Ben Johnson’s late game coaching decisions against the Packers leaves no doubt about the kind of mentality he’s brought to Chicago
While the outcome wasn’t ideal, the Chicago Bears head coach is sending the right message.
After knocking off the defending Super Bowl Champs in Week 13, the Chicago Bears sent a strong message to the rest of the league that this team is ready to compete against some of the top dogs in the league but still faced another hurdle the following week against the Green Bay Packers.
As big of a statement as Week 13’s win was, the Bears still hadn’t earned anything yet and needed to find a way to defend the No. 1 seed on the road against a division rival right on their heels.
While the final outcome wasn’t ideal for Chicago, the Bears still played a hard fought game to the very end against the Packers and showed a lot of resilience battling themselves out of a hole.
Ben Johnson’s late game decision-making was the right call
After tying the game up in the fourth quarter, Chicago surrendered another late touchdown and fell behind seven points with just over 3:30 remaining on the clock. The Bears had two options, move quick in case the offense stalled out so the team could hope for another possession, or bleed the clock and end it on that drive. Johnson opted with the latter.
“I thought we handled that situation — I don’t know a better way to do it to be honest with you,” Johnson said. “Like I said, the less amount of time that we would have left on that clock to score the better off we would have been. The entire offense knew that we were looking to milk that clock down. The moment it got under a certain level I then relayed to the quarterback, OK, now we’re going to score the touchdown.”
The Bears then marched down the field and got inside the 15-yard-line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. Faced with a fourth-and-one, Johnson had the perfect play call dialed up again but the execution failed, resulting in an interception. Had the Bears scored on that final drive, Johnson confirmed it was high likely the team would have gone for two to potentially win it.
Breath of fresh air for Bears fans
While the ending wasn’t nearly what Bears fans were hoping for in Lambeau, seeing the mentality Johnson had wanting to go for the win no matter what on the road should be a breath of fresh air considering what the fans have experienced in the past.
Johnson doesn’t call games to not lose, he calls games to win and win handedly. The Bears still haven’t reached that desired level yet, but the message couldn’t be more clear and it explains why this coach is never satisfied after a game. He wants to go out there and dominate opponents.
“I remember him saying it’s not how you win, it’s how much you win by,” WR Rome Odunze said before the season. “It’s just his sort of aggressive nature in the aspect of wanting to dominate opponents. That entails all the things he embodies, whether it’s his focus or his precision, his mindset.”
Everything Johnson has brought to Chicago so far this season should be highly encouraging, regardless of how this season plays out. This isn’t the same ole Bears that fans are used to and eventually things are going to align for this team to where they can start really dominating.
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