Ben Johnson on Week 9 tape review | Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson on Week 9 tape review | Chicago Bears

You know, as I said yesterday, uh not easy to win a game in this league. And so, it was good to see our guys uh come through. Really proud of the players and the coaching staff staying with it there for for all the 60 minutes we needed that whole time. And uh you know, I I just love how they competed and and they found a way. So, uh very pleased with that. Obviously, we don’t want to lose a two-score lead like that late in the game. Um you know, that’s not a recipe that we want to live with. And so, uh, for us to sustain what we got going on right now, we got to clean some of that up. But with that being said, is it is good to see our players today. I know they they, uh, they’re focused on fixing our mistakes and we’ll be ready to go next week. Uh, one injury update to acknowledge, Dio has an Achilles, so we’ll end up not having him for the rest of the season. Uh, and with that, I’ll go ahead and open it up. Go ahead, Pat. Hey, Ben. Um, Caleb’s a unique athlete at quarterback. Uh, what did you like about being able to get the ball in his hands as a receiver and what can you appreciate about kind of the different threats that that he offers that other quarterbacks might not? Yeah, he’s he is a great athlete. Um, he can beat you any number of ways. Traditional quarterback play in the pocket. Uh, really strong arm, can throw the ball down the field. Um, but then also his his legs add another element to the equation. And so I I think we saw yesterday I think he had 53 yards on the ground which was really encouraging to see that helped us extend some drives um and and we needed it um in certain times. So that that was awesome. And then yeah, it just it worked out that way um to where we were able to take advantage of that defense just a little bit, get them outnumbered on one side of the field and and get the ball to him. So uh he it was good. It was good. He came through for us. What did you see about him in the pocket uh upon further review? I know you had offered yesterday that he didn’t throw a pick, but that you wanted to take a look at everything else. Yeah. No, there’s there’s a number of things that I was pretty pleased with. Um it’s looking it’s looking more like I want it to look that he wants it to look like. Um, I can think of one particular instance off the top of my head uh before halftime where call play and and they end up clouding it to the to the side of the primary. So, that’s not there. He gets through his progression and quickly dumps the ball to the back as he’s stepping up in the pocket. Now, we didn’t throw our best ball was a little bit high and we didn’t haul it in, but that to me was was what we want this quarterback to look like as he’s playing within the timing and the rhythm of the offense and trusting his feet to take him through the progression. So, um something for us to build on. Uh there there’s a couple that we can continue to clean up and and he’s I think he’s starting to play faster uh the more reps we’re getting on some of these concepts. He’s understanding the intent, uh the coverages that we’re really looking to get and uh you know, if we’re not getting those coverages, can we quickly get to number two or number three or even look to run with that ball? So, uh it’s coming along nicely. Courtney, hey Ben, with the Dio news, like how comfortable are you right now with the edge rusher depth you have behind him if he’s out since he’s out for the season and like will that potentially influence anything you guys do ahead of tomorrow’s deadline? Yeah, I mean it’s it’s one of those deals. It feels like we take some strides in particular positions and we take some steps back, you know, it’s it’s it’s wild. Uh felt like we had a solution there with Shamar at defensive end a couple weeks ago and then we lost him and then finally get Booker back and then we lose IO. So it’s it’s a little bit of give and take. Um that’s of course the NFL season. Uh you know that that that happens and so we we’ll have guys step up. I thought Book did play a nice game yesterday, so was very pleased to see that for his first game back. Um, and so, no, I I do have a lot of confidence there. Hopefully, we get uh Dom Robinson back, too. And he was doing some nice things there early in the season as well. Uh, we’ve got some depth. Uh, you can never have too many pass rushers. You can never have too many cover players in the back end either. So, that’s how I’ve always felt since I’ve been in this league. Um, I know Ryan and his his crew, they’ve been doing their due diligence all throughout the fall, you know, all the way up until tomorrow to make sure that we’re turning over every every stone to make sure that uh if if there’s a way we can improve this roster, we’ll do that. But, uh, I I feel good about the guys we have on the roster currently. And have you been able to or I guess how did you diagnose what went wrong on on kickoff return yesterday with the the first one and then I think Cincinnati second they it was a 38 yard return our kickoff coverage their return kickoff coverage. Yeah. It’s it’s lane integrity. We got to do a better job shedding blocks. Um rallying to the football. We’re too passive at times. Um there’s a number of things that that we can clean up there. Uh and it’s not just any one particular player. It’s it’s everybody. It’s it’s all the coaches. It’s all the players. We we got to get this thing fixed. Um and it just wasn’t it wasn’t just kickoff coverage either. There there were a number of elements that that we can get better at. Um that’s been the emphasis already today. We talked about it as a team. It’s all hands on deck. We’re going to get this thing fixed. Dan Ben, what was your reaction to the overturn of of the Tummaine Edmonds pick six? Um, you know, I I guess I I don’t get too caught up in it. They’re going to make their call and with those particular things, I I know they’re looking at all their angles. So, I just trust that they’re making their the right decision and in within the context of it. Doesn’t matter if I agree with it or or our guys upstairs agree with it or not. We just whatever they say, we’re going to go with and uh there’s really not a whole lot we can do about it. So, um, would have been a a huge play for us and given us a lot of momentum and, uh, I think it would have stopped stopped that, uh, little bit that they had going and and certainly would have made the ending of the game different. But, man, we had a lot of opportunities there between our defense finding a stop between special teams recovering the onsides kicks and then on offense, we had we had a four-minute opportunity and we went three and out. And so, you know, it’s it’s everybody. We got to do a better job. On the topic of Caleb scrambling, I know that’s been an emphasis here in recent weeks. What happened for him yesterday that unlocked it in the way that it got unlocked yesterday? Yeah, you know, I I don’t know that uh routewise we did a whole lot different. I think our guys had had some pretty good reactions when they saw him get flushed out. Um he threw some good catchable balls and and they came down with it. And then there there were a few times where he was looking down the field, it wasn’t there, and he decided to take off with his legs. And so, um, it was a good mix of that. It wasn’t like he was trying to overdo it with his legs or try to force anything with his arm. I I think he found the right balance with, uh, playing fast and and making the defense hurt. I I think that’s part of what makes him unique as a player and like I’ve said so many times before, that’s we want to incorporate that as part of the offense. We don’t want to shy away from it. coach, in terms of complimentary football, there’s been different times, different year throughout the season, whether it’s offense, red zone defenses, seeing why the defense was taking the ball away four times or whether it’s run defense or yesterday they give up 40, special teams doesn’t play that well. What What is that encouraging that you guys haven’t really played full complimentary 60-minute football, but you still have five wins? What gives you the confidence that you guys can all come together for the same 60-minute game? Yeah, you know, we we haven’t played our best football collectively as a team yet. Um, and yet, like you said, we have found a way to win and and I think this way was a little bit different than what it’s been so far. Uh, there were times this year that I felt like we won in spite of the offense and and this was probably the first time I felt like the offense had a had a big say in in us winning that game. And so that was that was encouraging to me just for that phase. Um, but you’re right. I I do think we can come together and there’s been a at least three games in my head that we’ve allowed the opponent to hang around and we’ve allowed them to have a little bit of life late in games that uh that we want to start to eliminate that feeling. Um, we want to close these games out a little bit cleaner uh earlier in the game and I thought yesterday was was an example of that. Kevin, hey Ben, I know the end of half um you guys have had some struggles the past few weeks. Yesterday specifically, what did you see that was just not clicking uh with the passing game in that final drive before halftime? Well, we we took it on down and uh we did get in field goal range, right? Yeah. Um and so that was that was a good thing. Uh yeah. Yeah. I mean, we took it down and we we had a couple shots tried to get some shots into the end zone. and it didn’t work out for uh for a couple of reasons. I I was a little bit off as I alluded to after the game just the end of half uh I couldn’t match up the play call with the right coverage a couple times and and I was hopeful that I could. But um with that being said, I I thought I thought we did a good job getting it into into scoring distance and an opportunity for us to make a kick there before halftime. Um, I think the second to last possession on offense, you know, I was kind of caught in limbo to be honest with you a little bit whether to go for it or not on that fourth down. Um, I think we did the right thing by taking the points. But, you know, part of me too wants to let’s see if we can’t not only score the touchdown, but also even if it’s just get the first down and and drain some more clock off to make it a little bit harder on their offense. You know, those are things that go on in my head over the course of of those particular se sequences. Um, but in hindsight, I think we did the right thing taking the points and then you saw we got another another chance at it at the end. What did you like about the throw to to DJ on that drive before half on third down that kind of helped get you into field goal range? Shoot. I’m trying to think which one fade down the fade down. No, no, that was u really well done. Um, you know, we we ran that play against New Orleans. Um, and that’s the one where Coloulston got called for the OPI and it got called back. We threw it to Swifty down the sideline. And so, um, we ended up feeling like that was a good time to call that one. We just changed up the formation a little bit with who was where, trying to get it, uh, snapped a little bit quicker and and hopefully them not aligned quite right. And I I thought we did a good job executing that. Um it was a really nice throw there by by Caleb. I thought the protection was good, not only on that play. I think throughout the day, I thought our O line played played really good football. Um we had some very clean pockets and and uh that was a huge play for us in that moment. Go ahead, Phil. Thank you. Uh Ben, uh Joe Flack obviously had 470, Higgins had 121. Uh you said you needed to review the film. Uh what was it technique assignment? What did you see on tape? Yeah, I saw two uh two incredible athletes at wide out that made their fair share of plays and and made life hard on us. Um I think it started there. I I think their other players are complimentary players, the I’m talking about the tight ends, the backs, and the and the third and fourth receivers. they they hurt us too, probably more so than we were we were hoping going into that game. Um we knew that the the guys covering those players were going to have to hold up for us because we’re going to exhaust some resources to try to contain number one and number five. And um you know, we just we had a hard time. Uh I I’ll say this, I mean, I feel like our corners, they went out and they competed. Um you know, that play before halftime where where five makes the play over Shaunie, I mean, that’s just that’s just an incredible play by him. um because because Shaunie had pretty good coverage throughout that. And so those are the ones you can you can sleep at night thinking about. Um I know DA’s doing everything he can to to help those guys while still creating a pass rush um and mixing up the coverages to make it hard on Flaco. Flaco I mean when you’re 40 plus years old it’s just the recognition aspect of the game and playing quarterback comes so so easy for you. And I think that’s what showed up uh at times yesterday. we, you know, he could sit back there and he was getting the ball out of his hands quickly. Um, he recognized the coverage, knew where we were most vulnerable and and picked us apart a little bit. And so, um, that’s the challenge when you go against some really good pass catchers and a and a veteran quarterback. Um, I will say this though about our defense. You look at it and I I know the scoreboard says 42 points. I know that uh we allowed 35 on defense, but with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, we had only allowed 20 points on defense. So, had we handled as a team the last part of the fourth quarter the right way, I think we would have felt a lot better about our defensive performance. And then uh I I know you say you appreciate that your your players never think that they’re out of it, but you know, what was your message today to make sure that they don’t rely on that as a crutch, that it doesn’t come out to bite them at some point? Yeah. I mean, it’s just the acknowledgement that we’ve had several games so far where uh we we could close teams out and we haven’t done that yet. Um not not at least what we’re capable of doing. And so um a little bit of that killer mindset, if you will. Uh, I think we’ve done a great job finding way to win games. Um, we’re never out of it. Just like you said, I think the next step for our growth is a as a team is to start closing these things out a little bit earlier in the game. Jason, uh, hey Ben, two two questions for you going into the trade deadline tomorrow. And we talked about this a few weeks ago, but um h how do you weigh with the voice that you have in terms of personnel? How do you weigh the pressing needs versus protecting those future assets that you need to build something longterm here? Those those are always great questions. Um you know, Ryan and I have a have a constant dialogue on uh players that might be available. um we we you know we talk non-stop about this and we’ve been doing it for a while now and so um he’s he’s doing like I said all of his due diligence and making sure we we look at everyone that could be available uh and that could help this football team in the here and the now and also have in the back of our head what the what the ramifications of that also are and the consequences when you when you give up capital whether it’s players or or draft picks you know what that does to your roster in the long term so it is a balancing act, but it’s one that I think we have a really good process and and a lot of communication on. As you look at, you know, things that will help you right now at the possibilities that you could of moves you could make, how do you view the division and the NFC at large uh after eight games for you guys? Yeah. No, I we’re right in the mix of it. I think uh you know the message to our guys going out of the by-week was we had to find a way to to win three out of the next four and we’ve done that and because of that we’re sitting at a place about halfway through the season we’re five and three and um you know that’s the parody of the NFL each and every year you just it goes down to the wire and so um there’s a lot at stake. I mean, we can we can go any number of which ways here the second half of the season and and I think it’s something our guys are going to going to get pretty excited about here. So, I I’m I’m pleased with where the team is from a mindset perspective. Um, you know, you certainly look at the division. This is this is in my opinion one of the toughest, if not the toughest division of football. Um, I felt that way for a couple years now. And uh I think when you look at at all four of these teams, I I think it could be any team could win this thing. Last on Andy. Yeah, Ben, just is there any update on Cole? uh concussion protocol.

Head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media virtually Monday from Halas Hall.

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