If you’ve watched Ben Johnson call plays at any point over the past three years, you know one thing. He always has a couple of tricks and gadgets ready. His most famous call, or infamous for Chicago Bears fans, was the fake fumble play last year by Jared Goff. This got the defense to bite, leading to an easy touchdown to Sam LaPorta. The play was called “Stumblebum.” Johnson didn’t have many opportunities to strike the previous two weeks against Minnesota and Detroit, but he was ready when Dallas came to town.
All week, he and his staff worked on Matt Eberflus’ defense. They noticed it had a weakness when attacked deep. So Johnson drew up a classic: a flea flicker. Naturally, it had a code name as well. Adam Jahns of CHGO discovered it.
Johnson called “White House” on first-and-10 from the Bears’ own 35. It was a flea-flicker play. Running back D’Andre Swift pitched the ball back to Williams, who lofted a perfect pass to rookie receiver Luther Burden III for the 65-yard score.
“I’m selling run so the safety comes down,” Burden said. “Coach told us all week: ‘Three count.’ So I was counting to three seconds in my head, 1 … 2 …. 3… go.”
Burden raced past safety Malik Hooker.
Touchdown.
“If everybody doesn’t do their job, the play’s not going to work,” said Burden, who finished with three catches for 101 yards.
This is just speculation, but the origin of the codename is likely a reference to former President Joe Biden, since the play’s target was Luther Burden. Whatever the case, the timing was perfect. That touchdown set the Cowboys’ defense on its heels, and they never really recovered.
The Chicago Bears played one of their best games in a long time.
Remember, this team was reeling from that 52-21 demolition in Detroit. In previous years, they would’ve been shellshocked and unprepared. Not this time. Johnson had them ready. Dallas was coming off a big comeback win against the Giants last week. They had every reason to feel confident they could build on that momentum. The Chicago Bears disabused them of such thoughts. The defense forced four turnovers, including two interceptions of Dak Prescott. Caleb Williams wasn’t sacked and threw four touchdowns. It was a complete team effort, and that flea flicker play was what started the ball rolling.
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There is still work to do. Their running game remains problematic. The run defense allowed 6.1 yards per carry. Also, they’re 1-2 and trailing the rest of the division. This victory will be enjoyed for 24 hours and then it’s time to prepare for Las Vegas. No doubt Johnson will be cooking up another surprise for that game too.
