Ben Johnson on Week 7 win over Saints | Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson on Week 7 win over Saints | Chicago Bears

All right. Um, so in terms of of injuries there, I think we had two guys that didn’t didn’t make it out of that one. Uh, and that was Tyreek. He had a shoulder and Cole had a back. So, we we’ll see where they’re at tomorrow. Uh, you know, I think I think this game really started and finished there with our defense. They they just did a phenomenal job throughout. When you when you look at those critical numbers, it was 44 yards rushing. Uh, I saw four sacks and four turnovers. And I just thought uh you know, credit to Dennis Allen and his crew one more time. They they are they’re doing a great job getting us the ball on offense with great field position. Um and it certainly gives us a ton of momentum in games like that. Uh and so they just did an awesome job offensively that the 200 yards rushing. Um, I think both ball carriers ran physical, ran violent, but huge credit to our offensive line and the tight ends in that core blocking unit because you could feel you could feel that line of scrimmage move at times and uh and our backs were finding the holes. So, uh, that was really the name of the game there. A lot that we we can clean up and we can improve. That’s that’s always a good thing. Uh, we’ll coach these guys hard and we’ll turn our page uh on to Baltimore soon after this. open it up with the with the running game. How satisfying is it to have come out of the by-week with answers and found something there that’s giving you some? Yeah. No, I think uh we’ve been pretty consistent with that message that it was just going to take a little bit of time to get our O line on the same page and and feel good about their fits and their combinations. And I think that’s starting to come together. Um you accumulate the reps over the course of camp and uh through these first five games going into the sixth one here. and and I think you really see it start to come to life a little bit. So, um, credit to them. Uh, I I feel really good. They’re really well coached. Dan Roshar, Kyle Dean, they do phenomenal jobs and they they’ve been very consistent with that crew. Um, it’s a prideful group. Obviously, they they want to protect the quarterback in the passing game and they want to be able to run for 200 every week in the running game. So, um, really proud of what that looked like today. And you had several red zone trips today that didn’t result in touchdowns and field goals. What do you think was the problem that prevented you all from getting those seven points instead of the point? I have to take a look at it. I can’t tell you off the top of my head. Coach, these turnovers is consistent. It’s weekly now. It’s not like just some once in a while type of thing. What do you most contribute to how the defense is taking the ball? Yeah, I I think uh you know, they come in bunches and and these guys, they we got a method in place of how we want to practice it. Um, you know, Dennis does a great job with with instilling that confidence in those guys, putting them in the right spot. Uh, when the ball touches their hands, they’re coming down with it. We we really don’t have many drops on that side of the ball. Um, they’re they’re very conscious of it when it’s a running play to try to punch at that ball and and get it out. And so, uh, you know, it’s just it’s just really working for us right now. And really, our team needs it. I mean, it’s it’s been the it’s really been the foundation of this last four game stretch for us. Ben, Deshan’s takeaway seemed to be the the spark early for you. What did you see both on the interception and then the return? Then obviously give good which one? The shots. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It was a great catch and then uh we’ve really been emphasizing because we’ve been getting all these is how do we turn these into to whether it’s in scoring range or getting in the end zone ourselves on defense. And so uh all of our guys are taking a ton of pride in getting connected after an interception like that and and looking to make key blocks so that we can extend that. I thought Shaunie hopped on up and and was was really I thought he was going to go down once or twice and he just kept on going. So, you might have to give him the ball a little bit on offense as well. You talked about the discipline, the details, the things you played up and striking that balance of doing that, you know, win. What’s your message to the team afterwards in terms of looking ahead and getting those things right? Yeah, I I think that’s the the benefit of when you win um you know, you can usually coach a little bit harder and and so we we’re always truth tellers on Monday in particular and when it’s good we’ll tell them when it’s good, when it’s bad, we we we’ll tell them what we got to clean up and so uh there’s a number of things there today that we can get better at. Did you see a little reversion following up to that question in terms of some of the sloppiness overall? Say it again. Some of the sloppiness. see a little bit of reverting back to some of the issues that you guys No, I I I I would say I was hopeful that uh game six we would we would play cleaner football than that. Any sense of what happened on the the fourth and goal? There was a missed exchange but then it was false start. Yeah, they they blew it dead false start. So moved us back and ended up ended up kicking. Do you know what happened with with Caleb and Drew there? No. Hope it was just the two drives for the defense wrapped around halftime that kind of lets the things get away. How disappointing was that when you guys were dominating the game and looking to go into halftime? Yeah, I mean I put the I put the uh before half on us offensively as much as is giving up that big play on defense. You know, we had that three and out. We had control of of possessing that ball before halftime and uh and we didn’t do a good enough job. I think that’s two weeks in a row there we’ve had a threeandout before halftime. um something that we practice, something that we really stress and uh and we’re not getting the job done there. So, we put the defense in a bad spot. Um I thought we limited their explosives throughout that that that day except for the one before halftime that resulted in points for them. So, um and then, you know, out of halftime, I thought we had some chances and and we just couldn’t couldn’t stop them. Um but beyond those two drives, I I thought the defense played some of the best ball we played all year. You guys took the ball. You guys took the ball to start the game. So he got it back after the half. You guys been getting out pretty early in these first quarters and the Saints were struggling defensively in the first quarter coming into this game. Is that kind of the thinking? It didn’t really play out that way. Was that the thinking when you took? Um, no. I It’s weather related. You know, it’s a windy day, so I want to be able to control in the second half which way we’re going. How do you view the uh the overall trajectory offensively through six games now? Yeah, up and down. So that’s that’s what we’ve looked like. Um, we we haven’t hit our stride yet offensively. We’re capable of a lot more. We have very talented individuals. Um, I I feel strongly in our coaching staff. Uh, but we’re just we’re not complimenting our defense on a on a regular basis. With the number of turnovers we’ve had over the last four games, we should be able to turn those into more points. What should what has to click? What are you seeing that if this clicks, it’ll level out. It’ll be a lot smoother. Yeah, I think it’s a lot of things. And uh and so that’s something we’ll look at on the tape and and see what we got to clean up. You know, we still have the false starts. Um you know, the good thing was the the running game was working. The passing game wasn’t nearly efficient enough for us here today. And Dennis downplayed the the significance of facing his former team today, but from your perspective, what’s your appreciation for four turnovers, the defense doing what it did, and Dennis’s unit being part of the win? Yeah, I mean, he certainly led the charge there. We we don’t win that game if they don’t play that well. um they they they’ve just did an outstanding job and you know kind of felt it over the course of the week there with the two practices that we were able to get in that uh schematically he had some really good thoughts that were going to put some stress there on the offense and uh you know I I thought the the defense they just they knew where to be. They knew what they were looking for and uh it was huge. Then before seeing the tape, how do you sense that David played just from experience out there? Yeah. Uh hard to say off the cuff. You know, you just go off the numbers and and uh you know, we like I said, we weren’t efficient enough in the passing game. So, we we’ll see why that was. Go ahead, Jason. When you see him scrambling around quite a bit in the pocket, is that what you want him doing in those situations, those 10 to 12 second plays, or do you need something more decisive quicker than that? No, I we we design a play to work through the progression and if he feels pressured, then that’s when he looks to to move on from there. And so, um, you know, I I’ll go back I’ll look at that. I don’t feel like we’ve had a ton of those up until today. I know we had maybe two or three more of those today than than what I’ve normally felt. So, uh, we we’ll see what what was the reason why and and what can we do better. But, uh, you know, those the broken down plays in general through six games, I I don’t think it’s it’s given us the yardage that we would like. Had a pretty significant challenge that you won there. What was the process of, you know, getting to the point of dropping that play? Yeah. Um, we got a good replay booth upstairs and and so they’re getting footage and uh, you know, it was it looked really really close. We felt like it was close enough to be forward from from the couple of angles that we got. Um, really good communication on the headset with that and uh and the fact that their offense wasn’t going super fast gave us plenty of time to to make sure we were we were exhausting all avenues. And we’ve talked a lot with DeAndre in recent weeks as a coach. How how satisfying is it for you to see a guy like that be rewarded for for kind of his head down effort that he gives you all the time? Yeah, I I think that’s that’s all of our guys. you just keep going back to work. When things go your way, uh you go back to work. When things are hard, you go back to work. That’s that’s really the answer for everything. And and that’s what we’re going to continue to do as a team. But, uh to your point, Swifty has done a great job here these last two weeks. Um you know, it’s we’re at the point of the season now where where no one feels 100% anymore, you know, and that’s that’s what it’s going to be the rest of the way. None of those guys feel great. Their bodies don’t feel good. and uh and yet you still show up and you find a way to be there for your teammate next to you and and Swifty certainly exemplifies that. Was Brady Jarrett Brady Jarrett close today or what went into that decision? Um we’ll we’ll see. You know, we got him back there in practice. Uh that was what Friday, right? And so um we’ll see what it looks like next week to is in terms of his availability for next Sunday. But why not today? Because he wasn’t ready. Yep. Thank you.

Head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media on Sunday at Soldier Field after the Bears’ 26-14 win over the New Orleans Saints.

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