Ben Johnson Takes Blame for Key Strategic Error at End of Loss to Vikings

Johnson said he'd do things differently.

Johnson said the Bears intended for the kick to go out of the end zone. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Ben Johnson knows he should've had his kicker launch one out of bounds—rather than into the endzone—during the Bears' last-minute loss to the Vikings on Monday night.

“At the end of the game, I felt like we could kick it out of the back. We weren’t able to get that done," the Chicago coach said Tuesday. "In hindsight, I should have kicked it out of bounds."

The Vikings were ahead by 10 points with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter when the Bears, who had one timeout left, answered with a touchdown to bring it within three. On the ensuing kickoff, Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell wisely ushered return man Ty Chandler out of the end zone, where he caught the kick, to run clock until the two-minute warning. By the time the Bears got the ball back, there were just nine seconds left in the game.

After the contest on Monday night, Johnson said that the plan was indeed for the ball to go out of the end zone, but that just didn't pan out. He added that the team also considered an onside kick, but they opted against it in favor of the kickoff.

"We felt if we had kicked it out of the end zone and got the three-and-out that we got, we would get the ball back with about 56 seconds."

The defense did get the three-and-out, but there wasn't enough time to make anything happen once the ball was back in Chicago's possession. Now, their season begins 0-1.

The good news is this was just the first game of the season and there will be 16 other chances to get this right. The bad news is, Chicago fans are already traumatized by clock management of the past—and who knows how much more they can take.

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