Bears squeak out another close game, but issues with Ben Johnson’s play-calling narrowly led to another collapse vs. Vikings
It wasn’t Ben Johnson’s best game in Week 11.
Ugly wins continue for the Chicago Bears, who earned their first divisional win of the season over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11 with a final score of 19-17.
With the win, the Bears improve to 7-3, but there are always ways to get better, and Sunday’s game was filled with some issues on both sides of the ball, but the most glaring was some of the play-calling decisions made by head coach Ben Johnson.
Ben Johnson made some questionable decisions in the Week 11 win
The bulk of Johnson’s issues with the play-calling came on third and fourth down during Sunday’s game, with the Bears converting on seven of 18 third-down attempts. Johnson seemed to be getting too cute with some of the play calls in those situations, but it’s the double-edged sword that comes with an offensive mind like that.
If some of those plays work, Johnson looks like a genius. But the decision to turn to running back Travis Homer on third-and-five and calling other short runs with light personnel (one of which included QB Tyson Bagent on the field) was confusing.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Bears also took a delay of game on fourth-and-five, forcing the team to punt the ball back to the Vikings, who then took the lead on the following drive. Overall, the calls seemed too conservative for how tight this game was late.
“Those are the ones that you get disappointed in because those are more self-inflicted than they are anything else,” Johnson said after the game. “When you play a tough team like that, you need to be on your mess as much as you can because they’re going to make some plays themselves.”
The mistakes allowed Minnesota to score 14 points in the fourth quarter, and it seemed like the game was heading in the same direction it went in the season opener when the Vikings mounted a successful fourth-quarter comeback.
“It was very reminiscent of the first game where we ended up having a lead and then allowed it to get interesting there,” Johnson added. “We felt like we didn’t make enough plays there in the first game to earn that victory, and this one we did. I do feel like that shows growth as a football team.”
It’s not all on Johnson, either. Execution was also an issue with the offense on Sunday. Quarterback Caleb Williams had multiple misses on downfield throws, and the run game struggled to open up holes against the Vikings’ defensive front.
As Johnson has noted all season long, these kinds of outcomes are still favorable. The Bears found a way to come through with another late-game win, and the areas of improvement were clearly laid out for the team to address next week.
As frustrating as it may have been, a win is a win, and the Bears could find themselves in first place of the NFC North going into Week 12, depending on how the Detroit Lions game turns out on “Sunday Night Football.”
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