The Chicago Bears offense has been miserable for years. A lot of that has been because they aren’t talented enough. Poor drafting and overall construction make it hard to score. However, more often than people care to admit, it’s because the unit is poorly coached and poorly disciplined. Self-inflicted wounds are the easiest way to lose games. They’re also something new head coach Ben Johnson hates with the heat of a thousand suns. Bears players already discovered that in OTAs and minicamps in May.
It appears things haven’t changed. On the very first day of training camp, Johnson was all over them again. Caleb Williams was picked off early in drills. That wasn’t the part that lit the fuse. At one point, offensive players failed to get lined up correctly. Johnson had them reset and do it again. For a second time, they failed. Fed up, the head coach shouted at them to get off the field. It was the latest reminder that constant mistakes won’t be tolerated. Do your job correctly or don’t expect to be on the field.
Ben Johnson continues to keep his promise.
He warned the players to get comfortable being comfortable. He doesn’t care about their personal feelings. Ben Johnson is here to win football games. If guys aren’t willing to do the little things correctly, that just means they aren’t good enough to be champions. Some Bears players will eventually get the message and start executing at a high level. Others won’t and have to be replaced. That is the nature of how this goes. Johnson is the first head coach willing to be hard on players in a long time. There will be no cutting corners anymore. One speed is acceptable, and that’s full throttle. It sounds like the players took it well. They understand Johnson isn’t out to bully them. His goal is to make them better. That, however, requires hard work. Vacation time is over.
