Ben Johnson previews Monday Night Football matchup with Commanders | Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson previews Monday Night Football matchup with Commanders | Chicago Bears

Cubs win tonight. That’s the plan, right? Yeah. What? It starts at seven. Is that right? In all seriousness, is like is the weather something that you guys are thinking about and Oh, we we always have to think about that. Um that always goes in the equation for the kicking game certainly. um it goes into the the game for our entire team in terms of when you’re talking about uh the proper shoes because of the field’s going to not be the quite as much traction as normal. We need to make sure we have the right footwear on. Um and then, you know, be potentially the first time I’ve been around this crew and and some some rain. You know, I know uh we got to get used to playing in the elements. It’s going to be a big deal for us come December and January. And uh and so it’ll be it’ll be good. I I kind of hope that we do get some some elements. I mean, that’s a that’s what good Lord made football for, I think, is to play outside and and get to experience that. So, surprised me a little bit that you’d say that just because of the way you run offense and the exactness that can occur within an offense, but but it’s the opposite that you Yeah. No, I think I think it it just adds another layer to the game that it’s uh it can it can give you the edge if you use it properly. So, um, you know, we we’ll be prepared for it if if the conditions are are kind of sideways for us. And when you get guys defensive guys back that are not on the defensive line like Kyler and TJ, how does that impact the pass rush? Uh, yeah. Well, hopefully it does. Uh, you always talk about affecting the quarterback through the marriage of rush and coverage. So, they’re probably more coverage players than than they are uh pass rushers. But with that being said, um you know, if you’re stickier in coverage, then you you potentially have more time to get to that quarterback. Um you know, I think if you just look at this week in particular, that it’ll they’ll certainly help us out um getting them back, but we we we’re facing a different challenge here at quarterback than than most weeks. This guy is uh not only is he accurate throwing from the pocket, but he’s very elusive and he can find a little crease in there and uh explode for an explosive scramble as well. So, um you always talk about trying to bottle guys like this up and that’s that’s always easier said than done. Um but yeah, we’re very conscious of him and his ability to to find a gap and go. And so when you think about that, the the pass rush kind of has to have a little bit different nature by design. And then another housekeeping issue, uh can you tell us how Cairo’s been doing, how he looks? Yeah, our plan was to make it through the week here and really reassess it. You know, it’s interesting to me and um you’re coming off a byee and this actually you might have less clarity this week as a coaching staff in terms of what the the activives are going to look like on game day, you know, and so uh there are few guys kind of in that bucket where you can see it on our injury report as we gone through the the week here. Man, do we do we feel good about this guy going or not? and uh and we’re going to use the whole length of the week to make sure we’re making a informed decision. But I like where his head’s at right now because of the What about his leg? Do you like where his leg’s at? Yeah. Yeah. Is it because of the nature of that position and like the singularity of it of just having the one guy who kicks? Is it worthwhile to you to have Moody active just as a contingency? We we’ll have a plan. Yeah, we we’ll have a plan and uh and we’ll make sure that that uh we’ve got everything accounted for. So, I I feel good about where we’re at uh right now. We we’ll have another day of practice to be able to evaluate not only Cairo, but all the other guys and and make sure that we’re we’re making the most informed decision going into the game. So, um that’s that’s really what the week’s for is talk is going through all those hypotheticals and as a coaching staff to make sure we’re prepared. Then with uh with Grady, are you hoping to get him at least to kind of game time decision? Like can we get him to to Monday and see how he looks on the field or will that be something you’re able to decide today? Well, we we’ll see. We’ll see if he if he’s able to be out there and participating today or not. And so um he is a guy that we’ve always felt all along. There’s certain guys that uh you know might not that need to practice during the week to prove that they can go on game day. He’s he’s kind of had some skins on the wall and has proven that he’s a guy that can kind of skirt by without practicing as much during the week and still be able to perform at a high level on game day. So, uh each guy is a little bit different. You were talking about the offense a minute ago and uh you know they lost a running back but the replacement to Cory Crosky Merritt. What’s your take on him and his success so far this year? Yeah, I mean he’s been he’s been a a differencemaker for them. He does a great job um uh finding a little crease and and turning on the gas. And I think uh part of the reason why that run game is so dangerous right now. So I think uh I think we’re going to have our hands full with him. Um he stands out on tape. I mean they got a number of playmakers on offense. Z is still playing at a high level. Um Samuel, I mean he he’s all over the place for him. Uh and and we’ll see whether or not they have McLaren or not, but uh you know, they got they got a number of speed guys. They have this rookie that that uh Lane that he’s he’s made an impact on special teams immediately and you can see his speed translate to offense as well. So they they’ve got weapons all over the place over there. McLaren’s out. They’re coach reporters. Yeah, he didn’t make him wait for the injury report. That must be nice. Good to know as you as you stepped into. Now we can make our adjustments. I know. Look at the advantage you. So it it was really added for us to What a mistake by Dan. I like it. Uh as as you step into a role here with so much more influence than you’ve had before as a coordinator, how do you view the immediate needs of this is what I need. this is what I’m not having on the roster on Sundays versus a multi-year view of what we need this second round pick to be protected in 2026 or whatever. Yeah, I don’t think I don’t think those questions come to my head a whole lot when we’re in the season right now. Uh we we’ve got we’ve got the roster. Um we’ve got we’ve got a good roster 53. We’ve got a good practice squad that we can elevate if needed. Um, and that’s really that’s really what we’re looking at. And you know, some guys are going to go down, other guys are going to step up in their place. And we’re just we’re just doing the best we can to find out uh how can we best fill those voids and how can we help highlight these guys and what they do best. You know, that’s that’s our mission as coaches. So, I I don’t look into what we don’t have or what we or what we would love to have, things like that. That’s that’s not really the thought process this time of year. Um once we get through the year, we’ll go through the evaluation process and make sure that we we feel good about who our guys are and um you know, whether we need to extend some guys or or whether we could potentially upgrade somewhere, upgrade the roster somewhere. So that that’s end of the season stuff for me right now. I I really don’t don’t uh think that big a picture. We we’ve got what we’ve got and we we’ve we can win with what we got. How did how did you view it? How did you feel coming in where uh you’re looking at kind of shifting the roster more toward how you want to run things? They they’ve already been building for four years putting this roster together, but you’re in year one and it needs to be tailored to how you want to play. Yeah, it’s uh it’s to me it’s communication is the starting point and we need to have a shared vision on what we want to look like, what we want uh the building to look like, what we want the locker room to be composed of, what we want uh how we want meetings to be ran, practice, uh that’s the starting point. And then once you nail what you want the building to look like, then you can gravitate more towards the players that we bring in and uh what we’re trying to build in in that regard. So, I I’ve said it all along. Um I feel strongly about the leadership here um from the top um all the way all the way down. And so I I think the vision is is shared. It uh we’re still working towards getting all those elements in place. I don’t I think it’s rare that year one a new coach comes in and everything is exactly the way you want it. Um, so we’re working towards that and I think we’ve made tremendous strides towards that as we’ve gone through and there’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m really encouraged about the direction we’re headed right now. And you’ve talked about JT a few times and being kind of the conduit to Caleb and the work he’s done with the quarterbacks. What’s it been like for you since you were in Detroit to kind of watch his evolution as a coach to kind of have the trust of him in this job? I tell you what, they to me that that’s kind of the that’s the best thing as a coach and that’s really why you get into this. And uh I mean we all want to win and we all want to win the big one certainly, but you you get into it to see people around you improve and get better and and go on to the next thing and and uh it’s easy when you’re a coach, you you can see that tangibly with players all the time. Um, you know, and and we talk about Caleb a lot and how much he gets better, but you know, the longer you’re in this, you kind of gravitate from a young coach who’s just trying to climb up, climb up, climb up, and the older you get, and certainly when you get in this position now, I I I want to see all these assistants continue to ascend. And so, um, to your point, JT’s a guy that I’ve known from the moment he decided to hang up the cleats and and pick up a whistle instead. And boy, has he gotten better. and it’s because he loves the game. It’s because he wants to do a great job. Um, and so I think he’s just going to continue to ascend here in this league and and you know, whatever he wants to become, whether that’s a play caller or whether that’s eventually a head coach, whatever that is, I I think he’s capable of all those things. Ben, uh, the other day you weren’t ready to share who your left tackle is going to be. Just curious if if uh, maybe you are today. Yeah, it’ll be Theo. Okay. Oh, look at that. Oh, man. Thanks, Ben.

Head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media Saturday at Halas Hall.

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