It’s only two games into Ben Johnson’s coaching tenure with the Bears, and already he’s ensnared in the type of storm that overwhelmed his predecessors. His defense is the worst in the NFL, quarterback Caleb Williams isn’t thriving and the team is an especially ugly 0-2 after blowing a late lead at home to the Vikings and getting steamrolled by the Lions.
The honeymoon is over. This is a critical moment for Johnson to show how he intends to lead.
He came out firing this week with a rebuke of his team’s work ethic.
Johnson said the Lions “played a little bit harder than us” in his team’s sloppy 52-21 loss at Ford Field and added that “our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team.”
Whether that was intended to light a fire under his players, it’s still a bad look for everyone.
Johnson has had the job for eight months, and the Bears have been practicing in some form since organized team activities in May, so if effort in practices and games doesn’t look right, that’s on him, as well. He readily admitted that, calling it “a reflection of me as a coach.”
Matt Eberflus, who will oppose Johnson on Sunday as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator at Soldier Field, was in these messes regularly as the Bears’ head coach and only exacerbated them with non-answers and non-solutions. Before him, Matt Nagy threw together word salads and assured everyone that everything was just about to click.
Johnson has promised to stay straightforward with the public and seems to have had no reservations about doing it, even if some of the blame gets smeared on him, as well. He lit into Williams, the left tackles and the overall sloppiness throughout training camp. Softening critiques would only create “gray” with his players; he’s adamant about clarity.
“Every week there’s good stuff on tape, and there’s not enough good stuff on tape,” he said. “When you win, those mistakes get minimized, and when you lose, those mistakes get magnified.
“Those mistakes are loud and clear right now. We’re making too many of them, and they’re of the giant variety.”
Johnson told the Sun-Times last month that his blunt approach “stems from not being afraid of confrontation,” which he believes is key to changing things. Every time he speaks publicly, it’s “an extension of talking to our players.”
Like any coaching style, that approach will wear thin if it fails to produce results. Nagy’s rah-rah ideas such as “Club Dub” were cool when the Bears won the division his first season and felt high schoolish as they tumbled to 6-11 in his last one.
For now, Johnson’s message appears to have landed.
Defensive tackle and team captain Grady Jarrett wouldn’t answer if he thought there were issues in practice but deferred to Johnson by saying, “If he said it wasn’t good enough, then we’ve got to answer the call. We’ve put up two really good days [since].”
Wide receiver DJ Moore said it prompted players to “just go out there and prove him wrong” and agreed with Jarrett that “we had a great two days of practice after he said that.” Like Johnson, he was embarrassed by the penalties — the Bears have committed 20 for 177 yards in two games — and other self-inflicted mistakes.
Tight end Cole Kmet wasn’t bothered by Johnson airing out the team publicly because it already had been said more emphatically behind closed doors.
“You guys get the PG version,” Kmet told the Sun-Times. “I expect there to be transparency between what he says to us and what he says to you guys. And he’s not wrong. He has a high standard of what things need to look like, and we’re just not there at the moment. We’re working toward it, but we still have steps to go to be a Super Bowl-level team.”
Jarrett, Moore and Kmet don’t speak for the entire team, of course, but if Johnson gets buy-in from them, theoretically it would permeate the team.
The chief responsibility for creating a real culture of discipline and drive is Johnson’s first, then that of the five team captains — Williams, Jarrett, left guard Joe Thuney, safety Kevin Byard and kicker Cairo Santos — and other veterans.
When it comes to energy level at practice and in games, the coach shouldn’t need to say anything. That should be governed internally.
“Ben and I have talked about that — if it’s juice, if it’s pushing the guys, if it’s encouragement, whatever the case may be,” Williams said. “It’s just [me] being able to be that for the team and the offense. That was his point for me.”
One of Johnson’s consistent principles, whether applying it to Williams or any other part of the team, has been that it would be irrational to think games will go differently than practices. If they’re making errors at Halas Hall, they’ll make them on Sundays, too.
He challenged players this week to “finish hard” and make sure sound, fundamental play shows up in practices and walkthroughs because “that’s how it shows up on game day.” He singled out blocking technique and ball security among other issues and said, “It’s the little things that you learn in youth league football that make a huge difference.”
But these performances go on his record. He has to find the right way to enforce accountability and motivate those who need it. If the scolding he gave the Bears this week doesn’t spark a change, it’s on him to find another way.
