Bears HC Ben Johnson might have just slipped up and hinted toward a trick play involving a player he can’t stop gushing about
Keep an eye on Darnell Wright this weekend against the New York Giants.
As the Chicago Bears get set to take on the New York Giants on Sunday, the potential of head coach Ben Johnson’s offense is starting to become consistent and it reached a dominating level in Week 9.
Going into Week 10, Johnson isn’t downplaying the team’s upcoming opponent despite the Giants current 2-7 record this season and even went as far to say New York’s defensive front projects to be the best front his offense has faced so far this season.
From what we’ve seen through eight games, Johnson is going to have his team prepared the right way for this matchup and part of his preparation process includes finding ways to exploit the opposing defense. Part of that process includes having some “trick plays” ready to go.
“For the most part, I would say they’re a weekly basis for us because of something that we see on tape,” Johnson said on Monday in an exclusive interview with Jeff Joniak. “Some of them do get carried over if we feel like they still apply. But, yeah, we got a handful of them. It can be anywhere from three to five to eight, it just kinda depends on the week and the situation.”
Does Ben Johnson have a trick play in the works involving RT Darnell Wright?
While talking to the media on Wednesday ahead of the team’s first day of practice, Johnson was asked about the athleticism of right tackle Darnell Wright and his overall play this season. Buried within that answer was a pretty telling phrase.
“I call him the unicorn for a reason. He does some things that are pretty extraordinary,” Johnson said of Wright. “We have to continue to highlight what he can do with or without the ball himself. He’s playing really good football right now.”
It’s not often you hear a normal coach want to highlight what a right tackle can do with the ball in his hands and it’s a fascinating nugget thrown into that answer. Johnson isn’t your normal coach and he’s proved that over the past few years with his creative play-calling and usage of obscure plays.
In fact, Johnson literally has experience putting the ball into the hands of his right tackle, something he showed more than once while using Penei Sewell with the Detroit Lions as the team’s offensive coordinator.
So, when Johnson says a player like Wright is extraordinary and how he wants to find ways to highlight that with and without the ball in his hands, it’s worth raising an eyebrow. Even going into the season the writing was on the wall to potentially scheme up a trick play with Wright.
Johnson’s offense ran a couple of trick plays last week against the Cincinnati Bengals that involved getting creative with the offensive personnel. This might have been a slip up on Johnson’s part and I’m going to keep my eye on Wright this weekend to see if Johnson cooks up anything crazy again.
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