The last time the Bears were coming off a loss, rookie coach Ben Johnson challenged his team to be on point in practice during the week and on Sunday against the Cowboys after losing to the Lions 52-21 at Ford Field in Week 2.
“We’re going to have a lot more competition,” Johnson said the Monday after that game. “There were some plays [against the Lions] that we weren’t quite as pleased with what that looked like on tape, so we’re going to find out this week at practice who wants to practice hard and who wants to be a little bit more involved with the game plan [against the Cowboys].”
If he was saying that publicly, you can be pretty certain Johnson’s private admonishment in team meetings at Halas Hall was much harsher. And his team responded with a complete game — scoring two first-quarter touchdowns for an early lead and containing Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense (with the aid of CeeDee Lamb’s first quarter injury) in a 31-14 victory at Soldier Field.
Johnson will look for a similar response on Sunday when the Bears face the Bengals at Paycor Stadium following a disappointing 30-16 loss to the Ravens at M&T Stadium in Baltimore last week. Johnson knows his team isn’t going to win every game in his first year, but losing to Tyler Huntley isn’t the same as losing to Lamar Jackson and — after seven games — Johnson felt the sting of that disappointment and challenged his team again.
“We didn’t get the takeaways [against the Ravens] and when you play ugly football like that, it’s a lot more difficult to win the ballgame,” Johnson said Monday. “We’re on a mission this week to get this all cleaned up and I have complete confidence that we’ll do that.”
This game is all about the Bears responding to their coach. It’s about focus and discipline and avoiding the penalties that have plagued this team in every game.
The Bears are in a formative state in Johnson’s first season. From Caleb Williams on down, there have been red flags and magic moments, but nothing defining. The ETA on this team is “pending” until further notice.
There’s always the chance this team grows up quickly in the second half of the season. But despite the week-to-week scrutiny that can be suffocating, most judgments on Johnson, Williams and the Bears are premature until Year 2.
That’s when Johnson will have had a full year to assess his roster and make necessary changes. In Johnson’s first season as the Lions’ offensive coordinator in 2022, the offense improved from 25th to fifth in scoring, and the Lions still fortified their offensive weaponry — drafting running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta and signing running back David Montgomery in free agency.
The game against the Bengals won’t be defining either way. But it will be another test of Johnson’s command. It was evident after the loss to the Lions. It was evident after the bye, when the Bears focused on the offense opening holes for the running game — and D’Andre Swift rushed for 108 yards on 14 carries in a victory over the Commanders.
After the “ugly” performance against the Ravens, Johnson put it on the players making themselves accountable to clean it up.
“That’s what they’re doing right now,” Johnson said. “So we’re going to be just fine.”