We’ve told you over and over that Ben Johnson is a psychopath. Other coaches may study film as much as he does, but nobody studies more. That is a fact. The man is obsessed with finding an edge over the opponent. It doesn’t matter how small the detail is. That was on display Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. It felt like he had an answer for everything on offense. Every blitz Vic Fangio threw saw quarterback Case Keenum find an open receiver. Every audible Jalen Hurts called saw a Chicago Bears defender waiting in the passing lane.

However, the most ridiculous moment came in the second half. Chicago had built a 27-7 lead, but Philadelphia was mounting a late charge with 6 minutes left. After plays of 13 and 20 yards to open the drive, it looked like Hurt hit wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks for 18 more to get deep into Bears territory. It was then that Johnson challenged the ruling of a catch, which was eventually overturned as incomplete.

Just a good eye, right?

Further review of the footage suggests that Johnson was tipped off by a hand signal from Wicks, one that the Eagles have used for years that supposedly indicates the receiver knows the pass was incomplete.

The Eagles failed to learn their lesson against Ben Johnson.

You would’ve thought that after facing him last year, the team would have grown wise to his ability to spot tendencies in how they operated. Instead, the Eagles seemed to trust in their roster talent to carry them through as it has so many times before. That was a colossal mistake. Johnson is the kind of coach who knows how to stress you from every angle. He’s done it for years on offense. Since becoming a head coach, he’s learned how to do it on defense and special teams as well. There is no escaping his maniacal preparation.

Last year, he recognized that the Eagles’ defense was soft against the run and proceeded to exploit it for 281 yards. This season, it was their vulnerability over the middle in the passing game. That is why you saw big nights from both Kalif Raymond and Luther Burden. As great as Fangio is, he’s not going to stop someone like Ben Johnson from finding weaknesses. That is why it fell on the Eagles’ offense to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, the tape preparation was evident there, too.

Jalen Hurts hasn’t been good against the blitz this season. That is probably why the Bears sent extra guys at him 12 times during the game. He finished 4-of-11 for 48 yards and an interception.

This is an advantage the Bears haven’t had before.

Sure, previous head coaches worked hard on preparation. Yet none of them seemed to truly understand how to take full advantage of what they found. Johnson is on a rare level. He’s up there with Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs for finding small details others miss and waiting for the perfect time to exploit them. There is a benefit to employing somebody with an analytic mind like that. The Bears have admitted they didn’t entirely know what they were getting when they pursued Johnson for the job.

If they had, they probably would’ve doubled his salary.

One thing is for sure. He has a massive pay bump coming his way when the time comes. Johnson has turned the Bears into one of the toughest types of teams to face. Not just talented across the board, but well-prepared and motivated. That is what great head coaches can do for you. The Eagles found out for the second time on Monday night. Future opponents better tighten up their operations.

The Chicago Bears‘ defense put on a show on Monday Night Football. It was easily the best performance the unit has had in a long time. Facing a talented Philadelphia Eagles offense, they allowed just 7 points all night, pitching a shutout in the second half to cement a 27-7 beatdown. One of the MVPs of that performance had to be TJ Edwards. The veteran linebacker has been criticized at times for his inability to stay healthy and lack of production. Well, that was not a problem in this game.

He was everywhere. Aside from 3 tackles and a tackle for loss, Edwards also had 3 passes defended. It was clear he had the Eagles’ passing attack figured out from the start. All of it culminated in a big 3rd quarter interception that killed the last real hope of Philadelphia getting back into the game.

Yet that wasn’t the best part. Cameras caught Edwards hovering around the line of scrimmage right before the play. He leaned in closely, listening to quarterback Jalen Hurts call out a play to his teammates. Edwards then dropped back into coverage and picked the quarterback off.

TJ Edwards is a past demon the Eagles can’t escape.

Many people forget that the linebacker got his start in the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Philadelphia in 2019. He climbed to the starting role by his second season and became an integral part of their defense. They don’t reach the Super Bowl in 2022 without him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the cap space to retain him as a free agent the following year, allowing Chicago to scoop him up. He’s been a terrific addition ever since. However, the one thing he never got was a chance to play his former team. Edwards missed the game last season with a hand injury.

So you can bet he was prepared for this one. Having played across from Hurts so many times in practice with the Eagles, it’s a safe assumption that he had a pretty good grasp of their signs and checks. TJ Edwards probably knew what the quarterback would do if the Bears’ defense gave him the right look in a certain situation. That is why he was so close to the line of scrimmage. He wanted to double-check that Hurts was doing what he expected. It worked to perfection.

Aging or not, Edwards can still ball.

Many have wondered if the 30-year-old was running out of gas. He was stellar in 2023 and 2024. Sadly, he was slowed by rampant injuries last season. His slow start in Carolina didn’t help his case. However, it appears he is starting to regain some of his mojo. Edwards was solid last week against Minnesota. Monday night was his true welcome back moment. The timing couldn’t have been better. With Caleb Williams out, the Bears needed a strong effort from the defense, and he answered the bell.

It’s honestly surprising that Philadelphia didn’t install some dummy audibles for this game. They had to know Edwards would be on the field and had a deep knowledge of their offensive verbiage. The risk was always high that he’d figure out what they were doing at some point. Nope. They kept right on using their usual stuff, and it seems they paid the price. Small oversights like that are how you lose big games.

Everybody predicted the Philadelphia Eagles would roll the Chicago Bears on Monday night. It can be understood why. The Bears had just lost Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury. He is out for up to a month. Whenever a team has to go to its backup quarterbacks, it’s a major concern. Head coach Ben Johnson, for all of his celebrated football genius, had never called a game for anything other than former #1 overall picks. This would be uncharted territory for him. Would it end up mattering?

Not in the slightest.

Johnson cared little for the pre-game narrative. He had the Bears ready to go, punching the Eagles in the mouth with a touchdown on the opening drive. Case Keenum was terrific in the starting role, throwing for just shy of 250 yards with two touchdown passes and a touchdown run. The defense also did its part. Dillon Thieneman and T.J. Edwards had interceptions. Austin Booker forced a fumble. Dayo Odeyingbo and Montez Sweat both had sacks. The 27-7 beatdown was totally unexpected, and the first real confirmation that this Bears team is far more than just the Caleb Williams Show.

Ben Johnson passed the final test that great coaches must pass.

It’s one thing to win games when you have an uber-talented quarterback. Williams pulled them out of the fire a lot last season and would’ve again last week before his hamstring gave out. It is quite another thing to beat an undefeated team with a third-string backup who is 38 years old and hasn’t played in three years. Only great coaches do stuff like that. Johnson was a step ahead of Philadelphia all night. That is no small feat, considering he was going against Vic Fangio. It didn’t matter. Chicago grabbed the lead from the jump and never gave it up.

Even when the Eagles seemed to grab momentum with their last-second touchdown of the first half to make it 10-7, it didn’t matter. Ben Johnson refused to let his guys panic. The defense forced a punt to open the 3rd and then Keenum led the offense on a field goal drive to settle things down. From there, the Bears put their foot on the gas, scoring two unanswered touchdowns to pull away 27-7.

This was a statement game. It was a message that Johnson isn’t just an offensive wunderkind. He’s a great head coach. It also shows that the Bears are a more complete football team than many realized.

This game proves a few things.

What happened last week was likely an anomaly more than anything. It was a mix of bad conditions, good defense, and poor execution that sank the Bears against Minnesota. The other two games that Chicago has played have been blowout victories. This offense isn’t even clicking on all cylinders, and it’s still putting up lots of points. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the defense, which has now allowed only 16 points over the last 2.5 games. Maybe last year wasn’t a fluke after all.

Things have a chance to get even better. The Bears’ next game is against the New York Jets, who have lost two in a row and likely won’t have star running back Breece Hall, who suffered a quad injury in Detroit. Then the Bears head to Green Bay to face a reeling Packers team. If this team is the one that shows up in those two games, the Bears could end up 5-1 before Williams even returns. All of the credit must go to Johnson for that.

It isn’t at all surprising that the conversations surrounding the Chicago Bears leading up to tonight’s big game against the Philadelphia Eagles were about the quarterbacks. Caleb Williams is out with a hamstring problem. That has put pressure on Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent to try to carry the load in his absence. Can they do it, or is the gulf in ability just too wide? Head coach Ben Johnson and teammates all sound confident that the offense will function well until Williams returns. Those two quarterbacks know the system and are well-prepared.

In truth, the amount of success this team has over the next three or four games won’t hinge primarily on how the backups play. This will be a stretch defined by the Bears’ defense. Dennis Allen’s group has been a second-class citizen for the most part since last year, taking a backseat to Johnson’s offense. Part of that is because the unit hasn’t always been good. Expectations for it weren’t high coming into this season.

Well, if they want to win this game and stay in the NFC North hunt, they can’t afford to stay in that backseat.

The Chicago Bears’ defense will determine how the next month goes.

One thing you have to assume about backup quarterbacks is that they aren’t likely to put up a massive amount of points, regardless of whether a great supporting cast surrounds them. Maybe they will, but you can’t count on it. Historically, the teams that survive such stretches are the ones that get strong outings from their defenses. After crunching some data, teams with backup quarterbacks won about 85% of their games when their defense allowed 14 points. That steadily dipped to 68% at 17 and 48% at 20.

In other words, backups can be trusted to put up around 18-19 points on average per game. The Chicago Bears gave up that many or fewer in seven games last season. They gave up 24 or more in 10 games. This year, they’ve allowed 37 in one and 9 in the other. It is hard to tell which version of the defense we’ll get from week to week. They held Philadelphia to 15 in the meeting last year. Can they pull it off a second time? They may have to if they want any hope of pulling the upset.

Keenum can certainly make life easier.

The more points he scores, the better the Bears’ odds. Unfortunately, this Eagles defense hasn’t been the most giving in that department. They allowed 22 and 20 points, respectively, in their first two games. The good news is that Jayden Daniels and Cam Ward have been struggling since last year. If they can put up at least 20 on Philadelphia, Keenum can as well. For the defense, it feels like 20 is a reasonable objective to shoot for. They’ve shown they can play good football when they limit the mental mistakes.

What they’ll need is a strong performance from the secondary. If they let DeVonta Smith go off, it will be a long night. Everything starts at the line of scrimmage. Jalen Hurts has been sacked 6 times this year. He’s far more vulnerable than he’s been in a long time. The Bears are 5th in the NFL in pressure rate. They’re at home with a loud crowd behind them. This has to be a game and a moment they seize.

You never want to say a player’s starting job is in jeopardy less than a month into the season. Unfortunately, Garrett Bradbury has put himself in this situation. The Chicago Bears traded a 5th round pick for the veteran center in March. This came after Drew Dalman, their Pro Bowl signing from the year prior, elected to retire at age 27. Bradbury felt like a safe bet. He’s been starting for years, playing on some really good teams. He was familiar with the Bears’ wide-zone run scheme. They didn’t need him to be great. Just efficient.

Unfortunately, Bradbury hasn’t been providing them with that. Through two games, he has committed 5 penalties. That is already one more than Dalman had all of last season. If that weren’t enough, his pass protection has also been hit-and-miss, allowing 3 pressures against Minnesota last week. Some have already started calling for rookie Logan Jones, the Bears’ 2nd round pick. Head coach Ben Johnson hasn’t entertained that idea. Is it possible another clunker against Philadelphia changes his mind?

Garrett Bradbury is facing his toughest test yet.

Philadelphia fields arguably the best trio of defensive tackles in the NFL with Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, and Moro Ojomo. Davis is a load to move at nose tackle, while Carter and Ojomo can be deadly interior pass rushers when the motors are hot. Go back to last season and watch what they did to the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen was sacked 5 times and only managed 12 points. That is what the Bears are up against. This is not a front you can take lightly. That is particularly true in passing situations.

We already know Garrett Bradbury is vulnerable against teams with size up the middle. In two games against Tampa Bay (Vita Vea) and Seattle (Leonard Williams), he allowed 12 pressures and a sack. The worst thing the Bears could do in this game is get pass-happy. This isn’t a center who is equipped to handle this kind of matchup. They must run the ball and not allow that trio to get up steam on their rushes. One thing in Bradbury’s favor is that this coaching staff is smart enough to know that.

This Bears staff isn’t afraid to shake things up.

Johnson has maintained his belief in Bradbury from the start. He doesn’t seem eager to get Jones out there yet. The rookie needs time to acclimate to the NFL, particularly the Bears’ challenging offensive system. As a veteran who’s played in several systems, Bradbury always had the advantage. The key was making sure to capitalize on it. So far, he hasn’t really done that. If the Bears offensive line has a weak link, it hasn’t been Braxton Jones as many expected. That (dis)honor goes to Bradbury.

This Monday night game is a vital one for Chicago. They cannot afford to go down 1-2 in the standings. With Case Keenum getting the start, more is needed from the supporting cast on offense. Guys must play their best football. Few are in greater need of a bounce-back week than Bradbury. He was a big reason things went sideways against Minnesota. Don’t expect much of a grace period if he does something similar against that Eagles front.