Ben Johnson just sent a strong warning to teams looking to knock off the Chicago Bears in the NFC playoffs
The Bears have proven they’re going to bring a fight no matter who the opponent is.
The Chicago Bears might be riding a two-game losing streak going into the first round of the NFC playoffs, but this is still a proven team that won 11 games this season and secured home field advantage for at least the first two rounds as the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
The message at Halas Hall this week has been consistent. The page has been turned and everyone is well aware of what’s at stake going into Saturday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
This is a very well coached team now that understands the importance of the details and a roster littered with talented players, including veteran leaders with playoff experience. The Bears also proved during the regular season that they’re going to bring a fight.
Ben Johnson has plenty of belief in his team keeping games close in the NFC playoffs
“We’re never out [of a game] and our guys know that,” Johnson told reporters on Monday. “We’d like to start out a little bit faster and make it more of a complete game for 60 minutes. But, I think teams understand when they play us now that they have to earn it. They gotta really close us out if they want to get a victory. Because, we can score points in a bunches, we can do it in a short amount of time, and I think we’ve proven that.”
Look no further than the Week 18 game against the Detroit Lions last Sunday. It seemed like the Lions were rolling right through the Bears yet again with a 16-0 lead entering the fourth quarter. However, it quickly became a, 16-16, tie and Chicago even had the ball on offense with a chance to take the lead before having to punt the ball away, a decision Johnson regretted in the moment.
All of that to say, the Bears continue to chip, chip, and chip away no matter how the game has gone leading up to any moment. Eight of the team’s final 10 games were one-score games and the only two that were not were big wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns. In six games this season, the Bears rallied back in the fourth quarter or overtime to pull off a victory.
So, Johnson is absolutely right, this team is going to battle to the end and keep things close and other teams in the NFC playoffs need to be prepared for that.
Ideally, the Bears want to be the ones dominating and closing out games
In Ben Johnson’s perfect world, his team would be dominating opponents and slamming the door shut well before the fourth quarter. That’s not always the reality and the play of the offense early in games has been something holding the team back from doing so.
“There is a process I believe in, in terms of how we prepare these guys,” Johnson explained. “I think we got a lot of great professionals and anytime you bring attention to something, they look to fix it. That’s what we’re doing here this week.”
While the slow starts seem to be a common trend for this unit, the Bears have had games in which the offense started quickly, but nearly as often as Johnson would like to see.
“Anytime we take the field on offense and we don’t end up with points, then yeah I’m disappointed,” Johnson added. “All of our guys are disappointed. You find out what happened, what went wrong, and you make those corrections and put it past you. That’s how I deal with it.”
After how last week’s game went, you can be sure the Bears will be looking to get out to a much faster start and understand what’s holding the offense back out of the gate. But, the same thing has been said for much of the season and now it’s time for the Bears to actually prove it can be done.
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