If there is one thing we’ve learned about Ben Johnson since he emerged on the national stage in Detroit, it’s that he has a steel trap for a memory. His infamous “Stumblebum” trick play against the Chicago Bears last year came from seeing a similar play work by accident against the Packers the previous year. Most coaches wouldn’t have remembered something like that, much less had the conniving instincts to craft a trick play out of it. Well, as it turns out, that wouldn’t be the only time Johnson would victimize Matt Eberflus.
Desperate for a win in week three, the Bears head coach spent all week deep-studying Eberflus’ defense. However, he didn’t stop at the games he’s coordinated in Dallas. Johnson also said he used the immense backlog of tape from the former head coach’s time in Chicago. During this process, he and his staff believed they found a weakness in the Cowboys’ coverage. If the right situation arose, a flea flicker could catch them by surprise. As we all saw on Sunday, that is precisely how it played out.
Ben Johnson didn’t stop there.
If this was intentional, it is a level of savagery that you’d never expect from an NFL head coach. The Bears did not use a single timeout in the second half of the game. One of the maddening things about Eberflus’ tenure in Chicago was his horrid usage of timeouts. His biggest moment was, of course, on Thanksgiving last year when he kept a timeout in his pocket in the final minute of the 4th quarter despite clear indications that his offense wasn’t lining up fast enough. It drained the clock until they could run only one more play.
Beating up on Eberflus’ defense while not using a single timeout is diabolical, even if it might not have been intentional.
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More than anything, it was nice to see Ben Johnson give Bears fans a taste of revenge for once. It always seems like former players or coaches have been getting it at their expense for too long. Eberflus didn’t deserve such a courtesy. Johnson made sure to remind him.
