Bears News: Ben Johnson on offense: "We're still a work in progress"

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 3 hours ago

CHICAGO - There are many different opinions about when the best time to have a bye week is. Given the Bears' current position as an offense still trying to find a consistent identity, having an early bye seems to have worked out well.

After reviewing the tape, head coach Ben Johnson definitely noticed areas where the offense needs to improve.

The self-inflicted setbacks are probably the biggest thing that Johnson noticed, although he also saw the resilience of Chicago’s offense as they were trying to get back on track.

“Offensively, we’re still a work in progress. Some things we’re doing well. Some things we’re not. I think the inconsistent nature with which we’re playing, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot quite a bit and when I look at where we were through the first four weeks, a lot of penalties. I want to say we were top five on offense there through four weeks and so, we’re playing behind the sticks and you can certainly feel that as I was calling it,” Johnson said. “I give the guys a lot of credit. I did feel like we were pretty good at getting back on track as much as we could. But, it’s just not sustainable when you’re playing football that way and so, that’s going to be an emphasis for us here going forward. We’ve got to get the pre-snap penalties under control and they know that.”

Clearly so far, the passing game has been far more effective than the run game. Second-year receiver Rome Odunze leads the Chicago Bears in targets (35), receptions (20), receiving yards (296) and receiving touchdowns (five). Odunze is actually second in the league in receiving touchdowns despite being on bye last week.

He is the only player to have a receiving touchdown in every game this season.

“He’s a pro. He comes into the building and he looks to get after work and I think he’s taken to that receiver room. Those guys really all mesh well together. It’s the hard work mentality, yet I know he’s had some production come his way that can kind of come in waves, if you will, and he started off hot here,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, that’ll continue to go. But, I know he’s just a guy that’s committed to winning right now and whatever it takes for us as an offense to score points and as a team to win ball games and so, I see him as a leader here on this team.”

The offensive line has also remained a storyline this season. It has been heavily discussed how they gave up so many sacks last season. While that is not the problem this year, it may be more attributable to quarterback Caleb Williams’ elite scrambling ability rather than the offensive line play.

In addition, left tackle Braxton Jones was taken out of the game against the Las Vegas Raiders and replaced with Theo Benedet. Benedet had been on the right side because Darnell Wright was not able to play. When he was moved to the left side, right tackle Ozzy Trapilo stepped in on the right side and did well.

Johnson left open the possibility that Trapilo could become the starting right tackle at some point this year.

“Absolutely. He’s a really good player,” Johnson said. “I think he’s really settled in on that right side and I’m really looking forward to all those tackles getting healthy and getting after it again.”

There are several notable differences on Chicago’s team this year compared to when they played the Washington Commanders last season. Now, they face each other again, this time in primetime on Mon. Oct. 13 (7:15 p.m. / ABC). Johnson also has a bone to pick with the Commanders as they ended his season last year when he was with the Detroit Lions. There are a lot of emotions going into this game, but Johnson is approaching this week just like every other week.

“You watch their tape. What stands out is their play style more than anything and it’s all three phases. You turn on special teams tape, they’re flying around,” Johnson said. “You turn on defense, they’re physical and they’re flying around and then offensively, it’s the same story. And so, a lot of credit to Coach Quinn. It’s in his image and we’ll have our work cut out for us.”