Skip to main content
Bear Digest

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Bears Preseason Loss Includes Their Coach

Ben Johnson's reaction to his first preseason loss included one of the poorest coaching answers to any question and an overall unpleasant tone.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson wasn't yelling good, better and best after his first Bears preseason loss.
Ben Johnson wasn't yelling good, better and best after his first Bears preseason loss. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In this story:

Chicago Bears

Even in being embarrassed by the Cincinnati Bengals for the second time in three days, the Bears had some good things happen. The best thing was they got past another week of preseason.

Make no mistake, Saturday's 27-9 loss was the second defeat in three days.

The Bears might have tried to paint a smile face on their Thursday practice against the Bengals but when it ended the way it did, with the only really impressionable play of the day, then they can count it as a loss. That one play was with a real NFL defensive tackle, Dexter Lawrence, batting Caleb Williams' pass and then intercepting it himself.

Fortunately for the Bears, the only similar horrendous plays in Saturday's preseason game with the Bengals came from a collection of players who seem destined for the practice squad or worse. The bad news was these players were being used much earlier in the game than they should have been because injuries continue to be a problem.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Bears preseason Game 2, including the postgame press conference for preseason Game 2.

The Good

Short-yardage runs

Roschon Johnson resurrected his title as best Bears short-yardage back from the Matt Eberflus era. He powered for 2 yards on a run off right tackle behind the blocking of Jedrick Wills Jr. with 2:30 left before halftime on a fourth-and-1 at the Bears' own 15-yard line. Yes, the Bears were going for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 15. That's how starved for something positive they were, but at least they got it.

Then again, like with many of the positives they had in the game, this came after they had been stuffed like turkeys on third-and-1 running off the same side of the line. They had this third-down problem all game, whether it was the starters or subs on the field. They went 2-for-14, 1-for-7 in the first half. Going for first down from the shadow of your own goal posts in a preseason game doesn't really carry along with it the tag of success. It's more, well, they got it.

Run defense

The Bengals could only manage 3.2 yards per carry and for that the Bears' defensive front can thank more than Jordan van den Berg, although the rookie tackle definitely had an impact against the run on his 33 defensive plays. Or rather, he left an impact with his hitting in the Bengals.

"We were just trying to get out of our stance and strike blocks," Ben Johnson said. "I think our linebackers are doing a good job communicating and filling in the gaps. And then our little guys that are willing tacklers, I think they've done a good job tackling in space in two games for the most part."

The little guys haven't done a good job covering receivers in space, but that's for another category.

The bad

Bears tackles

Not only did Braxton Jones get called for a holding penalty to wipe out a Roschon Johnson 10-yard run to the Bengals 7-yard line, but he also got bull-rushed backward on a play pass blocking after Caleb Williams had left. He had 15 total plays at left tackle, none of which stood out as works of football art.

And what of Jones' competition at left tackle? Theo Benedet emerged the clear winner but only because he didn't commit a penalty in the game. Jedrick Wills and Kiran Amegadjie had been competing at left tackle with Jones and were moved to right tackle. Both committed penalties, Wills a holding call and Amegadjie a false start.

Bears QBs

It wasn't just Caleb Williams, as he only contributed five passes to the effort in the game. The Bears had a combined 72.8 passer rating for three QBs with a high of 75.4 by Case Keenum. It's usually not easy to be so bad at passing in preseason.

Rush and cover

The defense is all about rush and cover, says defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. The Bears did neither, except for one interception by safety Skyler Thomas and a QB hit each by Neville Gallimore, Dayo Odeyingbo, Jeremiah Martin and Nephi Sewell. And Sewell suffered what looked like a bad injury when he left on a cart. The Bears had no sacks, just those hits. And they gave up 282 passing yards, with a 103.2 paser rating on 25 of 38 to Josh Johnson and Sean Clifford.

Dontae Manning

Manning was part of the 103.2 passer rating but deserved his own special category for bad pass coverage with a TD throw allowed on the outside to both of the Bengals QBs.

DBs who get burned so badly in preseason by journeyman types don't get the tag of "toast." They simply wind up out of the league.

The ugly

The pregame injury list

If you're looking for an explanation for the 103.2 passer rating allowed and a 7.4-yard average gain per pass play, look only at this list:

Kyler Gordon, Elijah Hicks, Coby Bryant, Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith, Jaylon Jones and William Wright. This was the long list of injured Bears DBs who didn't play. This includes three of their five starters in the secondary and two backups with experience. The Bears essentially used a practice squad secondary or less. Several of these injured players were expected back by now and had returned to practice on a limited basis, but weren't ready for a game.

One thing is certain. This preseason of injuries in the secondary has to end soon because preseason is ending soon. Nothing says the injuries will end, though.

Ben Johnson

After the game, Mr. Good, Better, Best was Mr. Bad, Worse, Worst at the press conference. Obviously unhappy about the performance, he deflected, was a bit obstinate and dug up one of the oldest and ugliest postgame coaching phrases by saying he had to "look at the film" on more than one occasion.

His answer about why Williams was playing didn't produce much of an answer. He essentially said the QB didn't get enough reps during the week. But then he admitted Williams got nine more reps in the game. Nine more reps and five throws was worth putting the franchise QB on the field in a meaningless game, when they didn't even come against Lawrence and the Bengals' starting defense? Williams could easily make up for those missed reps against the Titans this week, or even in practice.

Johnson also didn't handle a question about an overthrow Williams made well, saying his QB should have looked elsewhere to throw it when his pass sailed over Colston Loveland at the goal line.

The goal of Johnson's play calling is to create separation. It succeeded here as Bengals DBs treated Loveland like he was contagious. If Williams had looked elsewhere, then someone should have been putting up All-22 film on social media to show how wide open Loveland was at the goal line without being targeted. Williams simply overthrew an open TD target, regardless of whether he was aiming at a proper receiver for the coverage on the play. And Johnson simply blew the answer in the press conference. Of course it was a poor throw and not necessarily a poor QB decision.

Maybe this will explain Johnson's press conference answers: He had never lost a preseason game as a head coach. In fact, before Saturday the Bears had gone eight straight preseason games without a loss. The only blemish in those eight was a tie in Johnson's first preseason game. It's good to know Johnson doesn't like losing, even in preseason.

No one cares whether you win or lose preseason game. However, when your play looks ugly in the loss and the postgame presser is as uglier, then people begin to worry that 2025 was an aberration.

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.

Home/News