Bear Digest

Ben Johnson's sly reaction to announcers and officials in Bears win

The Bears coach obviously took note of officials and even the ESPN broadcast duo working Monday's 25-24 win over the Commanders.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson stays above the fray when it comes to comments about officials and announcers, sort of.
Ben Johnson stays above the fray when it comes to comments about officials and announcers, sort of. | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

Maybe only the announcing crew of Troy Aikman and George McCaskey's "favorite" announcer, Joe Buck, irked Bears fans Monday night as much as the officials.

Valid or not, many fans on social media heard one-sided announcing and a broadcast duo rooting for the Washington Commanders in a 25-24 Bears win.

While Bears coach Ben Johnson didn't have a lot to say about officials' calls beyond explaining them Tuesday during his post-mortem press conference, he did have brief comment twice about the ESPN/ABC announcers.

While doing his next-day spot on ESPN AM-1000 on Tuesday, Johnson smirked a bit and made it clear he was aware of the announcers.

"It sounded like from that game the other night a few people weren't particularly pleased with how we're winning right now," Johnson said. "I woke up this morning and my kids were watching the second half before school and so I heard some of the commentary.

"But listen, in this league an way you can find a way to win."

Johnson tried to play games a bit later in his press conference when asked about it.

"Maybe I just had it on mute," he quipped, smiling, before becoming a coach.

"Listen, you want respect in this league, you've got to go earn it," he said. "And so that's where we're at right now. We need to go earn that respect from not only the rest of the teams in the NFL but everybody. "So that's where we are."

Caleb Williams had his own social media responses to Aikman's criticism of his effort.

The Aikman comment drawing the most wrath was when he referred to running back D'Andre Swith's 55-yard catch-and-run along the sidelines for a touchdown as "dumb luck on Chicago's part."

Maybe the slant by the announcing crew built up against the Bears after McCaskey's comment about Buck.

"I don't care who they put on," McCaskey said in the offseason. "When Joe Buck is on, I turn the sound down."

The good news for the Bears is it's their last Monday night game. They have a Sunday night game later and the Thursday night crew for Prime will have their Black Friday game with the Eagles. Then again, who knows what the postseason could bring if they can get there?

As for the penalties, Johnson wouldn't take any bait there. Criticizing refs in the NFL invites fine or even something worse. He wants to see his players stick to the task at hand even if the penalties are piling up against his team.

"I mean, that’s every week, and so, I mean, we should be used to it," Johnson said. "We’ve been talking about that since training camp. Hopefully nobody batted an eye. That’s what happens in this league. Some calls come our way. Some calls don’t. We just keep playing.

"It’s something we can’t control. We have always felt that way. There is no point really in going palms up or looking to complain to officials about it. If we need some clarity and the guys want to go talk about, ‘Hey, what did I do wrong?’ I’m all for that. But it’s not like we’re going to be complaining about anything. We’re just on to the next play."

However, he did let on he wasn't exactly enthralled with some calls.

Asked if he turned film of plays into the league to find out something about a call, he said, "I think only if we need clarity in how we're coaching something."

Then he added, "There might've been one or two from this game that we weren't quite sure how we need to coach this better. That's really the extent of it."

Asked about one play in particular, the Theo Benedet illegal formation call that wiped out Rome Odunze’s touchdown, Johnson didn’t necessarily agree with it but said the Bears had warning. Replay showed it to be more of an imaginary call.

“The officials, they warn you earlier in the game whether someone is toeing the line in that regard and so we did get a warning and clearly they thought they he was a little too far back on that one,” Johnson said.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published | Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.