Ben Johnson’s tenure with the Chicago Bears is off to a slow start. After being the most hyped head-coaching candidate on the market for multiple years, big things were expected of Johnson after he decided to join Caleb Williams and the Bears. But through two games, Johnson has the team looking like the same, old Bears.
In an effort to get the team back on track, Johnson took Bears players to task for not performing like a “championship-caliber team” in practices.
Advertisement
“Our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team,” Johnson said Wednesday.
When asked what that means, Johnson said the team needs to start doing the little things well, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.
“We should be going to the football, finishing hard. We talk about it all the time with the offensive players that our fundamentals, our finish and our technique, they need to show up in walk through, they need to show up on the practice field. That’s how it shows up on game day. Simple things of how do we properly block? How do we catch the ball? How do we block after the catch? Ball security and things like that. It’s the little things that you learn in youth league football that even at this level, they make a huge difference.”
It’s a blunt assessment of his team, though not inaccurate. The Bears haven’t lived up to expectations in recent seasons. And while the selection of Williams with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft was supposed to nudge the team forward, the Bears seem to be stuck in neutral 19 games into Williams’ career.
Only two of those games have come with Johnson at the helm. Though it’s still early in that relationship, Johnson and Williams deserve some blame for the way things have gone. Multiple pre-snap penalties have put the Bears in a bad spot during games and Johnson’s aggressiveness on fourth down has already hurt the team a few times. Williams’ accuracy was miserable as the team choked things away in Week 1.
Advertisement
But the Bears’ bigger issues are currently on the defensive side. Despite leading the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1, Chicago’s defense collapsed in the final quarter, allowing JJ McCarthy to throw two touchdowns and lead the Vikings to a win. In Week 2, the defense gave up 52 points to the powerhouse Detroit Lions.
While you could paint a rosier picture if you account for the absence of Jaylon Johnson and T.J. Edwards, it’s clear Johnson believes the team’s failures run deeper than that. After patiently waiting for his first head-coaching opportunity, Johnson’s in charge of putting his words into action and getting the Bears to practice — and play — at a level he expects.
Advertisement
If he can do that, the Bears might start to show signs of promise before things get too out of hand. If not, 2025 is going to look a lot like 2024 … and 2023 … and 2022 …