Bear Digest

Ben Johnson says Bears are 'playing to win' against his former team

Bears coach defends his defense after San Francisco offense scored at will to end Chicago's hopes for the top seed.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jaquan Brisker hauls down San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk at Levi's Stadium in Sunday's Bears loss.
Jaquan Brisker hauls down San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk at Levi's Stadium in Sunday's Bears loss. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

In case anyone wondered otherwise, the Bears don't consider second seed in the playoffs something to spit at. Nor do they think of the Detroit Lions as a walkover.

Avoiding the third seed is worth protecting and maybe there's a bit of vengeance involved but coach Ben Johnson on Monday cleared up any doubt when asked about his plans with the Lions coming to town Sunday.

"We're playing to win this week," Johnson said emphatically.

The Lions have nothing to play for Sunday, but the sight of Johnson on the Bears sidelines will no doubt stir up some feelings. Besides, the Lions will want to end a three-game losing streak. Seeing Johnson sure seemed to ignite something when Dan Campbell's team played their former offensive coordinator in Week 2, a 52-21 Lions win at Ford Field.

The situations are reversed now, though. The Lions were defending NFC North champions then. The Bears have everything to gain moving ahead as this year's NFC North champions. No. 2 seed for the Bears means hosting a second home game in the divisional playoffs if they get past their first opponent, which with a win in Sunday's regular-season finale would be Green Bay.

If the Bears lose to the Lions and the Eagles beat the Commanders, the Bears would host either the loser of Sunday's 49ers-Seahawks game or the L.A. Rams.

"We always want to try to give ourselves the best chances, you know, obviously on the football field but also just being able to put ourselves in the best positions of being home instead of being away and things like that," quarterback Caleb Williams told reporters on Sunday night. "So, we'll get ready for this game just like we'll get ready for any game.

"We want to bring it to them and it's going to be a good game."

An obvious punching bag for Johnson on Monday after the 42-38 loss to the 49ers would have been his defense. Instead, he chose to uplift their confidence a bit, following almost in the footsteps of something quarterback Williams said after Sunday night's game.

"If our guys on the other side of the ball maybe are having a tough day or so, we'll be right there with them having their back just as they've done for us in a multitude of games," Williams said.

Johnson followed Monday with more team unity, in a way.

Instead, he picked on the offense by praising the pick-6 T.J. Edwards made and a few other minor defensive accomplishments.

"I didn't feel like our offense did our part in the first half," Johnson said. "We did not possess the ball. We had a couple of three-and-outs. You look at our defense and they've got a pick-6 and they got a couple punts. If we bow up in the red zone, I think we feel better about the performance.

"And that's not to take anything away from San Fran, they did a great job. But there are certainly things we can improve on and we're going to look to address here this week."

Stopping the run might help even if he wants to help the defense feel better about itself. Giving up 192 and 200 yards on the ground in the last two games makes this an obvious place to start.

In all, they allowed as season's worst 496 yards of offense.

“It always comes back to fundamentals, so it’s gap integrity in terms of the run defense," Johnson said. "We were playing a really good offense right now, OK? I do think that has to be stated because they’re averaging about 35 points over the last five weeks."

It would be a good place to start Sunday against David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions.

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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.