Ben Johnson on preseason preparation | Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson on preseason preparation | Chicago Bears

All right, good afternoon. Um, this will be uh this will be our last install, formal install offensively and defensively. So, we got a little short yardage and goal line going in today. It will be a good physical practice. I know we we toned it down a little bit for our guys yesterday. Get their legs back underneath of them and then we’ll have a good one here today. Player day off tomorrow and then we’ll be on to Miami. But, uh, this is a big one for us. Uh, changing it from morning practice to to noon. It’ll be a little bit hotter out there and uh really expecting big things here from our guys. So, we’ll go ahead and open it up from there. I think the next time we’re going to talk to you, it’s going to be a couple minutes before the joint practice. So, maybe this is a better time to ask the question. What are you going to do with your starters in the exhibition game Sunday? And what’s your plan for Caleb in preseason games? Yeah. So, going into camp, I kind of had outlined in my head exactly the way I’d love it to play out. um with in mind we were going to revisit that each player day off. And so to answer your question, to be determined, I want to I want to visit with the staff tomorrow and finalize that. Um I need to talk to to Coach McDaniel tonight and just make sure we’re on the same page with what Friday looks like. We’ve already had those discussions, but just just nail that down and then uh then we’ll we’ll be on to the game on Sunday after that. But first things first, we’re focused on this practice and then then we’ll make a decision on on starters and who’s playing what, how long, and all that. What do you do when you play what you want? Yeah. Well, there’s just because you play in the preseason, sometimes you take reps away from what you’d like to do before or after the game. Um, going into the game or coming out of the game and it and so we’ve been very strategic with trying to maximize our reps. We felt like offensively, defensively, the the amount of reps that we’re getting is really what we need right now as a team so that we’re learning, we’re growing, and uh you know, maybe those are out on the grass under the lights. Maybe those are in a practice setting. So, that’s what we’ll come to decision as a staff on. Ben, did you guys request to play Miami and Buffalo in the preseason in order to have joint practices with them, or did that look some other way? Yeah, that it was quickly after I got the job. I think uh teams look for matches. It was something Ryan and I talked about. We we were wanting to have joint practices during training camp and the two best for us this year were were both Miami and Buffalo and because mutual mutual, you know, they wanted to get out of South Florida and and I think they’re going they’re kind of taking training camp on the road a little bit between uh coming to us and they’re going to Detroit after us and so they’re bouncing around. Um it’ll be good for us to team see that speed and just a little bit different style of offense and defense and and same thing with Buffalo that you’re talking about a team that’s a perennial Super Bowl contender right now with Buffalo. And so uh really good talent and uh I think it’ll be a good measure for where we’re at as a unit. And you said on Sunday after Sunday’s practice that you you thought you saw a couple instances of the same mistakes being made twice. When you watched it back, what were those things? I offensively it was, you know, the sloppiness that I referred to. Obviously, the delay games were obvious to everybody, but there were at least a couple plays where linemen were going the wrong direction. Um, we already talked about Manungi going the wrong direction on the on the pitch play. Um, it was communication errors that resulted in guys not aligning correctly or not going the the right direction. And so, uh, that to me is what we got to clean up right now. When we went back, we looked at it. Um, everyone everyone, you know, acknowledged what their mistakes were and, you know, we put that to bed and we’re we’re on to today. You talked about Blank Slate for that relates to Tyreek Stevenson. What have you gotten to know about him as a player person since you’ve been around him? Well, I think he’s he’s an awesome person. I think that’s what stands out first and foremost. He’s got quite a personality. He’s he’s good to talk to. U, I think he works hard. He’s he’s uh you know, sometimes he talks a little bit too much and you got to tell him to to be a little bit quiet, but he’s he’s uh he’s a guy that you want on your side. He’s like I said, he he understands this is a big year for him. It really is. Going into year three is kind of make it or break it for a lot of guys and uh he understands that. I think he’s approaching this the right way. um the competition that we’ve had in that room has been really good for for not only him but the rest of the guys and I I’m excited for the direction he’s headed right now. You’ve talked about the emphasis on the joint practice, but from the standpoint of game management balanced with play calling duties. How curious are you to experience that on Sunday in the game? Yeah, there there’s no question. We’ve done a lot behind the scenes so far in our walkthrough settings in terms of very specific situations that both educate the players and allow uh allow the coaching staff to get on the same page with what’s going on and and what some of the words mean because once you get into crunch time and and you know the guns are going off then we we just want to make sure that uh one word tells everybody exactly what’s going on. And so it’s been a learning process because it’s it’s our first year doing it alto together. Um I think the guys have have handled it really well so far, but we’re going to put ourselves in those situations as much as we can whether it’s in walkth through or full speed practice and and that’s really why I’m excited about these preseason games is that that’s naturally going to occur organically. And of course you want it to be perfect, but with the up and downs that you’ve gone through, do you feel like you know this is what you expected that maybe you’re a little bit behind or even that you’re a little bit be ahead? a ahead even dealing with the up and down. Well, I I just want to it’s not going to be perfect. It’s never going to be perfect. So, um I know we want everything to be right in line every single time, but you know, a message to the to the unit is we’re going to have mess ups. We’re going to have mistakes. And I think the bad teams, they come on out there and they you say, “Oh, we’re just one off on this play.” And then another guy takes this turn. We’re one off on this play. And then you go to and it just looks terrible. where really the good teams when they have mistakes, their buddies cover it up for them. So if a lineman happen to do the wrong miss a block, then the back is going to make the guy miss and end up still springing a big run, you know, or uh protection breaks down and the quarterback can break the pocket and extend the play and we can still have positive results. And so that’s where um you know, you talk about the perfection part of it. I I don’t quite see it that way. I think we need to complement each other better, you know, as a unit right now. And so that’s what we’re learning from. And the guys are still thinking a lot. They’re not playing maybe as fast as they can. And over the course of camp, we’ll see that play speed pick up. Ben, at the beginning of camp, you talked about, you know, we don’t know whether we’re an outside zone team yet or run inside. As you get through this last install, what does your run game look like in terms of are you getting a better sense of what you’re good at? Yeah, I think we got a bunch of really smart individuals up front and so our volume is going to be able to to be pretty healthy. I think we’re going to be able to carry a lot into games. Um, a combination of of running off the ball in our wide zone scheme and I think we’ve got some guys that can create movement in the gap scheme game as well. So, inside outside, I think we have backs that can get it on the perimeter and and make things happen out there. Um, and then I think the the exciting thing for me is we got some quarterbacks that are pretty athletic players as well that maybe they can do some damage on the ground as also. And you mentioned or Caleb mentioned last week, I think it was Thursday’s practice, the headset went out for on him. How did you use that as a teaching moment for him and how do you think he handled that? Yeah. Well, it’s easy to uh when you get put in that situation for the first time, you know, you start to panic a little bit. And so, I don’t know if he experienced that or not, but the message is we don’t panic. We just find solutions. And uh I think going forward, he’s going to have solutions that that he’ll get to right away and we’ll be just fine. We we don’t want to burn timeouts in that situation. And what’s behind the Can you put out the depth chart today? Is this going to be a real depth chart or you just going to write ore next to all the interesting? Didn’t write ore on anything out there. Um it I I told the players that the training camp is about competition. We’re trying to earn a right for the 53. We’re trying to earn a roll. Um defensively, we don’t know who’s going to be up for certain packages going into week one. Offensively, there’s a lot of battles going on. And so the message to the players was don’t look too far into the depth chart, particularly at this point of the training camp. Your QB2 competition, what’s your assessment of Tyson through the first few weeks? Man, he’s been he’s been phenomenal. I mean, he’s smart as a whip. Um, appreciate the uh seriousness and intent that he brings every time he walks into a room, you know, meeting room, walkth through, it doesn’t matter. He He’s locked in. He’s focused. I think his teammates feel that from him. Um, love the fact, you know, he’ll throw the ball and he keeps working through his progressions just so it goes home with exactly where everyone’s going to be in case he had to move on. Um, I think he’s he’s taking this seriously. He’s preparing the right way and and I couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s here with us. Do you want to see stuff from him in preseason game action or is that still crossover? Yeah, we’ll we’ll we’ll talk about we’ll talk about all the preseason what it’s going to look like, you know, probably tomorrow with the coaching staff. And other than other than uh just getting some afternoon temperatures, anything else go into the shift away from the morning practices? Yeah, it’s at this point of camp things get a little bit redundant for our guys. So, it’s a little bit of a curveball, but at the same time, this is more what it’s going to be in the season. And so, we’re transitioning now that we got opponents coming up more into that mode. Yeah. Thank you.

Head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media on Tuesday at Halas Hall.

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