Bear Digest

One huge Ben Johnson dislike leaks out about Bears play calls

Chicago's coach would rather avoid calling a specific kind of play even though the Bears seem well equipped to handle these.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson says one particular type of pass is something he'd rather avoid when calling plays.
Ben Johnson says one particular type of pass is something he'd rather avoid when calling plays. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Slowly but surely coach Ben Johnson's likes and dislikes in designing and implementing an offense have come to the forefront since he came to Chicago.

One of his dislikes is enough to make you wonder if Rome Odunze would have even been part of this Bears roster if his current coach had been in Chicago in 2024 rather than this year, although Johnson did say he liked the second-year Bears receiver coming out of Washington.

They're making the most of this season together, regardless, as Odunze's six TD catches say.

Odunze's strength was well known coming into the NFL. He was the 50-50 guy of his draft class, the X-type receiver who could go up for high passes and come down with them. They were more like 75-25 balls when he was the target, it was said.

"Ummm … yeah, I’m not a big guy on 50-50 balls to be honest with you," Johnson said Monday. "You can look at my track record of calling games and we like to get guys open other than just throw it up for grabs."

They like to scheme it up so receivers break wide into the open, catch it and run rather than go up for a ball and come down to the ground after high-pointing. This was apparent in Detroit, where slot receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown became the go-to guy rather than an X or Z receiver.

So how is that working for them?

The Bears are in the top 10 now in yards after catch, ranking 10th with 1,201. They were 18th at this last year, 27th in 2023 and last the two years prior to that. But more importantly, they are third in yards after catch per reception at 6.1. Only this week's opponent, Pittsburgh (6.9), and Detroit are higher.

If their quarterback can get a little more accurate, anything is possible in terms of yards after catch. And you don't get YAC by throwing 50-50 balls.

As for Odunze, he's a good enough receiver he can make the adjustment to catching it with his feet on the earth. He showed it again Sunday by hauling in a pass while on the ground, getting up and bulling along in a scrum like running back Kyle Monangai does.

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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.