After his first game as an NFL head coach, Ben Johnson mainly fielded questions about Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ shaky performance.
A week later, it’s his defense that has raised red flags.
The Bears hired Johnson in part for his offensive mind. But after the defense gave up seven touchdowns and 511 yards — while generating no sacks — during the Detroit Lions’ 52-21 romp Sunday at Ford Field, Johnson answered for the defense during a video conference with reporters Monday.
“We got outgained by a significant number of yards,” said Johnson, who said the defense didn’t resemble the unit he saw during training camp. “It really came down to I think 10 explosive plays for over 300 yards. That’s not what we want to be about.”
After a 31-point loss to start the season 0-2, defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said teammates on his side of the ball have had conversations about “how we let this happen and what we’ve got to do to get this better — and that’s a positive thing about it.”
“It was not something that we just are sweeping it under the rug,” he said. “We’re going to address that. It’s actually inexcusable and it’s not up to the standards of what this defense is going to be.
“This will be a defining moment. We’re going to make sure this defines us in the right way by season’s end and not let that happen again.”
The Bears offense had its faults too. It stalled out on four of five second-half possessions — scoring on D’Andre Swift’s 3-yard run in the fourth quarter — before giving way to the backups.
“Just play clean,” Swift said. “We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot offensively, going against a team like that. If it’s going to be a shootout, we need to be right with that, shooting (with) our own offense as well.
Bears offensive linemen committed five penalties and Swift had a false start.
“The penalties and things like that have to stop,” Swift said. “And that’s everybody.”
Here are four things we learned from the Bears on Monday.
1. Ben Johnson isn’t panicking about the defense.
Dating to the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, the Bears have given up 73 points in the last five quarters.
As the former Lions offensive coordinator, Johnson has seen many a defense humbled in Detroit.
“Listen, it’s a good group we went against yesterday,” he said. “They were hungry. That showed on the tape.”
Dennis Allen’s New Orleans Saints defenses were known for being hungry, but little of that showed up for the Bears in Detroit.
However, Johnson said he maintains faith in his defensive staff.
“I know what the calls are, I know how we should align, I know how technique is being taught right now,” he said. “We brought in Dennis Allen for a reason — he does a phenomenal job coaching it to not only the coaches but the players.
“I’ve got a lot of faith and confidence that the experience we have on that side of the ball is going to shine through for us, and we’ll get this thing back cranking the way we want it to go.”
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Jarrett generated the most consistent pass rush in terms of distance to Lions quarterback Jared Goff among the Bears linemen (4.27 yards on average). He saw where the whole unit fell short: playing a bit too much to not get beat by the Lions’ dangerous running game.
“Converting to the pass quicker,” he said, “like the play-action passes, watching some of the deep developing routes, there was something like run action to pass late, and we were as a group a little sticky on blocks and just sitting back a little too long before we converted
“Maybe (we) should take a couple of shots a little earlier to try and get through the gap so we could get to the quarterback.”
2. Players said there’s no embarrassment on their end.
The Bears gave up 52 points, but there’s no need to pick themselves up.
“Ain’t nobody walking around with their head down, anything like that,” Swift said.
That’s not to say the players are cavalier about such a resounding defeat.
“Definitely not a showing that we want or are proud of, man,” Swift said. “That’s definitely not nothing you want to be a part of, but you have to take it and learn from it.”
Said Jarrett: “I wouldn’t say guys are demoralized, but (we) definitely know that we could have done better and it’s something we are going to use to push us forward as the season continues to go. We are not going to let this moment define us.”
After reviewing the tape, Jarrett said there are positives on film in addition to teachable moments, and “a lot of the things are fixable, if not everything.”
“It really wasn’t that difficult to find out what the problem was,” he said. “We just have to execute at a high level and fix it.”
3. The Bears are dealing with injuries beyond Jaylon Johnson.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards, making his season debut, left in the third quarter after aggravating a hamstring injury. Nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon (hamstring) has yet to play.
“T.J. and Kyler are week to week, as I hear it,” Ben Johnson said.
Jarrett said his knee is “doing well” after playing through an injury that limited him in practice Friday.
“When you’re dealing with injuries during the season, sometimes it takes a little (time for) the healing clock,” he said. “You can’t beat the healing clock, but you can do things: treat, mitigate. … I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do till I get all the way back 100(%).”
4. The controversial Isaac TeSlaa catch still stings.
The Lions rookie made a pivotal, 29-yard, one-handed grab to put his team at the Bears 4-yard line late in the second quarter.
After some confusion among officials about whether he was brought down inbounds — and if the clock should’ve kept running and expired before the Lions could spike the ball — the Lions were given six seconds and Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone.
“It was really just one of those plays that turned in their favor, man,” Jarrett said. “They throw the ball up for a prayer, the guy catches it one-handed, gets a knee down and was able to stop the clock when we thought the half was over.
“That’s not to make an excuse for anything, but that one went in their favor and so we expected to go in at halftime (down) 21-14 versus 28-14.”
The Bears struggled to recover.
“The biggest lesson is to be resilient for it however it goes and just to be able to finish,” Jarrett said.
