Ben Johnson knows the Bears have to change a frustrating trend and part of it starts with him
The Chicago Bears got the win, but things still need to improve on offense to continue winning.
Early in Saturday’s game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, things looked like they were going from bad to worse at Soldier Field after the Packers jumped out to an early 21-3 lead.
Packers fans were already beginning the early celebrations and looking up plane tickets to get to Seattle for the next game. But, the Bears continued to do what they’ve done all season. Chicago kept on swinging and rallied back, scoring 25 points the fourth quarter to win and advance.
That’s just the story of this team, both good and bad. The good news is the Bears never stop believing and will take a game to the final moments in order to win it. The bad news, the Bears continue to dig themselves into early holes and that’s something that needs to be addressed if the Bears want to continue advancing in the postseason.
Ben Johnson shared similar frustrations with the early offensive performance vs. Packers
Offensively, the Bears started the game with a nice drive, marching 59 yards and converting some big third downs. However, the drive stalled out forcing the offense to settle for just three points.
The following three drives ended in an interception and two straight turnover on downs to end the first half of play. Frustrations were being shown on the sideline by quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Ben Johnson shared the same sentiment.
“I think we’re all feeling a certain type of way and you gotta be authentic to yourself when it comes to the game,” Johnson told reporters on Monday. “We all want to do well, we all want to have success, we want our teammates to do well. That’s a part of it. And yet there is an accountability factor that goes into it as well.
“When I turn on the tape and I see a few things – particularly in our passing game – that weren’t the way that we talked about over the course of the week, sometimes you do need to get a little bit fired up, just to make sure that the point gets across and that we play better going forward. I don’t shy away from that part of it.”
The Bears entered into halftime with only 122 total yards of offense and 78 passing yards with the one interception while being 4-9 on third down and 0-1 in the red zone. It’s not the kind of game anyone wants to play at the start of a game and playing like that can make things snowball in a hurry.
Fortunately for the Bears, it was all mental mistakes. Penalty-wise, the Bears played a clean game with only two total penalties, but the mental lapses were all over the tape in other areas.
Look at that first interception for example. While everyone always wants to blame the quarterback and sees the interception next to his name, it’s clear wide receiver Luther Burden III was not on the same page from the jump and it led to him not being in the right spot Williams was expecting.
“I actually feel like [Williams] played pretty well for the entire 60 minutes. There’s some things that we’re addressing here today that we feel like we can clean up and we can be better at,” Johnson added. “We all want to start faster, I know that’s been a theme here over the last two months of the season it feels like. But, we’re going to go back to work here and it’s something we address, it’s something that we correct, and we look to get better from.”
Ben Johnson defends early aggressiveness with the fourth down decision-making on offense
On Johnson’s personal accountability side of things, many fans were upset about his aggressiveness early in that game with the amount of times he was keeping the offense out on the field. The most egregious case came on a fourth-and-five from Chicago’s own 32-yard-line that failed to convert and gave Green Bay a short field to work with, and ultimately score a touchdown off of.
Speaking with reporters, Johnson was asked about his aggressive decision-making that played a role in the early deficit and didn’t regret his thought process.
“The aggressive fourth down mentality had something to do with time of possession and making sure that we’re maximizing our possessions,” Johnson explained. “It’s a strategy we talked about as a team, the whole team was highly aware of it, and had a lot of confidence. I think where it gets misconstrued is, there’s a lack of confidence in your defense when you do that. I think the opposite, I think it’s because I have confidence in our defense and their ability to stop teams in the red zone.
“A lot of thought goes in to how we want to play a particular game. At the end of the day, it always comes down to what we feel – as a coaching staff – is going to give us the best chance to win and put our guys in the right spot and then you go back and look at it and see if it was the right mindset or not. That’s what happens in this league. I’m never going to apologize for being aggressive or doing things that might be a little unorthodox if it’s what we deem is best for us to win a ball game.”
This is what Bears fans should have understood they were getting into when Johnson was hired as head coach and tasked with running this offense. I have full faith in him finding a way to starting games quicker and getting his players to execute the way they’re supposed to execute.
And if the team comes out slow, Johnson’s proven he has the ability to make those corrections and maximize the future drives to get his team in a position to win by the end of the game. Ideally, the Bears want to avoid those early deficits and that’s something that will continue to be a focus.
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There’s no bad blood, it’s just part of how the game should be.
