The Chicago Bears, currently sitting at 0-2, will wish to forget a lot about their dreadful start. The team is already feeling the pressure as their next game is against the Dallas Cowboys this Monday. But the pressure must be mounting for the head coach Ben Johnson, as this is his first NFL season with the franchise, and it clearly doesn’t seem like a dream debut.
After ending the last NFL season at 5-12, the Bears brought Ben Johnson with high hopes. Even Caleb Williams felt positive about his arrival. “I think he’s obviously done really well, so it’d be cool to see how that all goes down,” Williams said as Johnson joined the team. However, after the unexpected start, Ben Johnson is in the spotlight. But there is one aspect of Ben Johnson that shows a positive sign.
After the loss at the hands of the Detroit Lions in week 2, Ben Johnson referred to the team as “they” not “us” while blaming the team’s practice for the loss. But this has changed lately as Johnson has started using the term “us” while referring to the team. This is what former Raiders’ CEO Amy Trask pointed out while giving an interview to CBS Sports.
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“It is a big deal, and I was heartened for Bears fans when he changed his terminology and began using the word our” Trask said. She also addressed how Johnson used to refer to his team, which looked bad. “Because when he initially commented on this, he was very, very critical of the team. It’s practice habits, level of effort, and he kept saying they need to show up,” Trask mentioned.
While talking about Johnson’s initial comments, Trask must be talking about Johnson saying “they need to show up in walk-through, they need to show up on the practice field” after the Bears suffered a 21-52 loss at the hands of the Lions. But then he went on referring to the team as ours, and that shows a positive sign in Johnson as Bears HC. “I think our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team,” Bears Said.
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Johnson might be showing positive signs, and it looks like he is improving despite the losses and pressure. But this doesn’t mean that players on the team are confining themselves to Johnson’s decision.
Caleb Williams shows frustration after Johnson’s decision
It is not only the Bears’ back-to-back losses that the team and management should worry about. Looks like QB Caleb Williams’ relationship with Johnson will add to the list of issues for the Bears’ management.
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The incident took place in the match against the Lions. When the game was slipping away from the Bears’ hands, Johnson decided to bench Williams and brought in backup Tyson Bagent on the gridiron. This was done with just eight minutes remaining in the game. After the match, Williams was pretty vocal about Johnson’s decision to bench him. “It sucks that your guys are out on the field, and you’re not,” William Said. He also added, “And that’s frustrating because you put [in] so much time, energy and effort, and those guys are out there still battling, and you’re on the sideline. But it was coach’s decision, and you gotta move on from it”
The defense is yielding 39.5 points per game, star cornerback Jaylon Johnson is injured, Johnson is blaming the practice session, and Williams is showing frustration. There are several key issues the Bears must address before facing the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field in Chicago.