KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bears coach Ben Johnson has said a few times this preseason the offense wasn’t where it needed to be, but he had hoped it had turned the corner with some recent improvements.
That momentum slammed to a stop Friday in the preseason finale against the Chiefs.
In three possessions against the Chiefs’ starters, quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense punted twice and settled for a field goal after getting a first down in the red zone. Williams completed 6 of 9 passes for 41 yards and a 76.6 passer rating on those drives.
Johnson called it “really sloppy football that has plagued us” on and off in training camp and said, “There were a number of things we could have done a better job of.”
He was upset with Williams and Olamide Zaccheaus fumbling a handoff on the Bears’ first play, pre-snap issues and some of Williams’ decision making in the pocket. Overall, it was a concerning performance with the Sept. 8 season opener against the Vikings coming soon.
“It is disappointing to me offensively, for sure, because I thought that we’d worked our way out of that,” Johnson said. “This was our first time on the road, and we were going to find out what type of road team we were going to be. If the first quarter was any indication, it’s not good enough.
“We have to get better in a hurry… It’s out of our system, hopefully, going into the regular season.”
The Bears won 29-27 on a late rally by backup quarterback Tyson Bagent as both teams emptied their benches, and Johnson called that “really remarkable,” but he was preoccupied by problems in the first-team offense.
The Bears likely will begin focusing on the Vikings when they resume practice Monday, leaving Johnson the weekend to gauge how much of his playbook the offense can handle. He made clear Friday that scaling back is on the table.
“This was always going to be open-ended,” he said. “We’ll have the right amount of volume so that we can stress the defense, not only in Week 1 but throughout the season. But we’ve got to be able to execute it, so that’s a decision we’ll make.
“We’ve got plenty of time to assess what’s gone on over the last few weeks and what direction we need to go here for the opening game. To be honest with you, we might have to ebb and flow a little bit after that opening game. Usually it’ll take up until the bye week. It’s placed at just the right time [Week 5] to identify who we are and what we’re going to be for the rest of the season.”