The Chicago Bears wanted two joint practices going into August. Head coach Ben Johnson felt it was a great way for his team to get some work against players other than themselves. Practicing against the same guys every single day only provides so many benefits. The preseason won’t be much help since many of the starters may not play. Joint practices are the only way Johnson can be certain his starters will meet the other team’s starters on equal footing. The upside is obvious.
This year, the Bears worked out deals with the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans to run joint practices in back-to-back weeks. You wouldn’t think there was any specific reason Johnson chose them. They’re merely the two possibilities that were on the table. You would be wrong. The Bears’ head coach revealed that he wanted those two teams for a very specific reason. It was because each of them boasted one of the best interior pass defensive linemen in the league. Cincinnati has Dexter Lawrence, and Tennessee has Jeffrey Simmons.
Johnson wanted to test his offensive line in those fires.
“This was by design,” Johnson said. “We wanted to challenge our offensive line, and certainly it’s great work for (right guard) Jonah (Jackson) and Joe, but we’ll get (Luke) Newman in there a little bit, Jordan McFadden in there a little bit and see where they’re at as well with their development.
“Completely different style of defense this week than what we just saw. This is an attacking front. They want to meet us on our side of the line of scrimmage and knock us back.”
Ben Johnson doing this is not an accident.
One thing you can be certain of is that the head coach has a long memory. A big reason the Bears lost their playoff game in January to the Los Angeles Rams was the interior offensive line’s failure to hold up. For the game, L.A.’s defensive tackles had 11 of the team’s 24 pressures on Caleb Williams. It was a key reason the Bears weren’t able to generate many scoring opportunities for most of the game. One thing you can be certain of in the playoffs is you’re going to run into good interior pass rushes. Even if Chicago had gotten past the Rams, they had Seattle waiting for them in the NFC Championship.
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Now, part of this isn’t entirely the line’s fault. They operated without their best player in that game. Left guard Joe Thuney had been forced to move outside to left tackle after Ozzy Trapilo’s knee injury the week before. This put the untested Jordan McFadden at left guard and put center Drew Dalman into a tough spot. Without a steady pocket, Williams was forced to move around and threw three costly interceptions. Ben Johnson knows the Bears won’t win a championship unless their interior blocking improves.
Throwing them to the wolves is a great way to test them.
Lawrence and Simmons are arguably two of the best in the entire NFL. By all accounts, they gave the Bears’ offensive line all it could handle in both practices. It was a pure trial by fire, and Johnson wouldn’t have had it any other way. Learning how to deal with beasts like that should better prepare the Bears’ guards and centers for what they’ll likely see in the big games later this year. That is why this head coach gets it. He doesn’t just forget about a loss and move on. Johnson identifies what went wrong and works tirelessly to shore up that weakness, however he can.
In the absence of overhauling the interior blocking, which was never going to happen, the best thing for him to do was mentally prepare them for what’s coming. The Bears will face some really good interior pass rushes this year. Aaron Donald is probably returning to L.A. They have a rematch with Philadelphia coming, the face the Patriots and Seahawks in back-to-back weeks. Johnson knew exactly what he was doing.
