Ben Johnson on Week 4 win over Las Vegas Raiders | Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson on Week 4 win over Las Vegas Raiders | Chicago Bears

All right. Um, came out of that game pretty clean there. There really was nobody that of note that didn’t finish the game. We’re in good shape there. Man, I’m proud of our guys. They they came through for us. Um, we’re building something special here and I think they’re feeling it. Just the belief they have in each other, the belief they have in this coaching staff. I thought it really shown through. This was a this is a huge win for for our team. Um, finding a way in the fourth quarter to come out on top. I I just thought that was outstanding for us. So, um, proud of our guys, proud of the locker room. I know it’s an ugly game at times. U, you know, I thought give a lot of credit to the Raiders. They they played their tails off. I which we knew they would. You know, Coach Carol is such a good coach. Um, and they have so many good players on on their side that uh it was going to be a dog fight and and they were desperate for a win and we were desperate for a win as well. And uh, you know, it came down right to the wire just like we thought it might. Um, and so like I said, that’s a huge character win for our team and uh I just love it for them. Open it up for Josh Blackwell as you got to know him. What’s it going to say about him to make that play? Yeah, man. He uh he came through for us uh right when we needed it. And you know, I’m listening on the headset and coach High Totower who does just such an incredible job with our special teams unit um in all those phases. he he’s kind of narrating it in real time and he’s like, “Yeah, Blackwell’s going to get this one for us. He’s going to come through.” And sure enough, it came to light just like he thought. And so, um, man, I was so proud of him. He’s a he’s a guy that not only is is a key cog of what we do on special teams, but a a key contributor there as a backup in in our DB room and, uh, you know, that that was huge for him. You mentioned it was sloppy game. Um, talk about some of the penalties and negative yardage. How did you kind of balance almost your own emotions and then obviously the team’s emotions as you weathered all of that? Yeah, it’s easy it’s easy to get uh frustrated. Um but we we don’t panic. We we just don’t that’s it’s not who we are and that’s not what we do. And so uh you know we have a three and out to start the game I believe on offense and you know defense comes through for us and you know they end up with four turnovers on the day and we’re not able to capitalize on those turnovers to the extent that we’d like to. Um you know and I I could see where either side of the ball would get really frustrated. I could see where the defense would get frustrated with the offense and and uh the offense frustrated with ourselves and uh you know that that didn’t happen. Everybody stayed the course. No one panicked whatsoever. Uh I thought we came in at halftime. We hit that reset button. That’s what we talked about. Take a deep breath and let’s come out and play 30 minutes and find a way to win. What impressed you most about the game when you drive? Oh shoot. Um, well, I I just I I can’t remember play by play to be honest with you. But I remember talking to Caleb before he took the field and I said, “This is this is what you’re built for. These are the moments that that he thrives in the most.” I think that’s that’s really been the story of his life, to be honest with you. And and uh I know he came through for us in a big way. Um that was a that was a heck of a pass rush. We we knew what 98 was capable of. And then uh you know the rest of those guys are are really are really hard blocks as well. And so um for us to look up and we only had one sack. It certainly felt a lot worse than that because Caleb was having to elude a lot and uh and continue to to to evade that rush. And so um you know he found a way the the playmakers found a way uh our O line found a way to hold on there for us to get a touchdown when we needed it the most. It was a tough sliding free line game most of the game but third and four there at the end to to call on Swift. What What went into that decision to call? I mean, I’m sure it’s word on territory, but to trust Swift, to trust your guys in that moment. Yeah. Um I Yeah, I I that’s a it’s a hard one to answer right now to be honest with you. I I just in the moment it’s just what you’re feeling, what your gut’s telling you is going to work. And so, um my gut was probably wrong a lot of the night. So, uh, it was good to see it it come through and and and really it’s a credit to those guys. I mean, they they know, uh, we get down there inside the five. That’s what we want to do. We want to we want to be able to run it inside the 10 yardd line and and, uh, I think they came through for us. Where did you see from what? It’s it’s exactly what you saw on tape. um whether in college or the first three games this year, he’s he’s so compact that uh you have to hit him a certain way to bring him down. It’s it’s really hard for one individual to bring them down. And I thought you saw that time and time again where arm tackles, they’re not going to do it. Um it’s going to take a swarming mentality by the entire defense and if it is just one man, you got to hit him just right to to bring him to the ground. So, um you know, we had we had a plan uh to to look to contain him. Um and and uh he got after us pretty good. I thought that O line for them they they came out guns ablazing as well. And what do you think about the atmosphere seem like a lot of fans? Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s my first time here in Allegiant and uh pretty cool to see the the Bears fans travel like they did. You know, it’s uh the appeal of Vegas might have had something to do with it, but yeah, I’d love for that to happen uh every away game we have going forward. The offensive tackle switch you guys. Yeah, we knew going into the game um that Azie was was likely to get some snaps for us. Um he he’s uh he’s a guy that just keeps getting better each and every week. And so we were just at the point where we weren’t doing a whole lot on offense and we felt like that might give us a little spark and and ignite us a little bit on offense there. Speaking of the spark, what was it looking at? Four turnovers, second straight game. Three interceptions, second straight game. They’re not easy interceptions and a couple of them are diving. I know. I golly, we we talked about it. We talked about it last night how uh we were going to need to get some turnovers uh on the road here to get our first road win and those guys came through. By came through with two of them. I thought Tyreek had a had a one of the more athletic plays I’ve seen. The way he bounced up after that I thought that was that was incredible. And then um yeah that that we don’t win that game without those turnovers. You know that just the way that they were able to move the ball. Um, and then, uh, you know, like I said, had we been able on offense to capitalize on that a little bit more, it wouldn’t have come down to the wire like that. But, uh, one for four in the red zone for us on offense, it’s not going to it’s not going to win you a whole lot of games. Then, sorry if you already answered this, but, uh, you talk all the time about adjusting with Caleb today, the pass rush that he was facing. Did you see some adjustment in the second half to realize that there’s there isn’t time to do that? Yeah, I I I I really felt like our guys uh our guys just focused in and they took a deep breath there at halftime and they they took a lot of pride in doing the best job that they could. So, I’ll have to go back and I’ll look at the tape. Um I don’t know play call-wise if I was really that that different in the second half than I was the first half, but um I’ll have to go back and I’ll look at that. Then, was that a diversion of stumble bomb we saw earlier in the game? Yeah, you know, that was that was one of those uh um you know, we have a group of guys that come up with plays and we felt like that could take advantage of something that we saw. Um we we were really we were really in two down territory in my mind at that point anyways. So, I knew that we we were going to go for an explosive play on that one and if we didn’t get it, then we were going to go for it on the next one. So, um it happens sometimes, you know, and that’s that’s the cost of doing business. Some of them hit, some of them don’t. Tory Taylor kickoff. Was that already covered in? Yeah. So, Cairo was feeling a little something and uh we were getting him checked out and so Tori came through for us. Um from my understanding, Kyro was good to go. Anybody else? All right. Thank you.

Head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium after the Bears’ Week 4 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

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