The Chicago Bears and quarterback Caleb Williams were able to pull off a statement win on Black Friday, knocking off the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road by a final score of 24-15. It was a win that made the Bears look like potential contenders in the NFC.
As of right now, Chicago is the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture. There is still more work to be done and a huge matchup against the Green Bay Packers up next, but there is a lot to be excited about surrounding the team.
While the Bears have been winning football games at a high level, head coach Ben Johnson is not 100 percent pleased.
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Following the team’s huge win over the Eagles, Johnson spoke out and seemingly ripped into his second-year quarterback and the team’s passing game as a whole.
Johnson is not at all happy with the deficiencies that the passing game has had so far this season. He did not hold back when talking about the issues during his post-game press conference.
“We gotta fundamentally be correct,” Johnson said. “The primary receiver, when he’s open, we’ve got to make sure we hit him. And then, all of our pass catchers, we just harped on it today, we need to be more disciplined in our route detail. It’s not where it needs to be. Our depth’s not proper all the time. Our steps [aren’t]. Everybody has a role to play to get this pass game cleaned up. It’s not where it needs to be. We’re winning in spite of our passing game, not because of it and none of us are pleased with that right now.”
Granted, he is not singling out Williams by name, but a lot of those issues are directly correlated to quarterback play. Johnson wants to see Williams hit his targets when they’re open. He wants the young signal caller to clean things up.
This week, Chicago will face a massive test. Heading to Lambeau Field to take on the Packers is never an easy game. The leading the NFC North division race will be on the line as well.
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Williams will need to come through with one of his best performances of the season. The Bears are going to need to play with Green Bay’s stacked offense. They have shown the ability to do so this season, but the arch-rivalry matchup will be difficult.
It will be interesting to see whether or not Chicago is ready to come through with yet another statement win. Clearly, Johnson thinks the Bears have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the football leading up to this week’s showdown.
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