Bears coach Ben Johnson: I won't give up 'trade secrets' when I meet with Tom Brady

Bears coach Ben Johnson claimed he wasn’t concerned about Raiders minority owner Tom Brady getting too much inside information about his team in production meetings this week. Brady will be the Fox color analyst when the Bears host the Cowboys on Sunday — one week before the Bears travel to Las Vegas to play the Raiders.

“It's not like I'm going to sit down with him and say, ‘Hey, don't do this to Caleb Williams, or you might get it,” he said Wednesday before practice. “There's not going to be any trade secrets that are going to be exchanged. But I really don't think it's that big of a deal, to be honest with you.”

Johnson said he has a good relationship with one of the great quarterbacks — and competitive people — in the history of the sport. In the paranoid world of football coaching, it seems unlikely Johnson is totally unbothered by Brady’s presence. The Bears change from week-to-week regardless.

“Schematically, he's going to be able to turn on the tape and see what everyone else in the world is seeing right now,” he said. “Personnel-wise, really, the same thing.”

Johnson said he’s been careful in such meetings all year.

“I've been in pure ‘coach-speak’ mode since this season has started,” he said. “So to me, it's just business as usual. I'm just fine.”

Brady sat in the Raiders’ coaching booth Monday night, reminding the world of his affiliation with the Raiders. The NFL said in a statement Tuesday that it was within the rules for Brady to be in the booth — and that it’s up to each team to determine exactly how much, or little, they say in production meetings.

As a minority owner, Brady has guardrails about what he can do under the auspices of the Fox broadcast — he can’t go to team facilities during the course of the week, and instead must hold production meetings with the head coach and featured players remotely.