nonetheless, he still finished with about £5.2k – not bad for a brief adventure in one of sport’s most festive and fan-packed events.