Bear Digest

Surprise play calls Ben Johnson regrets from Bears' loss to 49ers

Although the Bears coach said he made a mistake not getting the final play in fast enough, he was at least as upset about play calls he made in the 42-38 loss to San Francisco.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears running back Kyle Monangai carries with 49ers cornerback Upton Stout (20) trying to make the tackle in Sunday's Bears loss.
Bears running back Kyle Monangai carries with 49ers cornerback Upton Stout (20) trying to make the tackle in Sunday's Bears loss. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

One unique and possibly endearing quality Bears coach Ben Johnson displays regularly is an ability to freely admit mistakes.

When so few are made, and so much success occurs because of his coaching, it's probably easier to do. It's not something Bears coaches have regularly done over the years, though.

On Sunday night, Johnson admitted he should have gotten the final play in quicker to Caleb Williams. It resulted in what Johnson described as at least partially his fault.

"It's, it's on me," he said. "I didn't give him the call fast enough and so he's trying to piece mail it together. I got to do a better job on that."

This merely had to do with a delay in communication. Although critical, it wasn't a mistake by choice. That apparently happened earlier.

Johnson on Monday actually said he made other mistakes in the game, or at least did something he regretted. It involved play calling and it wasn't the "hook and ladder" play they ran before the final play that let time run off. The Bears scored points on these play calls anyway. They just didn't score enough.

In fact, it was when the Bears regained the lead 38-35 after they had trailed or been tied since 4:52 remained in the first quarter. Cairo Santos ended a 78-yard drive in 11 plays with a 29-yard field goal but the Bears could have had the seven points. That would have at least let them have overtime with the 49ers, or even win it with a field goal on their final drive instead of losing on an incompletion from the 2-yard line.

“I think you hit the nail on the head," Johnson said when asked about his play calling during that drive.

"Out of that whole game, that field goal drive, once we got in the red zone—I   wasn't very happy with how I called that. You’re 100% right.”

The part he didn't like cam at the end. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Tatum Bethune gave the Bears first-and-goal at the 49ers 10. They had run three times for 13 yards on the drive and also had a 3-yard Caleb Williams scramble, but at the 10 Johnson quit calling running plays.

A short pass to Colston Loveland gained 2 yards, a tricky short screen to Kyle Monangai lost 3 yards and then Williams threw incomplete to Monangai on a play that was going nowhere.

The Bears' running game accounted for only 110 yards in the game but they averaged 5.0 yards a carry. They were busy chasing San Francisco all game long and passing more they would have wanted.

Finally, they had drawn even and could have gone up by seven, and three straight passes didn’t seem the best approach to let them get to the end zone and take command in the game.

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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.