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Bears' Power Couple Rushes in to Take Credit for Late-Game Poor Decisions

Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams combined for very bad decisions late on Thursday night but Cairo Santos ultimately made them both look good.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson on Monday stood up for QB Caleb Williams taking a sack when they didn't need to make it tougher for Cairo Santos.
Ben Johnson on Monday stood up for QB Caleb Williams taking a sack when they didn't need to make it tougher for Cairo Santos. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

It's endearing, even heart warming.

The Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams relationship gets tighter by the day, and a good example is what happened at the end of Thursday night's 30-24 Bears win over the New England Patriots.

It seems, the coach is falling on the grenade for the quarterback, who in turn has been doing it for his coach at times. It's truly a selfless approach they're working toward, but maybe it's better if it's not necessary.

Johnson seemed to do this on Friday when he had his day-after press conference. The subject was the way Williams took a 10-yard sack on third-and-5 from the Patriots' 30-yard line with 1:39 left to play and the Bears up only 27-21.

The play left the ball back where Cairo Santos would need to make a team-record and career-long 58-yard field goal to lock away the victory, rather than the 48-yarder he would have had if they just downed the ball at the line of scrimmage.

Johnson protects his QB

After the game, Williams came up with an explanation that was anything but suitable.

“I didn't know how far it was," Williams said. "I know I took the sack. We're going to go back and look at that.

"I thought I could take the sack in that situation, keep the clock going, or maybe make them use their last timeout. But in that situation, we'll go back and look at it. I'll learn from it if we get in that situation again."

He did everything except say the sun got in his eyes.

Asked about it on Friday, Johnson stood up for his QB and fell on that grenade.

"I didn’t do a good enough job communicating to him in that situation," Johnson said. "I have to do a better job letting him know that it’s more important. The yards are more important for us in that spot than the clock running or burning timeouts on the opposition or anything of that nature. So 100% on me."

It's hard to believe Williams wouldn't know this.

The timeout situation Williams spoke of was going to occur no matter what happened, unless there was an incomplete pass. And that's what made Johnson's play call terrible, anyway.

The primary goal then is to force the Patriots to call that timeout and make it a shorter field goal. It should have meant keeping the ball on the ground and letting the clock run. Just getting a short gain even without the first down could have made it a 43-yard or 44-yard field goal, and that's an easy ask for most kickers except maybe former Bears kicker Cody Parkey.

They keep it on the ground and they also make New England use its last timeout. Even if the kick fails from the 38-yard line, the Patriots still needed to go 62 yards in about 90 seconds without a timeout. It's not impossible, but definitely unlikely unless the Bears defense treats a play like they did at the end of the first half with that 48-yard dump-off throw to back Rhamondre Stevenson breaking for a TD.

There's enough blame for both here. The fact they were even considering a pass is on Johnson. Taking the sack is on Williams. So both are at fault.

What logic dictates shouldn't be altered

Johnson is always going to be a daring coach. It's what the Bears fans love about him and what gave him a reputation around the league. But a daring play in that instance is about the worst thing they could do. A 5-yard pass isn't impossible but is no guarantee.

The Bears are doing well on third-and-5 situations, at 57.1% (8 of 14). Still, it's not a guarantee and an incompletion stops the clock. If the field goal misses, then New England is at its 38 fully armed with a timeout. Everyone saw before halftime how quickly New England could strike against poor tackling on Rhamondre Stevenson's TD.

As for Williams, he needs to be smarter than a 10-yard sack. Even if he does take the sack, going backwards 10 yards isn't helping his kicker. It doesn't take AI or a chart or analytics to know this.

He took a similar sack against the Lions in Detroit in 2024 while Johnson was Detroit's offensive coordinator. The clock wasn't stopped and time elapsed on an incompletion. The circumstances were a bit different but the end result of the sack was the same. They couldn't take the sack.

Both Johnson and Williams deserve blame for nearly botching the game-clinching situation. Johnson needs to be less of a gambler in that spot and Williams smarter. Put it this way: There's more brains available to be shared by both.

Falling on the grenade for each other might be cute but it's better when there's no explosion set to occur, and in this instance both had the chance to prevent it.

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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.

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