Johnson on struggles in the run game: “I need to call more runs”

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 6 hours ago

CHICAGO - There are a lot of headlines going into Chicago’s game against the Detroit Lions on Sun. Sept. 14 (Noon / FOX), one of those being Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson returning to Detroit, where he coached for six years.

However, that is not something that is on Johnson’s mind.

“My mind’s just going to be about winning the football game and that’s really what it’s going to come down to is us going out there and looking to find our first victory of the season and so, it’ll be a tough environment,” Johnson said. “That place has really turned into one of the strongest home field advantage places, I think, in the National Football League and so, we’ll have our work cut out for us. We’ll have to be able to communicate within that hostile environment and I think we’ll find out a lot about ourselves.”

The season opener did not go the way Johnson had hoped. Quarterback Caleb Williams started out the game 10 for 10, but ultimately finished with 60 percent completion for only 210 yards.

Once again, Williams starts an NFL season facing adversity, but Johnson believes Williams is handling it well.

“He’s been the same. He’s been consistent from the springtime to the training camp till now and it’s been looking in the mirror, ‘What can I do better?’ He’s very coachable. I think it’s been great,” Johnson said. “It’s been a really good process and I can’t stress enough how good the support system is around him between the coaches in that room with (quarterbacks coach) JT Barrett and (offensive coordinator) Declan (Doyle) and (pass game coordinator) Press (Taylor) and then along with (quarterback) Case Keenum, someone else that has a lot of experience in this league (and) playing this game. So, I think we’re really good in terms of cleaning up the mistakes and moving forward.”

One positive Bears fans can take away from that game is Williams’ ability to make plays on the ground. He finished the game as Chicago’s leading rusher with 58 yards. It was also the second-most rushing yards Williams has had in an NFL game in his career so far. However, the fact that Williams had more rushing yards than running back D’Andre Swift also highlights the Bears’ problems in the run game.

Additionally, rookie Kyle Monangai never had a rushing attempt and played only 11 percent of the snaps.

“I need to call more runs. We probably were at (under) 20 for called runs for the game, and so, I need to call more so that we get (Monangai) in the game a little bit more,” Johnson said. “But, that’s something that (running backs coach Eric Bieniemy) and I have talked about, just making sure he has more carries going forward.”

Detroit struggled in its season opener against the Green Bay Packers offensively and defensively. The Packers' leading rusher had 66 yards and a touchdown, meaning there could be some opportunities for Chicago in the run game to get things going against the Lions.

Whoever loses this game will be alone in last place in the division at 0-2 and put themselves in a precarious position to try to make the playoffs with two division losses right out of the gate. Therefore, the Bears need to make a statement and bounce back if they are going to be a playoff contender this season.