Ben Johnson had the perfect reaction to the Bears’ opening play touchdown and it had nothing to do with rookie WR Zavion Thomas
The Chicago Bears had a firework on the opening play of the preseason finale with a 97-yard touchdown and what impressed head coach Ben Johnson the most had nothing to do with his rookie wide receiver.
The Chicago Bears’ offense opened the preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans with a bang on Saturday when rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas put on a double-move on the outside, caught the wide open pass, and turned it into a 97-yard touchdown.
It marked Thomas’ first ever offensive snap in a game for the Bears and in typical Ben Johnson fashion, what impressed the Bears’ head coach the most from that opening play had nothing to do with his electric rookie play-maker.
Ben Johnson reacts to Zavion Thomas’ 97-yard touchdown against the Titans
After the game, Johnson was asked about the opening offensive play and what impressed him the most from that play shows the high level of intellect he has as an offensive mind.
“You can see the safety was down there on the line and he had a scan on across, I thought [RB Roschon Johnson] did a great job picking it up,” Johnson said. “And Tyson (Bagent) trusting it. Sometimes it’s challenging when you have a back scanning across the formation like that and yet we’ve got enough reps on it at this point that those guys know they’re going to show up for us. It was a great ball, great catch, and then of course 4.28 (speed). Great coaching.”
It’s a play like that where one player gets all of the spotlight, but it took all 11 players and yes, great coaching, to make it come to light in the first place.
If running back Roschon Johnson doesn’t see that safety and pick up the block, it’s a safety. If quarterback Tyson Bagent doesn’t trust his protection, it’s a throw away. Instead, everyone does their job and it’s a highlight worthy 97-yard touchdown.
Ben Johnson was still impressed by Zavion Thomas’ debut game
That’s not to take anything away from Thomas. He ran a great route to fool the cornerback and his speed was no match for the safety down the sideline.
As for the rest of the game, Thomas continued flashing as a receiver, blocker, and returner proving he can be a really valuable weapon for this offense. But, he also showed he’s still a rookie playing his first game after fumbling a jet sweep, a play Thomas said was “1,000 percent on me.”
“We’ve seen it throughout camp. He’s had a knack for making some big plays throughout,” Johnson explained. “Got sidetracked a little bit with the injury, but to get him back out there, get him a taste of real football, I thought that was huge. Don’t want all that production to go to his head necessarily. He’s still got a long ways to go. He knows that, he understands that. Coach Randle El and Isaiah Ford, they’re on him constantly just to make sure he’s getting the details down that we need to have success in this offense. But, it was a good start.”
You might think Johnson is being too critical, but he’s exactly right. Thomas can’t let this game get to his head. Come Week 1, he’s not going to be an every down starter and will need to earn that trust, just like the rookies did last year and will be a right spot, right play guy. He’s really the icing on top. You don’t need it to bake the cake, but man does it make it sweeter when you add it on after.
And once this guy really gets things down and builds that trust, watch out.
