Although it doesn’t quite rival what Allen Iverson had to say about ‘Practice’ two decades ago, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson had a whole lot to say about the way his team has been practicing over the last few days.
The Bears are 0-2 and picking up the pieces after an embarrassing 52-21 loss at the hands of the Detroit Lions last Sunday afternoon. You would think that with their backs against the wall so early in the season, there would be a sense of urgency at Halas Hall. However, Ben Johnson seems to believe that his players’ efforts on the practice field have been lacking.
“Our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship caliber team,” Johnson said, per Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “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.”
This isn’t the only critique of the team’s effort that Ben Johnson had. During the very same press conference in which he noted that the Bears aren’t practicing with the effort and commitment they need to, Johnson also called out the effort with which his team played during last Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
“I thought, as a whole, they played a little bit harder than us,” Johnson added. “And that’s a reflection of me as a coach. That’s a reflection of our coaching staff and it’s a reflection of our players too. When you play a good team like that on the road, you’ve got to be all out every single snap and that was just not the case.”
Ben Johnson Challenges His Team, and Caleb Williams Responds
In addition to calling into question his team’s effort on gameday and on the practice field, Ben Johnson also went ahead and issued what could only be considered an ultimatum to any players on the roster who are going to continue going through the motions as Chicago prepares for a must-win game versus the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday.
“We’re going to find out … who wants to practice hard and who wants to be a little bit more involved with the game plan going into Sunday,” Johnson said during his press conference.
One player whose involvement in the game plan may as well be set in stone is second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. Even though there’s been noise that the Bears should turn to Tyson Bagent, it would be a stunner if Ben Johnson even entertained that idea this early, especially considering it’s been Dennis Allen’s defense that has been the primary source of disappointment thus far this season.
Regardless, Caleb has heard everything his head coach had to say about the way the Bears are practicing, and as one of the captains of the team, he took it upon himself to respond.
Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams’ philosophical differences have come into question in recent days, with Caleb’s relaxed and laid-back approach reportedly bumping up against Johnson’s more perfectionist attitude.
This relationship between head coach and quarterback is of the utmost importance, and for this franchise, it takes on an even greater meaning. Never before have the Bears had a coach or quarterback who could seemingly raise an offensive ceiling as high as either Williams or Johnson could, so having the 23-year-old quarterback emerge as an extension of the 39-year-old head coach is paramount, especially after such a discouraging start to the season.
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