{"id":1031434,"date":"2026-10-19T04:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1031434\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T04:27:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:27:40","slug":"bears-notebook-coach-ben-johnson-wont-do-anything-rash-in-response-to-pile-of-penalties-vs-falcons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1031434\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears notebook: Coach Ben Johnson won’t do anything ‘rash’ in response to pile of penalties vs. Falcons"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 It ended up being a footnote on the Bears\u2019 31-23 win over the Falcons<\/a> on Sunday, but they piled up an absurd 133 yards in penalties \u2014 their most in a decade.<\/p>\n

At the center of that mess was wide receiver Jahdae Walker, who had as bad of a game as possible in that department and eventually was ejected.<\/p>\n

Walker committed an egregious error early in the third quarter with an obvious running-into-the punter penalty that allowed the Falcons to keep the ball after the Bears\u2019 defense had gotten a stop on third-and-three. Coach Ben Johnson<\/a> just stared at the roof as the official announced the penalty<\/p>\n

Instead of punting, they got a first down at the Bears\u2019 35-yard line. Walker was fortunate the defense bailed him out with a fourth-down stop a few plays later.<\/p>\n

No one could help Walker, however, when he messed up again at the start of the fourth quarter. After a Bears kickoff, Walker got into it with Falcons wide receiver Chris Blair and headbutted him. That drew a 15-yard penalty and an ejection, and when the official explained that one to Johnson, the coach appeared to say, \u201cYep,\u201d and moved on.<\/p>\n

The penalty yardage total was the Bears\u2019 highest since a 2016 loss to the Lions and among the 20 highest in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Bears tight end Colston Loveland got flagged for offensive pass interference penalty in the third quarter and wiped out a would-be fourth-down conversion. Loveland appeared to make minimal contact with safety Xavier Watts as he ran for a 10-yard catch.<\/p>\n

Johnson was frustrated because he said the scouting report he gave the players on that officiating crew\u2019s tendencies held true.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be more aware of it and play cleaner football,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had penalty issues early in the season and cleaned those up. I\u2019m not going to let one poor game of that define us. You\u2019ve got to see a streak of that before you do anything rash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trapilo returns<\/p>\n

There was a big moment for the Bears late in the second quarter as left tackle Ozzy Trapilo got back on the field for the first time since suffering a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee last season in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always going to be nervous, but then that first play happens and it all washes away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trapilo subbed in for starter Theo Benedet for one series and did fine until he committed a costly holding penalty. The Bears converted on third-and-seven on a 24-yard pass from Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze, but it was negated by the hold.<\/p>\n

Trapilo also got some snaps late in the game.<\/p>\n

Lesson learned<\/p>\n

Backup running back Roschon Johnson rushed for a career-high 51 yards and scored a touchdown, but also nearly blew the game with a fourth-quarter fumble.<\/p>\n

He had a chance to score again in the final minute as the Bears were killing clock, but though better of it and slid at the 4-yard line to end the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing off the fumble, I\u2019m like, \u2018I have to do what\u2019s right,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

\u2022 The game was delayed 15 minutes or so in the third quarter when Falcons linebacker Kendal Daniels hurt his neck tackling Loveland. He was immobilized and taken off on a stretcher, but was doing well and walking around the locker room after the game.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Wide receiver Luther Burden led the Bears with eight catches for 95 yards.<\/p>\n

\u2022 With defensive end Montez Sweat out, longtime special teamer Daniel Hardy played that position off the bench and got his first career sack. He called it \u201cawesome\u201d and admitted, \u201cIt\u2019s been five years, and there were times when I thought it wasn\u2019t coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bears kicker Cairo Santos missed a 56-yard field goal wide left, but hit a 50-yarder in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 It ended up being a footnote on the Bears\u2019 31-23 win over the Falcons on Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1031435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6],"class_list":["post-1031434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117465687201368418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1031435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}