Bears coach Ben Johnson is happy — his word, believe it or not — with his offense, and that’s quite a leap from how he felt a year ago.
While it never would be quite correct to describe him as calm, he has been relatively low-key this training camp because things are running so much more smoothly than they did in his first one. There has been no need to light a fire under his players, as he did repeatedly last season.
‘‘I feel really good about where those guys are at,’’ Johnson said, noting that the first-string offense went through 60 simulated plays before sitting out the preseason opener Saturday against the Browns. ‘‘I’m happy with what the offense looks like right now. Yet we’re only halfway through this thing, and we have a long way to go.’’
Always something to strive for, of course.
Last August, Johnson shredded the offensive players on the practice field and at the podium for sloppiness, slowness and a general inability to get on his level. At one point, quarterback Caleb Williams said to himself, ‘‘This dude doesn’t seem like he likes me.’’
It wasn’t surprising at all that he felt that way. Johnson was on him at every turn, especially about delay-of-game penalties and other pre-snap errors, and took his frustrations public multiple times:
† After the Bears’ 10th practice of camp, a debacle at Soldier Field, Johnson railed on the offense for being ‘‘sloppier than we were hoping we would be at this point’’ and warned, ‘‘If it continues like that, we’re not going to win many games.’’
† A few weeks later, he was beside himself and talked openly about downsizing his playbook, questioned Williams’ vision in the pocket and graded the overall group as ‘‘not good enough.’’
† In mid-September, well beyond when he thought the problems would be in the past, he unleashed his harshest criticism yet: ‘‘Our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team’’ because of poor effort, fundamentals and other ‘‘little things that you learn in youth-league football.’’
There hasn’t been any of that this time around. Johnson has been fiery and energetic on the practice field, but there haven’t been any blow-ups. There have been ups and downs, certainly, but he has liked what he has seen overall.
‘‘My concerns last year were a lot with the pre-snap [issues]; we don’t have those procedure issues to that degree anymore,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Provided we can keep those to a minimum, that’s where we’ll continue to get better.’’
He views the next two weeks as an ideal test of that progress. Is it real? He thinks he’ll find out in the joint practice Thursday with the Bengals in Cincinnati and in another one a week later with the Titans. Whether the starters play in the ensuing preseason games against those teams might hinge on how sharp those practices are.
Experience has played a big role in the Bears having a more peaceful camp this season. Of their top 13 offensive players (their starters plus an extra tight end and running back), 11 were on the team last season. The other two are wide receiver Kalif Raymond, who was with Johnson for four seasons with the Lions, and center Garrett Bradbury, an eight-year veteran who started for the Patriots in the Super Bowl last season.
Another memorable moment in Johnson’s first camp came when he was asked to list the players he trusted to know the plays and could name only four.
When he was reminded of that Saturday, he said he couldn’t even put a number on it. And when a rookie such as Zavion Thomas looks lost, Johnson tells him to watch fellow wide receivers Rome Odunze or Raymond.
That means it’s no longer just Johnson’s offense, as it was when the Bears were learning it last summer. Now it’s fully wired into the players, moving the team closer to the full version of what Johnson envisions.
‘‘You see a lot more glimpses of what we expect it to be,’’ offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. ‘‘Everybody knows what the standard is, what it looks like, what our pre-snap operation looks like.
‘‘They feel what it’s like to come out of the huddle with clarity, conviction on what we’re doing. . . . There’s a lot of ownership in that, which is really what you’re trying to get. When the players own the pre-snap process, it’s going to take off.’’
Theoretically, it should take off in Week 1 against the Panthers. That would be a sharp contrast from last season, when preseason miscues lasted well into the regular season.
If the Bears want to repeat as NFC North champions, establish themselves as true contenders and chase the single-season scoring record, as Johnson has said, they need to start hot. Based on how they look now, there shouldn’t be any warming up required.