Dennis Allen—who was introduced as Chicago's next defensive coordinator at a press conference on Thursday—revealed that Johnson reached out to him during the season to see if

The reason: he was Johnson once. Allen, the Bears ’ new defensive coordinator, was a 39-year-old first-time head coach when the Raiders started their 2012 regular season. Johnson will be 39 when the Bears play their first game with him as their head coach.

In his initial media scrum as a Bears coach, Allen described the type of defense he plans to bring to Chicago, which brings back similarities to defenses that have been well known through Bears history.